Supplement  to 
218 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER . 
March  14,  1901. 
Sunny  memories  of  Sutherland. 
\\  HEN  the  days  are  dull  and  the  air  (as  to-day)  full  of  snow,  and 
the  nights  long  and  dark,  then  is  the  time  to  recall  with  greatest  zest 
the  pleasant  sunny  hours  of  the  past  summer.  How,  in  contrast 
with  to-day,  do  they  stand  out  in  rich  beauty  and  warmth,  and  our 
pleasure  is  keen  when  we  dwell  upon  them.  It  is  not  often  that  we 
“  stay-at-homes  ”  get  an  outing  so  far  away,  and  it  is  the  very 
variety  of  the  thing  that  makeB  it  doubly  precious.  The  “North 
countree”  has  always  called  us  with  a  loud  voice,  and  it  is,  perhaps, 
because  we  are  of  northern  birth  and  lineage.  There  is  something 
exhilarating  about  the  north — breezy  and  bracing  ;  but  people  do  not, 
as  a  rule,  associate  Flora  with  “  Caledonia  stern  and  wild.”  For 
Flora  they  turn  to  Devonshire,  or  woo  her  in  the  pleasant  lanes  of  the 
garden  island,  and  it  comes  as  a  revelation  to  hear  of  the  charms  of 
Sutherland.  Surely  that  is  far  north  indeed  !  Ye3  ;  but  we  are  apt 
to  forget  that  not  latitude  alone  afftets  vegetable  growth.  The  soft 
west  winds  and  warm  Gulf  Siream  are  very  important  factors,  and 
where  there  are  no  great  degrees  of  frost  tender  and  delicate  plants 
flourish,  but  not  without  due  care.  Tender  and  delicate  plants  are 
not  indigenous  to  the  soil  ;  it  is  the  land  of  Heather  and  Ling,  but 
the  imported  treasures  grow,  and  do  well.  Witness  the  Fuchsia 
covering  the  sides  of  the  house ;  Hydrangeas  and  hardy  Palms 
flourish  as  though  at  home. 
Inverness  to  Dunrol  in,  a  slow  journey  by  the  Highland  Railway  ; 
but  the  variety  is  such  that  no  passenger  complains  of  lack  of  speed. 
Why  hurry  through  the  beautiful  spots  of  earth  ?  they  come  seldom 
enough  indeid.  Up  and  down  hill,  glimp-es  of  coast  line,  mountain 
and  snow,  frequent  halts  at  picturesque  stations  to  pick  up  perhaps  a 
single  passen.er,  the  journey  is  an  ideal  one.  This  might  almost  be 
called  a  ducal  line,  such  was  the  fostering  care  bestowed  on  it  by  the 
late  Duke  ot  Sutherland,  and  his  own  private  station  is  in  the  pleasure 
grounds. 
The  Highland  crofter  and  the  Irish  peasant  are  much  alike  in  their 
tastes  and  h  bits.  No  heed  is  paid  to  non-essentials,  a  few  Potatoes, 
a  patch  of  Oats,  and  a  kaleyard;  no  attempt  at  gardening,  no 
apparent  love  of  the  beautiful.  Well,  we  suppose  the  situation  on  the 
“  brae  fac“,’’  with  the  changing  sea  before  and  everlasting  hills  behind, 
are  enough.  There  is  au  apathy  about  these  people.  There  is  the 
harvest  ol  the  sea,  and  over  the  herring  catch  they  will  be  diligent, 
earning  good  money  ;  but  it  seems  these  folk  will  hardly  exert  them¬ 
selves  at  other  times  to  supply  the  piscatorial  wants  of  the  “stranger 
within  their  gates,”  and  the  stranger  is  prepar  d  to  pay  well  for  a 
change  of  diet.  It  is  not  that  they  are  ignorant  of  the  beauty  ol 
flowers,  ev<  n  of  rare  ones,  for  they  have  every  chance  daily  of  seeing 
the  Dunrobin  gardens,  which  with  ducal  liberality  are  open  to  the 
public  at  ertain  hours.  We  cannot  understand  if,  for  in  England  we 
generally  find  where  a  big  and  beautiful  garden  exists  there  are  many 
equally  beautiful  small  ones — theie  s  a  heabhy  rivalry  all  round. 
