154 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
February  22,  1900. 
the  shelves,  or  in  an  overheated  plant  stove  with  ether  occupants 
equally  ill-treated  and  debilitated., I  am  not  saying  this  is  the  case 
in^  all  private  'gardens,  but  that  it  is  in  many  I  have  bad  ample 
evidence  for  many  years. 
Again,  the  practice  of  keeping  the  old  corms  year  after  year  and 
subjecting  them  in  summer  to  a  kind  of  roasting  and  drying  system 
under  the  impression  that  some  great  good  is  being  done,  has  nothing 
to  recommend  it,  but  it  is  one  of  the  old  customs  that  die  hard. 
Twelve  or  thirteen  years  ago  I  was  growing  these  plants  for  market, 
and  staged  a  dozen  at  a*  West  of  England  Show  only  a  little  over  a 
year  old  but  crowded  with  fine  foliage  and  fiowers.  This  system  was 
not  then  so  widely  known  as  now,  but  even  yet  it  is  not  practised  as 
much  as  it  ought  to  be. 
Cyclamen  seeds  should  be  sown  during'Oetober  and  November  or 
in  January  according  as  they  are  wanted  in  flower  early  or  late,  and 
tor  a  succession  seeds  may  be  sown  at  all  three  months.  I  like  to 
dibble  the  seeds  in  separately,  about  half  an  inch  deep  and  an  inch 
apart.  Cover  w'ith  a  little  clean  moss  and  stand  the  pans  in  a  warm 
moist  house.  This  allows  of  their  remaining  without  disturbance 
until  the  seed  leaf  is  w’ell  developed.  I  used  to  leave  them  longer, 
but  I  am  convinced  that  it  is  a  mistake  to  leave  them  until  the  next 
leaves  are  strong,  as  the  roots  become  more  matted,  and  it  is  diflBcult  tr> 
remove  them  withe  ut  injury. 
An  ordinary  greenhouse  temperature  now  answers  well,  but  the 
dry  parching  atmosphere  louncl  in  some  greenhouses  suits  them  very 
badly,  and  they  wmuld  be  better  in  heat  than  in  this.  What  the 
plants  want  is  ample  light  and  a  genial  growing  temperature;  they 
may  stand  pot  thick,  it  necessary,  so  will  not  occupy  much  rooni 
until  the  leaves  begin  to  jiush  up,  when  each  one  must  stand  well 
clear  of  its  neighbour.  But  while  liking  ample  light,  due  protection 
from  the  midsummer  sun  is  necessary,  and  this  is  best  provided  by 
movable  blinds  of  light,  thin  texture,  and  w^hich  must  only  be  used 
when  necessary. 
The  iilants  may  go  into  their  flowering  pots  in  September  or 
earlier  if  they  are  ready,  atd  must  never  be  shut  up  in  a  close,  hot, 
and  moist  atmosphere.??’  As  to  the  depth  to  place  the  corms  when  pot¬ 
ting,  let  them  just  peep  cut  of;  the' compost,  and  the  sinking  of  the 
soil  and  the  growth  will  place  them  exactly  right  just  out  of  the 
soil. — H.  Eichaeds. 
NOTES  FROM  IRELAND. 
The  Weather. 
The  weather  for  the  past  week  has  certainly  tested  the  resisting 
qualities  of  everyone.  In  many  places  the  intense  cold  has  damaged 
stove  plants,  whilst  Cinerarias  have  also  suffered.  The  following  parti¬ 
culars  have  been  issued  by  Mr.  F.  W.  Moore,  Curator  of  the  Royal 
Botanic  Gardens,  Glasnevin  : — “  It  may  interest  your  readers  to  know 
that  on  Saturday  night  last  the  minimum  thermometer  on  the  grass 
(a  registered  and  certified  instrument)  registered  22°  of  frost,  falling 
to  10°  Fahrenheit.  This  was  the  coldest  night  registered  here  since 
1 5th  of  December,  1882,  when  there  were  22'4°  of  frost.  On  the  24th 
December,  1878,  there  were  27’4°  of  frost.  Fortunately,  the  snow  has 
given  place  to  a  few  showers,  which  have  done  dual  duty  by  removing 
the  snow,  and  at  the  same  time  removing  it  with  the  greatest  safety 
to  vegetation.  The  weather  at  present  is  good.” 
