November  6,  1902. 
429 
JOURNAL 
CF  HORTICULTURE  AND 
COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
Hardy  Romuleas. 
It  seems  unfortunate  that  so  few  of  the  Romuleas  are 
obtainable  in  the  ordinary  course  of  trade  from  the  bulb 
dealers.  There  are  among  them  some  lovely  little  flowers,  and 
it  is  probable  that  all,  or  almost  all,  of  the  species  belonging  to 
the  Mediterranean  region  would  prove  hardy  in  dry,  sunny 
places  in  light  soil  with  plenty  of  shelter  from  cold  winds,  as 
may  be  had  in  almost  any  rock  garden.  Of  the  twelve  species 
belonging  to  this  region,  recognised  as  such  by  Mr.  J.  G. 
Baker,  there  are  very  few  procurable  by  purchase,  and  one  or 
two  of  those  which  are  not  quoted  by  the  dealers  would  appear 
to  be  among  the  most  desirable  of  the  genus.  In  the  following 
brief  notice  of  these  flowers  I  have  purposely  excluded  the 
species  from  the  Cape  and  tropical  Africa,  as  hardly  likely  to  be 
hardy  in  the  open  in  our  climate.  It  may  be  mentioned  now 
that  these  plants  are  often  to  be  found  under  the  names  of 
Trichonema,  and  that  Mr.  Baker  classes  them,  in  his  arrange¬ 
ment  of  the  Iride&q  in  the  tribe  Sisyrinchieaj,  and  the  sub-tribe 
Croceae,  which  comprises  the  Crocus,  the  Syringodea,  Galaxia, 
and  Romulea.  This  will  give  a  general  idea  of  the  character 
of  the  Romuleas,  which  are  small  Crocus-like  flowers  with 
narrow,  grass-like  leaves,  and  opening  out  only  in  the  sun. 
This  last  point  certainly  limits  their  usefulness,  but  they  are 
attractive  enough  when  open  to  repay  one  for  the  shortness  of 
the  display  in  any  one  day.  The  flowers  show  well  beside  the 
leaves  at  their  flowering  time,  and  make  a  pheasing,  if  quiet, 
effect.  I  like  to  plant  about  2in  deep,  and  to  give  a  covering  of 
oocoa  fibre  for  the  first  winter,  allowing  this  to  decay  naturally. 
This  helps  to  protect  the  small  Crocus-like  corms.  I  have 
planted  at  various  seasons,  either  when  in  full  growth,  when  at 
rest  in  autumn,  or,  with  late  received  corms,  have  kept  them 
until  early  spring  in  a  dry  state. 
The  Romulea  most  easily  obtainable  is  neither  so  scarce 
nor  so  expensive  as  the  others,  and  may  be  planted  in  some 
quantity  at  a.  very  small  cost.  This  is  R.  Bulbocodium,  a 
widely-spread  species  in  the  Mediterranean  region,  which  has 
had  at  various  times  the  names  of  Ixia  Bulbocodium,  Tri¬ 
chonema  Bulbocodium,  T.  collinum,  and  Romulea  uliginosa.  It 
has  pretty  lilac  flowers  with  a  long  yellow  throat.  It  has  given 
rise  to  a  number  of  varieties,  several  of  which  are  hardly  dis¬ 
tinguishable  from  the  type,  and  others  are  not  apparently 
obtainable.  Grandiflora,  rosea,  pulchella,  and  syrtiea  belong 
to  the  former  category,  and  are  sometimes  to  be  found  in 
Continental  catalogues;  while  flaveola,  yellowish  white;  sub- 
palustre,  white  near  the  base  and  lilac  above;  umbellata,  deep 
lilac  on  short  peduncles;  crocea  and  nivale,  both  with  yellow 
flowers  tinged  with  lilac,  may  be  classed  with  the  unobtainable 
ones.  T.  B.  pylium,  frequently  sold  as  T.  pylium,  is,  how¬ 
ever,  in  commerce,  and  is  one  of  the  prettiest  of  the  Romuleas, 
with  large  white  flowers  with  a  yellow  throat. 
R.  Clusiana,  or  Clusi,  which  has  long,  yellow  flowers  tipped 
with  lilac,  comes  from  Spain,  and  is  also  in  cultivation.  The 
white  variety  of  this  is  still  rare.  R.  Columnte  is  also  in  cultiva¬ 
tion,  and  is  desirable,  though  less  so,  in  my  opinion,  than  some. 
It.  comes  from  various  habitats,  said  to  range  from  the  Azores 
and  England  and  Portugal  to  Greece.  This  species  has  a  short 
yellow  tube,  and  has  pale  lilac  segments  veined  with  purple. 
Modesta  and  sub-albida  are  said  to  be  allied  forms.  R.  rami- 
flora,  with  narrow  lilac  segments  and  a.  yellow  throat,  is  also 
procurable. 
I  have  had  R.  Linaresi  from  the  south  of  Europe.  It  has  its 
flowers  of  a  bright  lilac  down  to  the  base.  Elongata,  grandi- 
scapa,  ligustica,  Requieni,  and  Relievieri  ought  all  to  be  hardy 
with  us;  while  the  fine  crocifolia,  a  Dalmatian  species  with 
large  bright  yellow  flowers,  ought  to  be  introduced  if  possible. 
