410 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
May  18,  1899. 
20  or  more  feet  high,  and  about  the  same  in  diameter  at  the  base. 
The  tree  was,  no  doubt,  cut  back  once  or  twice  during  its  early 
years,  but  since  then  there  has  been  little  or  no  shortening  of  the 
main  branches ;  the  production,  however,  of  an  undue  number  has 
not  been  allowed.  The  result  of  this  “  open  door  ”  policy  to  sun  and 
air  is  seen  in  the  long,  cordon-like  branches,  emanating  from  the 
central  stem,  each  clustered  with  spurs  from  end  to  end.  Why  so 
clusteied?  Because  (1)  there  has  been  no  violent  shortening  of  the 
terminals  to  force  into  wood  growth  hundreds  of  buds  that  have  in  con¬ 
sequence  been  permitted  to  change  into  a  blossom-producing  character  ; 
and  (2),  when  these  were  once  formed  they  have  been  enabled,  not 
only  to  retain  their  vigour,  but  to  increase  in  number,  because  the 
distances  of  the  branches  are  such  as  would  enable  an  ordinary  sized 
man  to  pass  between  them,  if  sufficiently  agile,  without  losing  his  bat. 
This  is  decidedly  better  tl  an  a  man  losing  his  head  when  he  has  a 
knife  in  his  hand,  and  prevents  the  fruit  that  he  foolishly  imagines 
will  follow  his  thoughtless  mutilations. 
IMuch  has  been  heard  of  “summer  pinching”  of  late;  trees  of 
the  pattern  described  need  little,  if  any,  summer  pruning  either, 
for  the  sufficient  reason  that  they  produce  few  lateral  growths,  often 
only  sufficient  to  incite  free  sap  movement,  and  this  without  shading 
the  leaves  of  the  .spurs.  When  trees  are  brought  into  that  condition 
they  require  very  little  pruning  at  any  time,  and  in  the  case  of  not  a 
few  the  work  is  completed  in  one  operation  some  time  before  the  fall 
of  the  leaves ;  but  there  are  thousands  of  other  trees,  not  at  Shirley, 
to  which  those  remarks  do  not  in  the  least  apply. 
On  the  western  side  of  his  enjoyable  lawn,  and  beyond  its  boundary 
trees,  Mr.  Wilks  has  another  garden — a  slice  taken  off  a  small  fieU. 
Here  there  are  Apple  trees  mainly,  much  younger  than  the  model 
Pear,  but  pruned  on  the  same  sound  lines  for  fruit  production — i.e., 
•each  variety  is  permitted  to  develop  its  own  habit,  and  all  the  pruner 
-does  is  to  give  the  trees  the  best  possible  chance  to  form  fruit  buds, 
by  so  regulating  the  branches  that  the  sun’s  rays  can  pass  freely 
between  them  when  the  leaves  are  fully  expanded.  The  pruning  thus 
amounts  to  thinning  as  may  be  required  in  the  summer,  and  the  first 
small  leaf  buds  are  changed  into  bold  blossom  buds  accordingly. 
Hundreds  of  owners- and  so-called  managers  of  fruit  trees  do  not  know 
this,  though  the  number,  one  would  fain  hope,  is  steadily  diminishing. 
Unfortunately  many  fruit  tree  butchers  rejoice  so  much  in  their  self 
knowledge,  the  true  name  for  which  is  gross  ignorance,  that  they  read 
neither  books  nor  papers,  or  they  might  take  a  lesson  from  Shirley 
through  the  medium  of  these  lines. 
Mr.  Wilks  grows  his  vegetables  in  this  western  annexe,  and  not 
these  alone,  for  he  has  a  mixed  flower  border  there,  not  a  mere 
attenuated  strip  3  or  4  feet  wide,  but  in  places  nearer  four  times  that 
width  ;  nor  is  this  a  higgledy-piggledy  wild  garden,  however  enjoy¬ 
able  such  may  be  in  its  right  place,  but  all  the  varied  plants  are 
•cultivated,  and  the  owner  can  march  about  amongst  them  and  cut 
armfuls  of  flowers  if  and  when  required  for  church  or  other  forms  of 
•decoration,  and  for  making  his  friends  happy  by  a  parting  gilt  for 
itheir  flowerless  homes. 