An  Accident. 
A  rather  sudden  fatality  occurred  recently  amongst  the  rank  and 
file  of  gardeners  in  the  death  of  Mr.  James  English,  the  trusted 
gardener-in-chief  to  the  Oblate  Fathers  at  Inchicore,  Dublin.  It  appears 
Mr.  English  was  engaged  in  pruning,  he  having  placed  a  ladder 
against  the  tree,  and  whilst  severing  some  of  the  branches,  lost  his 
balance,  and  received  severe  bodily  injuries.  He  was  conveyed  to  the 
hospital,  but  the  skilled  attendance  was  ineffectual  to  prolong  life. 
The  deceased  leaves  a  wife  and  family  to  mourn  his  loss,  and  in  return 
for  his  valued  services  the  Oblate  Fathers  have  made  arrangements 
that  his  family  shall  not  need  the  support  accorded  by  the  city. 
A  New  Narcissus. 
I  have  recently  visited  the  well-appointed  gardens  of  Mrs.  Black, 
Blackheath,  Clontarf,  and  the  skilled  and  unassuming  gai’dener,  Mr. 
Hume,  escorted  me  to  a  row  of  hybrid  Trumpet  Narcissus.  There  was 
a  fair  number  of  fiowers  in  all  stages  of  development,  but  owing  to  the 
frosty  weather  the  perianth  segments  were  partially  closed.  It  is  a 
new  seedling  that  has  been  in  bloom  since  the  first  week  in  January, 
and  has  received  no  protection.  The  blooms  are  very  fine,  and  this 
variety  is  destined  to  have  a  great  popularity,  owing  to  its  earliness 
and  the  size  of  the  bloom.  The  flowers  enclosed  in  the  tin  box  are 
those  alluded  to  above.  They  were  barely  open,  and  I  trust  will  be 
received  in  good  condition. — A.  O’Neill. 
[The  Narcissus  sent  are  certainly  of  great  promise,  but  it  is  hardly 
fair  to  judge  of  the  size  and  colour  of  the  flowers,  considering  the 
weather  to  which  they  have  been  subjected.  Perhaps  Mr.  Hume  will 
send  us  a  few  more  specimens  a  little  later  ?] 
PINCHING  FRUIT  TREES. 
Under  the  head  of  “Blossom  Bud  Formation,”  on  page  137, 
“S.  S.”  desires  to  know  “at  what  months  of  the  year  shoot  pinching 
must  be  done,  and  the  manner  of  doing  it,  to  produce  similar  effects 
to  root  pruning?” 
In  the  first  place,  let  me  say  that  if  “  S.  S.”  means  by  the  term 
“similar,”  effects  which  are  “exactly  the  same,”  as  I  know  some 
casual  readers  do,  and  as  the  quotation  rather  implies,  it  is  necessary 
to  point  out  that  I  very  clearly  stated,  on  page  87,  that  while  the 
arrestation  of  growth  by  shoot  pinching  facilitates  the  formation  of 
fruit  buds,  I  was  careful  to  add,  “  a  more  marked,  quicker,  and  greater 
increase  of  such  buds  can  be  brought  about  by  the  still  greater  growth 
arrestation  etfecled  by  checking  the  extension  of  the  roots.”  Let  there 
be  no  misunderstanding  on  this  point,  no  confusion  of  terms  which 
may  be  similar,  but  far  from  being  precisely  the  same.  It  is  easy 
enough  to  write,  but  n6t  always  easy  to  make  everybody  understand 
exactly  what  a  writer  seeks  to  convey. 
I  now  fear  I  must  disappoint  “  S.  S.”  No  person  living  can  tell 
him  exactly  when  and  how  to  pinch  his  own  trees  to  induce  them  to 
form  blossom  buds,  at  least  without  seeing  the  trees,  and  even  then 
they  may  te  in  such  a  state  of  weakness  on  the  one  hand,  or  strength 
on  the  other,  as  to  be  beyond  being  usefully  influenced  by  the  process 
in  question.  There  are  thousands  of  such  trees  almost  all  over  the 
country,  but  also  thousands  more  that  could  be  made  to  bristle  with 
blossom  buds  as  the  result  of  pinching  the  growths  in  the  right 
manner  and  at  the  proper  time. 