As  the  family  are  in  residence  in  the  autumn  the  powers  that  be 
unite  in  making  the  place  then  appear  at  its  very  best.  The  Castle 
itself  stands  on  a  high  grey  rock,  which  runs  preity  steeply  down  to 
a  flat  plateau  clothed  with  living  green,  which  in  its  turn  reaches 
close  up  to  the  sea.  The  dark  l  lue  sea,  the  vivid  green,  the  grey' 
time-worn  rock.  There  is  one  colour  needed  to  fill  in  the  scheme, 
and  the  gardener  has  hit  the  right  note  when  he  added  the  blazing 
Cactus  Dahlia  below  the  Castle  terrace.  What  a  happy  inspiration  ! 
and  how  they  flowered  in  riotous  profusion,  fairly  bewildering  to  the 
eye.  Can  you  imagine  the  effect,  kind  reader  ?  It  has  to  be  seen  to 
be  believed.  There  are  other  arrangements  equally  beautiful,  beds 
long  and  narrow,  the  centre  filled  with  Lobelia  cardinalis,  with  its 
handsome  dark  leaves,  and  surrou  ided  by  a  wide  border  of  blue  Salvia, 
quite  one  of  the  most  beautiful  blues  known. 
It  goes  without  saying  that  you  find  within  these  precincts  all  the 
beautiful  autumn-flowering  plants  of  which  the  names  alone  are 
bewildering.  Old  and  new  jostle  each  other,  and  their  varied  charms 
make  a  perfect  whole.  Soft  and  mild  vegetation  is  much  more 
luxuriant  than  in  many  an  English  county,  and  you  can  hardly 
realise  you  are  so  near  John  o’  Groats  and  so  far  from  King  Lud. 
There  is  another  beautiful  flower  which  grows  here  in  great  profusion 
and  loveliness.  The  Tigridia  or  Ferraria,  closely  related  to  the  Iris  ; 
brilliant  in  colouring  and  very  floriferous,  many  people  compare  it 
to  the  Orchid,  at  any  rate  it  is  a  wonder  it  is  n  >t  more  grown,  being 
quite  at  home  in  humble  gardens,  and  rejoicing  in  a  warm  sunny 
border.  The  same  remark  applies  to  the  Lobelia  cardinalis,  that 
does  not  receive  the  attention  it  should  do.  Our  skies  are  often  grey, 
and  we  need  bits  of  vivid  colour  to  supply  the  necessary  warmth. 
To  anyone  weary  of  the  harass  and  bustle  of  the  town  we  should 
recommend  a  visit  to  Sutherland  in  the  autumn.  If  there  is  an 
invitation  to  Dunrobin,  well  and  good  ;  if  not,  there  are  other  humbler 
dwellings  wimre  the  Sassenach  would  find  a  welcome,  and  he  could 
revel  in  all  the  beauties  of  mountain,  sea,  and  glen,  and  the  lovely 
Castle  gardens.  The  Duke  can  do  no  more. — The  Missus. 
The  Pruning  of  Hardy  Trees  and  Slpbs. 
The  attention  of  many  persons  interested  in  arboriculture  and 
sylviculture  has  during  the  last  few  years  been  specially  directed 
towards  the  systematic  pruning  of  hardy  trees  and  shrubs,  and 
without  exception  they  agree  that  judicious  pruning  is  not  only 
advantageous,  but  absolutely  necessary  if  the  best  possible  results  are 
to  be  obtained.  That  gardeners  as  a  body  are  not  fully  alive  to  the 
fact  that  by  proper  pruning  their  trees  and  shrubs  will  not  only  grow 
quicker,  but  will  make  better  specimens  and  flower  more  freely,  is  in 
evidence  on  every  hand  by  the  large  number  of  prematurely  old  and 
ruined  trees  to  be  seen  only  too  often,  and  by  the  number  of  shrubs 
which  flower  anything  but  satisfactorily  through  want  of  attention 
from  the  pruner.  A  gardener  knows  well  that  to  obtain  good  crops  of 
fruit  of  first-rate  quality  he  must  properly  prune  his  trees  or  bushes, 
and  he  is  careful  to  impress  that  fact  on  all  the  young  gardeners  he 
trains  ;  yet  how  rarely  do  we  find  a  gardener  who  advises  his  young 
men  to  give  ornamental  trees  and  shrubs  similar  attention. 
