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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER 
October  2,  1902. 
be  “a  Gage  Plum.”  The  large,  deep  blue-purple  fruits  are  very 
beautiful  on  a  dinner  table,  and  delicious  for  dessert.  The  tree 
is  hardy  and  a  splendid  cropper,  doing  well  on  gravelly  loams  in 
the  north.  Washington  is  still  another  handsome  and  good 
September  dessert  Plum.  Added  to  the  culinary  varieties  may 
be  named  the  Red  and  the  White  Magnum  Bonums. 
Cross-bred  Varieties. 
The  matter  of  cross-breeding  was  broached.  This  is  a  very 
necessary  work ;  it  is  also  a  remarkably  testy  and  trying  one.  In 
the  earlier  days  when  varieties  of  general  superior  quality  were 
few,  the  experimentalist’s  perseverance  along  this  line  was  pretty 
sure  of  a  number  of  successes  in  the  period  of  a  dozen  years ;  but 
now  the  field  is  filling  up,  and  though  there  are  better  results 
obtainable  through  crossing  improved  sorts  with  one  another,  yet 
the  excellence  demanded  is  very  high  indeed,  and  requires  much 
patience,  and  judgment,  and  ripe  experience  on  the  part  of  cross¬ 
breeders  and  introducers  of  new  varieties,  to  ensure  any  advance. 
A  variety  is  crossed  this  year  at  the  flowering  time.  Presuming 
that  the  cross  is  effective  and  fruit  has  ripened,  the  seeds  are 
sown.  They  germinate,  and  the  seedlings  are  potted-on.  In 
five  years  or  six,  they  are  yielding  fruit,  and  this  has  generally  to 
be  proved  for  one  or  two  seasons.  That  being  so,  before  a  selec¬ 
tion,  and  a  few  trees  are  ready  for  commerce,  ten  years  of 
one’s  lifetime  have  gone.  Of  course,  one  sterling  advance  made, 
one  high-class  variety  gained,  during  ten  years,  may  well  repay 
the  labour;  but  again,  it  may  not  !  and  in  any  case  the  watching 
and  waiting  is  always  exacting. 
It  was  interesting  to  view  the  trees  left  in  the  brakes  from 
last  season’s  selections.  These  are  the  “  failures  in  life  ”  if  we 
may  so  term  them,  their  co-evals  having  been  drawn  off  in  batches 
for  the  supply  of  customers,  while  they,  from  one  cause  or  other, 
have  been  passed  by,  and  there  they  stand,  lonesome  and  separate, 
one  here,  another  there,  at  wide  intervals  apart  over  the  ground, 
and  though  they  would  make  good  trees  if  they  were  required, 
yet  “it  would  not  pay,”  as  Mr.  Somers  Rivers  informed  me,  to 
transplant  them.  They  are,  therefore,  ingloriously  consigned  to 
the  fire,  and  the  whole  brake  is  replanted  with  young  stock, 
afresh.  Growers  may  therefore  feel  assured  that  they  only 
receive  the  freshest,  best,  and  most  robust  of  young  trees. 
Care  in  Budding. 
August  and  early  September  are  the  months  when  budding  is 
actively  performed,'  and  many  hands  were  busy,  and  backs  were 
bent  among  the  Peaches  on  this  occasion.  The  shoots  bearing  the 
buds  are  tied  in  little  bunches  and  kept  with  their  cut  ends  in 
tiny  pails  of  water.  Each  variety  has  a  number  attached  to  it 
which  corresponds  with  a  number  and  name  in  a  book  kept  by  the 
firm.  The  stocks  to  be  budded  are  each  in  lines  2ft  apart,  the 
plants  being  l£ft  from  each  other  in  the  rows.  The  man  who  is 
budding  takes  a  bundle  of  the  shoots  from  the  pail,  and  proceeds 
to  make  his  cross  and  vertical  cutsr  nipping  off  a  bud  and  smartly 
inserting  it  within  the  stock.  Following  close  upon  him  is  a 
boy  who  binds  the  stock  and  bud  with  raffia,  and  the  business  is 
completed.  By  working  constantly  during  the  day,  a  good 
budder  will  insert  1,000  buds.  Very  few  of  the  buds  fail  to  unite 
and  grow,  but  should  they  fail  in  the  case  of  Apples,  Pears,  and 
Plums,  there  is  still  a  remedy  by  grafting  in  March  or  April.  The 
results  in  the  end  are  the  same,  but  grafting  is  a  more  expensive 
operation  than  budding,  hence  the  large  fruit  growers  rely  largely 
on  the  latter  means  of  propagation. 