Ancient  Pear  irees,  for  instance,  against  walls,  or  trees  that  for  a 
generation  have  produced  weak  summer  growths  from  among  the  worn 
out  and  attenuated  spurs  on  the  lower  parts,  and  stronger  growths  on 
the  upper  portions,  such  growths  having  been  allowed  to  extend 
through  the  summer  to  be  cleared  off  in  the  autumn  or  winter ;  trees 
ot  that  kind  cannot  be  made  satisfactorily  fruitful  by  summer  pinching. 
The  time  has  long  gone  by  for  that  to  be  effected. 
The  same  can  be  said  in  respect  to  bush  fruit  trees  of  any  kind  in 
the  open — Apples,  Pears,  Plums,  Cherries,  Bed  or  White  Currants,  and 
Gooseberries.  If  any  of  these  have  been  permitted,  as  countless 
numbers  are,  to  produce  something  like  a  thicket  of  long  summer 
shoots  to  be  cleared  out  in  a  wholesale  way  in  the  winter,  and  the 
practice  has  been  resorted  to  for  some  years,  it  would  be  futile  to 
expect  that  they  would  respond  by  shoals  ot  blossom  buds  to  summer 
pinching.  They  will  do  nothing  of  the  kind.  A  few  might  be 
produced,  no  doubt,  by  a  scientific  gardener  such  as  Mr.  Abbey,  or  an 
equally  competent  amateur  in  fruit  culture  like  Mr.  Ellison  ;  but  a 
venture  may  be  made  in  saying  that  neither  of  them  would  rely  on  the 
practice,  as  they  must  both  know,  to  use  an  expressive  simile,  that 
the  “game  wo;  Id  not  be  worth  the  candle.”  No,  they  would  resort 
to  different  means ;  and  why  ?  Because  it  would  be  too  late  to  render 
such  trees  fruitful  by  pinching  alone. 
Such  cultivators  as  those  named  know  very  well  what  all 
who  are  engaged  in  fruit  culture  should  clearly  and  fully  comprehend, 
that  all  those  summer  shoots  made  and  cut  away  annually,  and  in 
aggregate  length  enormous,  have  each  year  been  engaged  in  producing 
in  the  soil  roots  of  corresponding  length  and  strength;  and,  as  these 
roots  are  in  their  substance  perennial,  their  accumulated  force  becomes 
so  great  that  it  cannot  be  subdued  by  shoot  pinching,  summer 
pruning,  or  any  kind  of  pruning  that  involves  the  shortening  of 
l)ranches,  to  the  extent  of  materially  inducing  blossom  bud  formation. 
It  would  not  be  difficult  to  explain  the  manner  in  which  such  trees 
should  be  treated,  but  that  is  not  the  question  at  present. 
The  cardinal  point  to  remember  is  this — when  the  underground 
branches  of  a  tree  become  much  more  powerful  than  the  leaf 
branches,  as  must  of  necessity  be  the  case  when  long,  strong  growths 
are  produced  in  summer  and  cut  closely  out  in  winter,  practically  all 
the  buds  retained  are  forced  into  further  growths  eesentially  of  a 
blossomless  character.  If  w'e  go  to  the  other  extreme  and  find  the 
roots  proportionately  much  weaker  than  the  branches,  then  many  or 
most  of  the  wood  buds  will  change  to  blossom  buds,  and  the  tree 
make  little,  perhaps  too  little,  growth.  We  want  the  mean  between 
the  two  extremes — a  due  balance  or  equilibrium  between  the  part  of 
the  tree  within  the  ground  and  the  part  above  it.  There  will  then  be 
neither  an  undue  preponderance  of  growth  nor  bkssom,  and  the 
tree  will  be  fruitful  yet  healthy.  Young  trees  can  be  moulded  into 
this  condition  by  pinching  the  summer  side  growths  before  they 
become  strong,  as  by  arresting  their  extension,  the  extension  of  the 
roots  is  also  at  the  same  time  checked  ;  and  partially,  if  not  mainly, 
as  a  consequence  of  this,  and  partly  as  improving  the  basal  leaves  as 
organs  of  sap  elaboration  and  assimilation,  blossom  buds  certainly 
form,  simply  because  they  cannot  help  it.  The  apical  extension  of  the 
normal  buds  is  arrested,  and  the  embryonic  leaves  within  them  are 
changed  into  petals  and  organs  of  fructification. 