And  how  deftly  and  neatly  he  does  it.  “  You  will  take  a  few 
Da,ffodils,  Mr,  Scribe,”  and  forthwith  a  handful  is  gathered  from  the 
bright  dancing  masses — not  “  old  ”  flowers  that  are  over  in  a  day, 
but  young  and  fresh  that  last  for  a  week — and  cutting  the  stalks  level 
they  are  pressed  dowm  into  a  long  strong  envelope,  a  couple  of  india- 
Tubber  rings  grip  the  “handle”  with  just  the  right  pressure,  yet 
without  crushing  the  tender  stems,  and  in  a  trice  there  is  a  bouquet, 
as  someone  said  last  week,  “fit  for  a  queen.” 
Just  another  word  or  two.  Over  the  way  is  the  church,  a  fine 
structure,  with  an  architectural  feature  in  the  form  of  two  transept 
^ches,  which  are  said,  on  the  authority  of  John  Ruskin,  to  be  unique. 
The  sacred  edifice  is  far  too  large  for  the  comparatively  few  parishioners, 
but  others  come  from  round-about,  including  Croydon,  and  fill  it. 
Just  as  the  venerable  florist-vicar,  “  D.,  4)eaZ,’’  enjoys  the  trust  and 
confidence  of  the  people  among  whom  he  lives,  so  it  is  with  the 
gardener- vicar  of  Shirley,  and  both  should  be,  and  no  doubt  are, 
tiappy  men. 
What  can  be  said  of  the  churchyard  and  its  fine  monuments? 
Only  that  for  its  size  its  equ.al  in  a  rural  parish  has  not  been  seen  by  the 
writer,  whose  journeyings  have  not  been  few  or  rigidly  circumscribed. 
‘God  s  acre  ’  at  Shirley  is  such  a  desired  resting  place,  that  it  is  only 
by  the  forced  institution  of  very  high  fees  to  non-parishioners  that  it 
■can  be  kept  within  anything  like  the  limits  of  recent  enlargements, 
and  would  soon  extend  far  over  the  adjoining  green  fields.  One 
anemorial  of  the  dead  can  a. one  be  mentioned  here,  and  there  is  not 
another  like  it  anywhere.  It  is  in  marble,  and  on  it  is  represented  in 
bold  relief  a  Coleus,  a  Dracaena,  and  a  small-leaved  Caladium.  We 
have  a  w’ealth  of  all  those  plants  now,  and  beautiful  forms  are  raised 
from  seed  in  ordinary  routine  ;  but  it  ought  not  to  be  forgotten  that 
the  pioneer  in  their  production  was  Christian  Frederick  Bause,  who 
died  on  the  28th  of  October,  1895,  as  inscribed  on  the  handsome 
monument. 
As  many  readers  of  these  lines  well  know,  there  is  often  much 
that  is  interesting  to  be  found  in,  and  suggestions  to  be  obtained  Irom, 
comparatively  small  gardens,  yet  it  is  feared  many  are  passed  silently 
because  they  are  small  and  nothing  else.  It  is  a  mistake,  and  it  is 
certainly  not  conceivable  that  any  lover  of  gardening  with  eyes  to  see 
and  ears  to  ear,  could  be  other  than  gratified,  and  in  some  measure 
instructed  by  an  hour  spent  in  his  cherished  garden  with  the  very 
real  gardener,  whose  name  will  go  down  to  posterity  as  one  of  the 
“  great  ”  Secretaries  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society,  the  Rev.  W. 
Wilks,  the  popular  Vicar  of  Shirley. 
THE  MARKET  GARDENERS’  OUTLOOK  IN 
WORCESTERSHIRE. 
Taking  it  all  in  all,  a  policeman’s  life  is  not  a  happy  one,  and  the 
same  may  be  said  of  the  market  gardener’s.  Just  think  for  a  moment 
how  many  things  he  has  to  contend  with.  First  of  all  there  is  our 
admirable  climate;  then,  supposing  he  escapes  the  heat  and  the  cold, 
and  the  frost  and  the  drought,  and  the  rain,  and  all  the  rest  of  it,  there 
are  the  insect  pests,  the  caterpillars,  the  red  spiders,  the  aphides,  and 
all  sorts  of  things  with  names  as  long  as  your  arm  which  nobody  can 
pronounce.  Supposing,  however,  the  weather  and  the  insects  let  him 
off  lightly,  what  happens  ?  Wh}',  just  as  ho  is  counting  on  a  sub¬ 
stantial  increase  in  his  balance  at  the  bank,  and  perhaps  spending  a 
bit  extra  on  the  strength  of  it,  he  finds  that  the  foreigner  is  cutting 
him  out  with  things  made  in  Germany,  or  France,  or  the  Channel 
Islands,  or  Tasmania,  or  somewhere  ;  or  that  there  is  depression  iu 
trade  and  he  can’t  sell  his  “  stuff  ”  for  half  what  it  ought  to  fetch. 
