396 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
October  24, 1895. 
during  the  active  period  of  their  growth  ;  but  it  will  be  perceived  at  a 
glance  that  such  superficial  humidity,  produced  at  a  time  when,  through 
the  action  of  the  sun  it  soon  vanishes,  is  not  to  be  compared  with  the 
thorough  soakings  which  the  same  plants  enjoy  during  their  period  of 
rest,  when  trees  and  shrubs  alike  are  deprived  of  their  foliage,  and 
consequently  offer  no  hindrance  whatever  to  the  autumn  and  winter 
rains,  every  drop  of  which  actually  finds  its  way  to  the  Ferns  growing 
under  their  friendly  shelter.  Now,  if  we  add  to  this  argument  the  fact 
that  during  the  resting  season  of  the  Ferns  rain  is  at  least  ten  times 
more  frequent  than  at  any  other  time,  we  shall,  I  think,  have  clearly 
demonstrated  that,  far  from  having  their  roots  kept  dry  while  at  rest, 
they  are,  on  the  contrary,  kept  particularly  active  by  what  we  must 
consider  a  wise  provision  of  Nature. 
Then,  again,  what  can  be  said  in  favour  of  a  comparatively  dry 
winter  treatment  in  regard  to  those  kinds  which  grow  in  quite  the 
open  meadows,  such  as  the  Lady  Fern  (Athyrium  Filix-foemina), 
the  Male  Fern  (Lastrea  Filix-mas),  the  soft  and  prickly  Shield  Ferns 
(Polystichums  angulare  and  aculeatum),  or  of  those  which,  like 
the  Koyal  Fern  (Osmunda  regalis)  are  found  on  banks  of  streams, 
which  places  during  the  summer,  being  in  most  cases  exposed  to  the 
full  effects  of  the  sun,  are  partially  dried  up.  Why,  we  are  bound 
to  conclude  that  their  freshness,  which  they  retain  the  whole  summer 
through,  in  spite  of  the  heat  and  drought  to  which  they  are  subjected 
for  weeks  together,  is  only  due  to  the  extraordinary  amount  of  moisture 
stored  in  the  ground  through  the  winter,  during  which  time  they  are 
frequently  thoroughly  covered  over  with  water  for  two  or  even  three 
consecutive  months.  Yet  in  that  position  the  Male  Fern,  Lady  Fern, 
Osmunda,  and  Polystichums  not  only  grow  but  luxuriate.  We  know 
from  experience  that  during  comparatively  dry  wincers  such  plants  as 
the  Oak  and  Beech  Ferns,  for  instance,  have  their  slender  underground 
rhizomes  shrivelled  to  such  an  extent  that  when  spring  comes  they  only 
make  a  very  poor  start. 
But  if  such  is  the  case  with  Ferns  in  their  natural  state  and 
growing  in  the  open  where  there  are  no  impediments  to  their  roots, 
which  have  the  full  benefit  of  every  drop  of  moisture  contained  in 
the  ground,  plants  in  pots  must  surely  be  more  severely  affected,  for 
in  their  case  the  terminal  sucker  of  nearly  each  root  is  brought  in 
contact  with  the  pot  and  dries  up  much  more  rapidly  than  in  the  open 
ground.  There  is  evidently  no  reason  to  think  that  the  treatment 
which  our  own  Ferns  receive  in  their  natural  state  is  not  identical 
with  that  which  is  dispensed  to  exotic  kinds. 
During  its  resting  time  the  Adiantum  pedatum,  for  instance,  a  Fern 
of  particularly  great  beauty,  which  in  North  America  is  fonnd  growing 
very  extensively  in  exposed  places,  remains  when  at  rest,  during  the 
winter,  covered  for  two  or  three  months  with  a  coating  of  snow,  the 
thickness  of  which  varies  from  2  feet  to  3  feet  and  occasionally  more. 
Now,  this  quantity  of  snow  has  for  immediate  effect  to  prevent  anything 
like  a  dry  winter  treatment  at  the  roots,  and  also  to  supply  the  dormant 
plants  beneath  with  a  quantity  of  moisture  far  greater  than  anything  to 
which  they  are  exposed  during  the  summer.  It  is  therefore  not 
surprising  to  find  that  under  cultivation  that  Fern  has  the  most 
undeserved  reputation  of  being  a  bad  grower,  and  that  frequently  after 
four  or  five  months  of  dry  treatment  its  crowns  have  vanished. 
It  is  the  same  with  most  of  the  deciduous  Ferns,  which  class  of 
plants  amateurs  in  general  are  more  and  more  inclined  to  eliminate 
from  their  collections  under  the  pretence  that  they  are  usually  lost 
during  the  winter.  If  they  are  so  lost,  it  is  evidently  from  the  want  of 
moisture  at  the  roots  during  their  resting  time,  and  if  the  effects  of  such 
a  pernicious  yet  general  treatment  are  so  disastrous  to  plants  devoid  of 
foliage,  it  certainly  follows  that  Ferns  of  an  evergreen  nature  must  by 
the  same  treatment  be  punished  to  a  greater  degree  still. 