After  budding,  the  succeeding  year’s  growth  is  allowed  to  fully 
develop,  but  the  shoots  are  cut  back  to  five  buds  or  so,  and  the 
plants  may  be  lifted  and  set  wider  apart.  If  they  are  intended 
to  be  “trained,”  it  is  imperative  that  they  be  set  2or  3ft  apart 
either  way.  As  the  shoots  from  the  five  or  six  buds  advance,  they 
are  bent  in  the  desired  direction  and  secured  to  stakes — as  in  the 
case  of  fan-shaped  trees.  At  the  end  of  the  second  year  from 
budding,  the  trees  are  again  shortened  in  order  that  they  may  be 
better  furnished  and  filled  out,  and  are  sold  as  two-years-trained 
trees. 
Peaches  are  here  in  liberal  numbers,  many  as  pyramids  in  pots 
for  this  autumn’s  despatch,  and  pictures  of  health  and  careful 
training  they  are.  Others  are  as  trained  standards  for  use  on 
walls.  These  riders  are  generally  planted  to  cover  the  top  half 
of  a  house  or  wall,  while  the  lower  portion  is  occupied  by  a  dwarf 
tree,  which  in  time,  but  not  immediately,  may  require  the  whole 
of  the  wall  space.  Others  are  trained  as  dwarf,  bush,  or  pyramid 
trees.  The  bush-trained  tree  being  the  natural  style  of  growth 
with  the  Peach,  is  the  form  recommended  to  amateurs,  or  to 
inexperienced  growers,  should  they  wish  pot  trees,  or  others  for 
open-air  culture  free  from  walls. 
Trained  and  Orchard  House  Trees, 
Plums  and  Cherries  may  be-  had  as  standards,  bushes,  or 
pyramids.  Apples  and  Pears  are  grown  in  all  forms — cordons, 
dwarfs,  pyramids,  half-standards,  and  full-standards,  or  they  may 
be  had  trained  for  espaliers  and  walls.  Feathered  Plum  trees 
are. mostly  sought  for  by  market  growers,  as  the  trees,  being  run 
up  to  a  single  straight  stem,  and  so  much  as  8ft  in  height,  with 
top  and  lateral  shoots,  can  be  transformed  into  almost  any  form 
cf  tree  most  convenient  to  the  market-  men’s  requirements. 
Pot-grown  trees  in  the  orchard  house  were  a  feature  of  special 
interest.  Most  of  the  habitues  of  the  James  Street  Drill  Hall 
meetings  have  seen  the  fruitful  Sawbridgeworth  Gage  Plums  and 
other  kinds  of  fruit  trees,  and  the  visitors  to  the  Edinburgh  Show 
on  the  10th,  11th,  and  12th  of  this  month  were  likewise  surprised 
and  delighted  to  see  such  fine  samples.  Some  of  the  trees  are 
over  twenty  years  of  age.  They  stand  8  to  Oft  high,  and  are 
confined  to  12in  pots.  Each  year,  just  as  the  leaves  are  falling, 
the  trees  are  turned  out  of  their  pots,  and  as  much  of  the  surface 
and  exterior  soil  as  possible  is  clawed  off  with  a  small  hand  fork. 
The  pots  having  been  cleaned  and  dried,  the  balls  are  reinserted, 
and  fresh,  good  compost  is  firmly  rammed  in.  By  this  annual 
procedure,  and  by  judicious  feeding  during  the  fruit-swelling 
period,  the  trees  remain  healthy  and  yield  heavy  crops  of  typical 
fruits  for  years.  By  having  these  frniting  plants  always  beside 
them,  the  firm  is  enabled  to  test  their  varieties,  and  to  prove  that 
their  stock  is  all  true  to  name.  Most  of  the  scions  and  buds  are 
procured  from  these  orchard  house  trees.  Included  in  such 
houses  are  Cherries,  Peaches,  Nectarines,  Plums,  Pears,  and 
Apples. 
The  vineries  contain  a  great  assortment  of  Grape  Vines,  many 
of  them  old,  but  so  well  cared  for  that  they  appear  as  vigorous 
and  fruitful  as  the  younger  canes.  Young  Vines  in  pots,  proved 
to  be  stout  and  well  ripened.  Oranges,' and  in  fact  the  whole  of 
the  Citrus  family,  are  cultivated  and  fruited.  Even  the  Kew 
folks  go  to  SaAvbridgeworth  occasionally  for  a  species  or  variety 
which  they  require  a  stock  of. 