When  he  does  by  chance  once  iu  a  lifetime  get  a  good  season — well, 
we  were  going  to  say  that  the  Town  Council  raises  the  rates,  or 
there  are  subscriptions  for  schools  or  other  ways  of  making  the 
money  fly  ;  but  if  you  believe  what  he  says  himself,  and  surely  he 
ought  to  know,  he  never  has  a  good  season,  so  we  need  not  go  into 
that.  The  gardener  is  like  the  farmer— he  always  has  something  to 
grumble  about,  and  if  he  did  not  have  anything  to  object  to,  people 
would  think  there  was  something  radically  wrong  with  his  internal 
organs. 
So  much  by  way  of  introduction.  This  year  he  is  grumbling 
about  the  bad  spring — and  quite  justifiably,  too,  for  it  has  been  one 
of  the  worst  for  many  years.  The  weather  has  been  simply — well, 
simply  awful,  from  a  gardener’s  point  of  view.  After  going  round 
among  the  gardeners,  and  taking  their  opinions  on  things  in  general, 
the  results  of  this  investigation  we  now  proceed  to  give. 
Spring  Onions  (autumn  sown)  are  not,  perhaps,  the  pleasantest 
subject  to  start  with,  but  as  they  practically  commence  the  season  we 
will  begin  with  them.  Considerable  breadths  are  grown,  and  they 
have  been  a  fairly  successful  crop,  and  satisfactory  prices  have  been 
realised.  Unfortunately  not  all  the  gardeners  have  had  them  to  put 
on  the  market.  When  we  come  to  Radishes,  however,  the  tale  as  to 
success  is  very  different.  One  of  the  gardeners  said  they  have  been 
a  total  failure,  and  taking  an  average  crop  as  100,  this  year’s  yield  are 
represented  by  about  twenty-five.  Others  put  the  figures  somewhat 
higher,  but  all  are  agreed  that  the  frost  has  done  a  terrible  amount  of 
damage  to  the  Radishes.  Some  it  cut  up  just  as  they  were  coming 
through.  Others  it  made  hollow  in  the  middle  and  stringy, 
and  so  worth  very  little  in  the  market.  Some  of  the  later 
sown  ones  had  escaped  lightly,  and  are  fetching  pretty  good  prices. 
Round  Eckington  way,  where  garden  produce  is  about  three 
weeks  later  on  the  average  than  in  the  Evesham  gardens,  we 
saw  some  of  the  best  Rildishes.  Their  immunity  from  frost 
injury  was  due  to  their  having  been  sown  later.  Probably  the 
Evesham  gardeners  know'  their  own  business  best,  but  it  would 
seem  that  a  great  mistake  is  made  in  sowing  Radishes  so  early. 
It  is  true  that  it  they  turn  out  well  good  prices  are  realised,  but  only 
too  often  the  crop  is  more  or  less  a  failure.  Some  of  the  gardeners  are 
realising  this,  and  going  in  for  later  sowing,  and  we  feel  sure  that  this 
is  worth  the  consideration  of  the  growers  generally.  Very  early  Radish 
growing  is  a  speculation  pure  and  simple,  just  as  buying  next  year’s 
crop  of  Asparagus  is. 
The  mention  of  Asparagus  brings  us  to  this  very  excellent 
vegetable.  The  season  is  very  late.  Compared  with  other  years  little 
“grass”  has  been  cut.  True,  one  gardener  we  know  of  started 
cutting  as  early  as  the  1st  of  April,  and  he  is  far  from  being  an  April 
fool.  Another  large  grower  told  us  that  two  or  three  years  ago  he 
had  at  this  time  cut  twelve  or  fourteen  thousand,  whereas  this  year  he 
has  only  cut  as  many  hundreds.  When  it  does  come  in  it  will  come 
with  a  rush,  the  season  will  soon  be  over,  and  it  is  feared  that  the 