From  what  precedes  we  must  not  conclude  that  the  present  treat¬ 
ment  only  needs  reversal,  making  the  summer  treatment  a  dry  one, 
superseding  that  which  is  now  in  favour  during  the  winter,  for  when 
Ferns  are  in  full  growth  their  requirements,  so  far  as  liquid  at  the  roots 
is  concerned,  are  a  serious  consideration  ;  but  at  the  same  time  these 
waterings  must  neither,  as  is  frequently  the  case,  cease  altogether  for 
the  deciduous  kinds,  nor  become  for  the  evergreen  ones  so  very  remote 
as  to  be  of  almost  practically  no  value  for  keeping  the  roots  of  the 
plants  in  a  perfectly  constant  state  of  moisture,  which  Nature  teaches 
us  is  the  state  in  which  Ferns  should  be  kept  during  their  resting  time, 
— Feen  Grower. 
RIPENED  WOOD. 
I  PLEAD  guilty  to  not  having  distinctly  said  that  both  Peach  trees 
came  down  into  Somersetshire,  and  have  been  continually  growing  under 
the  same  conditions.  One  outside,  or  rather  at  the  very  edge  of  the  glass 
structure  and  trained  up  under  it,  the  other  at  the  back,  trained  against 
the  wall.  It  is  this  latter  tree  that  hitherto  has  never  borne,  and  the  one 
fruit  of  this  ;Tear  was  without  any  good  flavour.  I  have  re-read  my 
remarks  of  October  3rd,  and  I  am  also  a  sceptic  as  to  our  friend’s,  the 
“  Sceptic,”  “  failing  to  erasp  the  meaning.”  He  certainly  is  no  way 
deficient,  and  a  moment’s  thought  must  have  convinced  him  that  both 
trees  were  moved,  especially  when  on  page  330  I  say,  “  In  November  I 
purpose  moving  the  tree”  (the  one  against  the  wall)  “to  the  outer 
position  of  the  glass,  where  it  may  obtain  some  sun  and  wind.” 
“The  Sceptic ’’declines  my  nut,  and  asks  which  kind  of  wood  gives 
the  best  results,  and  then  replies  by  his  own  experience  of  his  “  green 
wood”  crops.  Now  I  do  not  think  that  any  of  us  (old  fogies,  if  you 
will)  who  talk  of  ripened  wood  would  deny  that  it  is  quite  possible 
that  a  green  shoot  may  yet  be  hard  and  what  I  might  call  ripened, 
although  I  should  prefer  it  more  coloured.  I  confess  I  took,  I  daresay 
ignorantly,  to  the  closeness  of  the  leaves  to  each  other  to  guide  me  in 
my  estimation  of  the  ripeness  or  otherwise  of  the  wood.  Continually 
incidents  occur  which  seem  to  topple  over  our  previous  facts.  I 
suppose  we  all  allow,  or  is  our  friend  sceptical  on  this  point  also, 
that  rank  coarse  wood  is  not  very  likely  to  give  us  much  fruit  next  year. 
Yet  I  recollect  a  man  showing  me  just  such  a  coarse  branch  on  an 
Apricot  tree,  and  jeeringly  speaking  of  such  a  dictum,  because  this 
said  branch  had  more  fruit  on  it  than  all  the  rest  of  the  tree  put 
together.  Still,  that  fact  would  not  induce  me  to  go  in  for  coarse  growth 
as  a  means  of  fruit  production. 
Personally  I  cannot  complain  of  short  crops  last  year  from  my 
ripened  wood  of  1893.  On  the  contrary  ;  on  several  trees  I  had  far 
better  crops  than  I  have  had  this,  especially  the  young  trees.  On  several 
of  these  I  have  no  fruit  at  all  this  year.  So  “  Sceptic’s  ”  experience 
and  mine  as  to  the  two  seasons  differs.  I  regret  that  he  declines  to 
describe  the  sort  of  wood  he  prefers  to  see  on  his  Peach  trees  in  October. 
I  regret,  too,  that  he  takes  no  notice  of  my  remark  about  the  Rose 
shoot.  This  is  the  month  I  cut  out  the  old  wood  of  my  plants,  leaving 
only  the  shoots  that  I  retain  for  my  plant  to  have  when  pruned  in  the 
spring.  Does  he  mean  to  say  that  I  may  save  a  shoot  that  started 
growth  at  the  end  of  August,  and  is  now  soft  and  still  growing  ;  and  if 
there  are  four  or  five  of  such  shoots  in  a  bush  does  he  cut  away  all  the 
rest,  and  depend  only  on  these  late  sappy  shoots  1  If  he  does,  and  gets 
good  blooms  on  them,  he  must  be  a  firm  believer  in  green  wood. 
Then  it  seems  to  me  that  “  Sceptic  ”  argues  as  if  the  iun  alone  was 
the  ripener  of  wood.  His  concluding  remark  in  reference  to  the  article 
in  the  “  Morning  Post,”  “  The  natural  inference,  therefore,  is  that  wood 
could  not  have  been  ‘  ripened  ’  last  year  owing  to  the  deficiency  of 
blight  sunlight.”  Surely  it  is  not  sun  alone  that  is  a  ripener  of  wood, 
I  am  disposed  to  think  that  the  war  of  elements  does  not  always  do 
nothing  but  harm.  Do  not  wind  and  rain,  and  even  slight  frosts,  have 
a  beneficial  effect  on  the  growths  of  the  year  ?  I  cannot  but  think  they 
do,  and  that  they  may  even  make  up  in  some  cases  for  the  deficiency  of 
sunlight. 
