June  18,  1903. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
527 
DICKSON'S 
V70RL.D  -  FAMED  IRISH  PEDIGREE 
SeetHing  Roses 
Have  been  Awarded  16  GOLD  MEDALS  by  the  N.R.S. 
THE  RECORD  OF  THE  CENTURY. 
The  following  superb  New  Varieties  are  offered  in  strong 
Pot  Plants  at  10  6  each 
FLORENCE  PEMBERTON. 
This  plienomenal  Rose  wa.s  unanimously  Awarded 
the  Gold  Medal  of  the  National  Rose  Society. 
ALICE  GRAHAME. 
A  superb  and  marvellously  free-blooming  variety. 
Award  of  Merit,  N.R.S. 
GERTRUDE. 
A  charming  sport  from  Cou>’TES.s  of  Caledox. 
IRISH  BRIGHTNESS,  IRISH  PRIDE, 
and  IRISH  STAR. 
Three  most  lovely  Single  Roses,  perpetual  flowering 
and  transcendently  beautiful. 
MUCH  THE  BEST  EVER  OFFERED. 
Catalogues  with  full  descriptive  particulars  of  above  Novelties 
and  other  New  liosei  Post  Free  on  application, 
ALEX.  DICKSON  &  SONS,  Ltd., 
Royal  Irish  Nurseries, 
NEWTOWNARDS,  Co.  DOWN 
<And  Uplands,  Ledbury,  Herefordshire).  Estab.  1836 
HARDY  WATER  LILIES 
And  other  Aquatic  Plants. 
•GREAT  SPECIALITY  —  BEAUTIFUL  COLLECTIONS. 
LOW'EST  PRICES.  Consignments  are  sent  by  means  of 
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12  varieties  of  WATER  LILIE.S,  our  own  selection,  for  20,'- 
B.  LATOUR-MARIilAC, 
NURSERYMAN, 
Temple-sur-Lot  (Lot-et-Garonne),  ’  FRANCE. 
Catalogue  free  on  application. 
The  best  test  of  quality  is  “  Repeat  Orders.”  These 
we  have  had  from  many  customers  for  the  last  twelve  to 
•eighteen  years  in  many  cases  annually.  50  Gold  and 
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Begonias  only.  Our  .Speciality  Collection  :  Double, 
30/-  per  dozen  ;  Single,  24/-  per  dozen  ;  named  or  hybrid 
...  Seedlings.  Descriptive  Catalogue  free. 
B.  R.  DAVIS  &  SONS,  Begonia  Specialists,  Yeovil,  Som. 
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CHOICE  PLANTS. 
Acacia  pubescens,  a  rare  and  beau-  Each, 
tiful  species  ;  flowers  a  lovely  yellow, 
foliase  highly  ornamental  ..  ..  3/6  to  7/6 
Calla  Elllottiana,  the  lovely  Golden 
Calla;  foliage  beautifully  spotted 
white  ;  strong  plants  to  bloom  . .  10/6  &  15/- 
Clematis  indlvisa  and  lobata, 
flowers  creamy  -  white,  dark  green 
glossy  leaves;  a  grand  cool -house 
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Coleus  thyrsoideus,  produces  a  mul¬ 
titude  of  spikes  of  a  lovely  blue 
colour,  from  early  in  the  year  until 
well  into  the  summer . 1/- &  1/6 
Cupressus  funebrls,  one  of  the  love¬ 
liest  of  the  Cypress  for  indoor  decoration  1/6  to  3/6 
,,  extra-sized  specimens,  grand  plants  5/- &  7/6 
,,  macrocarpa  lutea,  a  lovely 
golden  v.ariety,  of  ereat  be.auty  ..  1/0  to  3/6 
Dracaena  Doucettii,  one  of  the  love¬ 
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tapering  ;  a  charming  combination  of 
green,  gold,  and  cream  ..  ..  ..  7/C  &  21/- 
Hidalgoa  Wercklei,  flowers  brilliant 
scarlet,  24in.  across  ;  foliage  beauti¬ 
fully  cut ;  a  grand  climber  ..  ..  1/8  &  2/6 
Kalanchoe  flammea,  anew  ami  lovely 
plant :  flowers  produced  in  large  head  s 
of  a  lovely  orange-red  colour  ..  ..  1/6  &  2/6 
For  the  STOVE— 
Anthurium  Fletcherianum,  a 
grand  variety  belonging  to  the  Andre- 
anum  section  ;  spathe  a  rich,  dark, 
glossy  crimson.  ,5iin.  across,  74in.  long  5/- to  31/6 
Urceocharis  Cllbrani,  a  wonderful 
bi-generic  hybrid ;  flowers  interme¬ 
diate  between  Eucharis  and  L'rceo- 
lina  ;  blooms  profusely  ;  invaluable 
for  cutting . 3, '6  to  10/6 
For  Complete  List -of  Indoor  Plants— Outdoor  Plants, 
see  our  Plant  Catalogue,  gratis  and  post  free. 