Although  the  methods  adopted  in  the  two  divisions — fruit  and 
ornamental  trees — necessarily  differ,  the  same  end  is  aimed  at — viz., 
the  suppression  of  certain  parts  to  promote  the  building  up  of  others 
which  the  cultivator  thinks  desirable  for  the  healthy  development  of 
the  tree  in  the  form  he  prefers.  In  the  one  case  the  principal  object 
aimed  at  is  fruit  of  good  quality,  and  to  obtain  this  it  is  often  necessary 
to  dwarf  the  tree  by  prematurely  checking  its  growth.  In  the  other 
case  the  object  to  attain  is  the  best  possible  sped  en  in  the  shortest 
possible  time,  and  this  can  only  he  got  by  making  the  tree  grow  as 
freely  as  possible.  In  a  paper  such  as  this  it  is  only  pos-ible  to  direct 
attention  to  the  matter  by  comparisons  between  pruned  and  unpruned 
pi  ints,  and  by  giving  details  as  to  the  mauner  in  which  the  work 
should  be  carr  ed  out.  A  pmner,  to  be  successful,  mu-t  have  practical 
experience,  for  no  matter  how  many  papers  a  man  hears,  or  how  much 
theoretical  knowledge  he  gains  Irom  books,  he  will  find  that  he  must 
do  the  work  himself  before  he  is  master  of  it  Differences  of  aspect, 
soil,  locality,  and  stock — if  the  plant  has  been  worked — have  to  be 
taken  into  consideration,  making  it  a  difficult  matter  for  anyone  to 
lay  down  a  hard  and  fast  rule  to  go  by.  Suggesti  ns  can  be  made, 
but  it  is  necessary  for  the  operator  to  study  his  plants  and  his  local 
surroundings  to  enable  him  to  give  the  exact  amount  of  pruning 
necessary.  Failures  may  often  be  traced  to  insufficient  attention 
being  paid  to  details  such  as  those  mentioned,  and  especially  by 
pruning  without  having  a  personal  knowledge  of  the  plants.  From 
this  it  will  be  readily  understood  why  gardeners  are  urged  to  give  the 
subject  their  full  attention. 
Pruning  of  Trees. 
The  pruning  of  trees  may  be  placed  under  several  heads  in 
accordance  with  the  object  aimed  at,  as  fur  instance  the  pruning  of 
timber  trees  grown  in  woods,  &c.,  of  forest  and  ornamental  trees  as 
isolated  specimens,  or  of  trees  for  the  production  of  flowers.  As  each 
of  these  requires  different  treatment  they  will  be  dealt  with 
separately,  after  a  few  details  have  been  given,  which  apply  to  all 
alike.  As  in  the  case  of  fruit  trees,  pruning  should  be  practised 
from  babyhood.  By  paying  attention  to  the  work  while  the  trees 
are  in  the  nursery  a  great  saving  of  labour  in  their  after  life  can  be 
effected.  In  addition,  they  can  be  transferred  to  permanent  quarters 
in  much  less  time  than  if  no  pruning  be  done.  The  first  aim  should 
be  a  good,  straight,  strong,  leading  shoot,  which  should  keep  well 
above  surrounding  branches  until  the  tree  approaches  maturity.  It  is 
no  use  whatever  leaving  an  ill-shaped  young  tree  to  its  own  devices. 
It  requires  surgical  treatment  quite  as  much  as  a  deformed  child,  and 
if  properly  treated  when  young  will,  in  many  instances,  outgrow  its 
deformity  in  the  same  way  as  the  child. 
W  hen  commencing  to  prune  a  tree  it  is  advisable  to  begin  at  the 
top  and  work  downwards  ;  by  this  means  the  desired  result  is  more 
easily  obtained  than  if  the  work  is  commenced  from  the  bottom. 
When  possible  it  is  better  to  take  branches  clean  out  than  to  simply 
shorten  them.  If  they  cannot  be  removed  altogether  they  should  be 
cut  to  a  back  branch,  by  which  means  the  wound  heals  quicker  and 
the  tree  looks  more  presentable.  When  shortening  branches  it  is 
advisable  to  make  oblique  cuts  in  preference  to  straight  ones.  When 
removing  a  branch  altogether,  the  cuts  should  be  made  parallel  with 
and  well  against  the  trunk— not  at  right  angles  with  it.  Cuts  such 
as  the  ones  recommended  heal  best,  and  show  little  signs  ot  the  union 
between  old  and  new  wood,  an  important  item  when  the  tree  becomes 
timber.  If  a  branch  is  sawn  off  at  right  angles  with  the  trunk 
the  wound  rarely,  if  ever,  heals  properly,  a  portion  of  the  wood  dies 