On  outdoor  fruit  in  this  our  variable  climate  can  we  reason  from  a 
single  season,  as  “Sceptic”  does  in  his  reply  to  my  nut?  Did  notour 
severe  six  weeks  of  frost,  when  many  of  us  hoped  we  had  seen  the  worst, 
have  a  beneficial  effect  on  our  fruit  trees?  I  remember  in  one  of  the 
longest  winters  I  ever  endured,  though  I  forget  the  date,  it  was  some 
thirty  years  ago,  meeting  on  my  rounds  a  poor  asthmatic  patient,  a 
great  gardener,  and  ou  my  asking  him  how  he  liked  this  severe  time,  his 
reply  was,  “  Oh,  capital.  ’Twill  kip  everything  in  its  right  place.”  So 
I  believe  t’ne  lateness  of  the  winter  had  that  effect  this  year,  and  gave  us 
a  promising  setting  time,  but  as  I  was  not  in  England  during  May  I 
cannot  say.  Surely  a  severe  frosty  May  would  beat  “Sceptic’s”  green 
wood  first  ;  I  think  my  “ripened,”  if  the  severity  continued,  would  also 
suffer.  There  are  many  things  beside  ripened  wood  that  go  to  make  a 
good  crop. — Y.  B.  A.  Z.  _ 
“  Sceptic  ”  has  gone  a  step  further  than  ever  this  time.  1  agree 
with  him  that  it  is  possible  to  get  a  crop  of  Peaches  from  green  wood, 
for  I  have  e.xperienced  it  ;  but  he  now  tells  us  that  green  wood  is 
preferable.  His  answer  to  “  Y.  B.  A.  Z,,”  page  350.  admits  of  no  other 
interpretation,  in  the  case  of  Peaches  at  any  rate.  I  am  afraid  we  shall 
have  to  get  a  fresh  definition  of  ripened  wood.  What  I  thought  was  a 
very  good  description  of  it  was  given  by  “  Sceptic  ”  himself  in  describing 
the  state  of  his  Peach  trees  in  1893,  but  we  find  the  result  from  it  was 
not  satisfactory.  He  prefers  wood  as  “  green  as  grass”  in  the  autumn. 
He  is  quite  welcome  to  it,  but  all  the  best  Peach  growers  in  England 
are  against  him  in  their  preferences. — D,  I. 
LADY  DOWNE’S  GRAPE3  NOT  COLOURING. 
The  part  bunch  of  Grapes  sent  by  “  J.  J.  0.”  had  large  berries,  one 
half  of  which  were  shanked,  soft  to  the  touch,  and  sour  to  the  taste. 
The  lower  (quite  half)  part  of  the  bunch  had  been  cut  off,  shanking  on 
the  stem  having  occurred  some  time  hack.  The  sound  berries  were 
larger  than  usual  with  this  variety,  more  round  than  oval  in  shape, 
faintly  reddish  purple,  streaked  with  deeper  colour,  but  for  the  most 
part  green,  and  covered  with  a  good  bloom.  These  were  firm  in  the 
flesh,  and  of  good  flavour.  The  wood  accompanying  was  stout,  short- 
jointed,  and  well  matured,  being  brown  in  the  bark,  firm,  and  small  in 
pith.  The  leaves  were  large,  thick  in  texture,  of  leathery  consistence, 
deep  green  in  colour,  except  the  parts  assuming  the  autumn  tints, 
which  were  a  rich  purplish  red  colour,  instead  of  dying  off  bright  yellow, 
and  they  had  quite  a  glossy,  even  clammy,  feel.  Such  is  a  diagnosis 
from  external  examination. 
Internally  the  seeds  of  the  sound  berries  were  quite  normal,  arrjnged 
in  pairs — two  in  a  berry,  as  characteristic  of  this  variety,  and  no  foreign 
body  or  bodies  present.  The  shanked  berries  had  the  seeds  more  or  less 
discoloured  in  places,  and  no  a  few  had  one  or  more  black  spots,  with 
the  cellulose,  especially  the  fibry  matter  by  which  they  are  affixed  to 
the  stalk,  quite  brown  ;  but  we  failed  to  detect  the  threads  of  any 
fungus,  or  any  other  micro-organisms.  The  leaves  internally  showed 
plenty  of  chlorophyll  pigment,  and  evidently  granulated  with  starch 
grains,  these  being  “  fixed.”  There  was  neither  fungal  nor  insect 
parasites  present,  externally  or  internally. 
The  deductions  we  arrived  at  were  : — (1)  The  border  in  which  the 
Vine  grows  is  too  rich  in  organic  matter  for  this  variety,  and  deficient 
m  certain  mineral  elements.  (2)  The  deficiency  or  absence  of  these 