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CATALOGUE,  containing  .50  large  pages,  with  100  Illustrations,  with  Hints  on  Horticulture,  post 
free.  No  Trade  Terms  possible  off  these  low  prices. 
Buy  from  the  Manufacturer  of  all  Horticultural  Sundries— 
C.  E.  WEST,  Roundhay.  Higham  Hill, 
No  Agentsm  Sufficient  Addressesm  LONDON,  NmEm 
No  1199.— VoL.  XLVI.,  Third  Series. 
The  Thinning  of  Frnit. 
^  HE  thinning  of  fruit  for  the  pur- 
^  pose  of  improving  that  which 
remains  is  a  practice  w'hich  is 
always  advised,  but  compara¬ 
tively  seldom  followed.  It  has 
been  demonstrated,  time  and  time 
again,  that  no  work  in  connection 
with  fruit-growing  pays  better  than 
thinning.  It  not  only  results  in  a  much 
finer  product,  but  it  is  also  a  means  of  deatroy- 
I  ing  the  insect-infested  and  diseased  specimens, 
and  of  saving  the  energies  and  vitality  of  the 
j  tree.  Growers  complain  that  the  thinning  of 
fruit  is  expensive  and  laborious,  and  this  is 
true ;  but  it  is  a  fair  question  if  there  is  any¬ 
thing  worth  the  having  of  which  the  same 
may  not  be  said.  If  the  operation  pays,  then 
there  is  no  excuse  for  not  performing  it.  It 
should  be  considered,  also,  that  the  fruit  must 
be  picked  sooner  or  later,  and  it  really  does 
not  cost  very  much  more  to  iiick  it  early  iu 
the  season  than  to  pick  it  late ;  iu  fact,  much 
fruit  which  is  not  worth  gathering  iu  the 
autumn  might  have  been  eminently  worth  the 
labour  if  the  fruit  had  been  thinned  in  the 
early  summer. 
One  of  the  best  investigations  which  has 
been  undertaken  in  regard  to  the  thinning  of 
Apples  was  carried  out  at  the  State  Experi¬ 
ment  Station,  New  York.  These  experiments 
were  made  upon  sixteen  full-grown  Apple  trees, 
comprising  three  different  varieties.  In  all 
these  tests  the  gathered  fruit  gave  about  one 
bushel  of  unmarketable  Apples  where  the  fruit 
was  thinned,  to  three  bushels  where  it  waa 
not  thinned.  Where  the  fruit  was  thinned  the 
“  drops  ”  were  fewer,  and  in  all  grades  the 
fruit  was  clearly  superior  in  size  and  colour  to 
fruit  of  tbe  same  grade  which  was  not  thinned. 
The  first  grade  included  no  Apples  less  than 
■2^iu  in  diameter,  and  the  proportion  which 
measured  2|in  was  a  great  deal  larger  where 
Readers  are  requested  to  send  notices  of  Gardening 
Appointments  or  Notes  of  Horticultural  Interest, 
intimations  of  Meetings,  Queries,  and  all  Articles  for 
Publication,  officially  to  “  THE  EDITOR,”  at 
12,  Mitre  Court  Chambers,  Fleet  Street, 
London,  E.C.,  and  to  no  other  person  and  to  no  otuer 
address. 