Specimen  fruiting  trees  are  protected  in  a  new  area  with  small 
meshed  wire  netting,  which  excludes  the  tiniest  birds.  Near  by, 
it  was  decidedly  interesting  to  see  the  batallions  of  pot  Peach, 
Apricot,  Cherry,  and  other  trees  already  ripening  off,  each 
specimen  ready  in  another  season,  wherever  it  may  be  despatched 
to,  for  fruit -bearing. 
A  practical  and  useful  system  cf  growing  outdoor  Pears  was 
pointed  out.  The  trees  are  grown  on  the  gridiron  or  similar 
pattern,  horizontally,  over  a  wooden  framework.  This  frame  is 
lift  to  2ft  from  the  ground,  so  that  during  the  flowering  period 
in  April,  sashes,  mats,  or  tiffany  can  be  fixed  above  the  trees  and 
render  them  sufficient  protection  to  avoid  any  injury.  By  this 
simple  means,  grand  fruits  and  good  crops  can  generally  be 
secured,  and  the  trees,  moreover,  being  free  in  the  open,  are  well- 
ripened  during  the  autumn. 
Nuts  are  cultivated  ;  also  the  Wineberry  and  other  novelties, 
with  Strawberries,  Medlars,  Mulberries,  Quinces.  Dwarf  Prolific 
Walnuts,  and  other  kinds  of  fruit.  Even  osiers  for  basket  making 
and  for  tying  bundles,  are  not  omitted.  One  would  like  to 
particularise  on  certain  fine  varieties  of  the  different  fruits,  but 
these  may  form  a  subject  for  another  occasion.  In  concluding 
these  notes,  it  may  be  useful  to  mention  the  fact  that  fruit  alone 
does  not  comprise  the  subjects  of  culture  at  Rivers’,  for  Roses, 
Conifers,  hedge  plants,  and  ornamental  shrubs  in  variety  are 
grown  in  considerable  quantities. — Wandering  Willie. 
NORTH  IRISH  FLORA. 
Mr.  E.  Lloyd  Praeger.  in  his  paper  before  the  British  Associa¬ 
tion  on  the  composition  of  the  flora  of  the  north-east  of  Ireland, 
said  that  the  counties  of  Down  and  Antrim  formed  the  most 
easterly  part  of  Ireland,  and  the  portion  -which  most  nearly 
approached  to  Scotland.  Their  combined  area  was  2,148  square 
miles,  and  their  flora  numbered  820  species  of  flowering  plants 
and  vascular  cryptogams,  Antrim  yielding  778  species,  Down  752  ; 
the  total  flora  of  Ireland  being  reckoned  at  1,020  species,  and 
the  average  number  occurring  in  an  Irish  county,  according  to 
present  knowledge,  at  between  030  and  040.  Down  was  formed 
of  slates  and  granites,  Antrim  mainly  of  basalts.  Limestone  was 
very  sparingly  represented,  and  while  the  number  of  calcifuge 
plants  in  the  flora  was  large,  the  calcicole  group  was  poorly 
represented.  With  regard  to'  the  types  employed  by  Watson  to 
show  distribution  in  Great  Britain,  there  was  in  the  local  flora  an 
almost  complete  representation  of  British  type  plants.  English 
type  plants  were-  rather  poorly  represented,  and  were  more 
plentiful  in  the  Antrim  than  in  the  Down  flora.  Scotfish  type 
plants  reached  in  Antrim  their  maximum  for  Ireland  ;  in  Down 
they  were  somewhat  fewer.  Of  Highland  type  species  there  was 
a  fair  representation  as  compared  with  other  Irish  counties  of 
similar  character:  Antrim,  though  of  less  elevation,  contained 
more  Alpine  plants  than  Down.  Germanic  plants  were  extremely 
few  in  Ireland,  being  only  thirteen  in  number;  of  these  the 
district  yielded  but  four.  In  Atlantic  type  plants  Down  and 
Antrim  were  comparatively  rich.  Turning  to  the  types  of  dis¬ 
tribution  which  the  reader  had  recently  proposed  for  the  Irish 
flora,  it  was  found  that  the  district  was  naturally  very  poor  in 
central  type  plants,  which  were  largely  calcicole  and  marsh 
species ;  while  Mumonian  and  Conaeian  species  were  practically 
absent.  Marginal  type  plants,  on  the  other  hand,  were  very 
largely  represented,  while  of  Fltonian  species  Antrim  was  con¬ 
spicuously  the  focus,  Down  being  considerably  poorer.  Lagenian 
plants  were  only  tolerably  represented,  their  focus  lying  further 
to  the  southward. 