Numidica  is  doubtfully  hardy,  I  believe,  and  its  Algerian 
habitat  is  not  very  encouraging  for  a  trial  in  our  climate. 
These  little  flowers  come  in  very  acceptably  at  a  time  when 
such  unobtrusive  blossoms  are  welcome,  varying  in  date  from 
March  to  July,  few  blooms,  however,  appearing  at  the  earliest 
period  named.  With  a  little  extra  care  for  the  first  winter  or 
two,  they  will  give  much  satisfaction  for  those  who  are  admirers 
of  the  smaller  flowers  with  bulbous  roots.  I  have  to  express 
my  indebtedness  to  Mr.  Baker’s  invaluable  “  Handbook  of  the 
Irideae”  for  much  information. — S.  Arnott. 
Cedar  Wood. 
The  resistance  of  Cedar  wood  to  decay  has  long  been  famous, 
and  Cedar  fence-posts  often  last  for  generations.  A  remarkable 
instance  of  the  indestructibility  of  Cedar  has  been  noted  in  the 
State  Of  Washington,  where  a  forest  of  Hemlocks,  near  Acme,  has 
grown  up  over  an  ancient  buried  forest  of  Cedars,  f  he  trunks  of 
Cedar,  although  lying  in  a  moist  soil,  have  been  almost  perfectly 
preserved  for  at  least  150  years,  the  length  of  time  that  the  rings 
of  growth  show  the  Hemlocks  to  have  been  growing  above  their 
fallen  predecessors. 
Pruning  Fruit  Trees  at  Planting. 
There  are  few  gardening  operations  in  which  there  is  a  greater 
diversity  of  practice  than  in  this.  The  ordinary  amateur,  who 
hears  one  opinion  from  his  nurseryman,  another  from  his  gar¬ 
dener,  and  finds  something  different  to  that  of  both  in  some  fruit 
manual  or  cultural  notes,  may  well  feel  puzzled  as  to  which  is 
the  best  course  to  pursue.  Let  us  hear  what  two  or  three  autho¬ 
rities  say,  and  see  how  much  they  differ.  A  Kentish  firm  of 
great  renown,  and  well  represented  at  the  last  Crystal  Palace 
Fruit  Show,  says :  “  Prune  fruit  trees,  immediately  on  arrival  of 
trees,  whether  standards  or  dwarfs,  as  per  cross-cuts  shown  on 
the  enclosed  engraving  (one-half  to  two-thirds  of  their  length), 
and  if  you  err  at  all,  let  it  be  that  you  shorten  their  shoots 
even  more  than  shown.”  One  of  the  largest  raisers  of  fruit  trees 
in  England,  if  not  the  largest,  says :  “Plums,  Peaches,  and 
Nectarine?  may  be  pruned  back  the  first  year  of  planting  in 
April;  and,  if  planted  early,  Apples,  Cherries,  Apricots,  and 
Pears,  as  garden  trees,  may  be  treated  in  the  same  way,  but  they 
generally  succeed  better  it  allowed  to  grow  for  a  season  without 
pruning.” 
In  an  essay,  which  secured  the  gold  medal  from  the  Wor¬ 
shipful  Company  of  Fruiterers,  the  author  advocates  the  pruning 
of  trees  in  the  spring  .following  planting.  The  Royal  Horticul¬ 
tural  Society,  in  their  excellent  pamphlet  on  fruits  for  cottagers, 
says  :  “  In  order  to  promote  good  strong  growth,  standard  Apples, 
Pears,  and  Plums  should  have  their  shoots  shortened  at  planting 
to  about  one-third  of  their  length,  and  young  bush  trees  should 
be  treated  in  the  same  way  as  standards.  ’  Here  is  a  conflicting 
mass  of  advice!  Each  one  of  those  quoted  above  is  presumably 
prepared  to  back  up  his  advice  by  experience,  and  could  make  out 
a  good  case  for  it.  Doubtless,  all  those  methods  answer  well  m 
skilled  hands,  though  some  better  than  others.  One  is  reminded 
of  the  lines  in  the  once  famous,  but  now  little  read,  classic:  — 
’Tis  with  our  judgments  as  our  watches,  none 
Go  just  alike,  yet  each  believes  his  own. 
I  have  adopted  one  uniform  practice  for  some  years  past,  and 
do  not  intend  changing  it,  as  experience  shows  it  to  be  so  satis¬ 
factory  with  my  soil  and  situation  :  but,  with  such  a  weight  ot 
authority  as  quoted  above,  it  would  be  presumption  on  my  part 
to  soeak  dogmatically  in  favour  of  any  one  system,  but  it  may 
be  profitable  to  look  into  the  various  methods,  the  scientific  basis 
upon  which  they  rest,  and  the  way  they  actually  work  in  practice. 
A  knowledge  ftf  general  principles  underlying  diverse  practices 
Is  often  more  helpful  than  a  knowledge  of  such  practices  them¬ 
selves.  .  ,  . ,  „  ... 
If  we  were  to  carefully  examine  the  earth  from  which  a  young 
fruit  tree  has  just  been  taken  up  we  should  find  it  full  of  pieces 
A  root-fibre.  Each  one  of  these  formerly  helped  to  nourish  the 
tree  and  therefore  the  tree  has  as  much  less  power  to  feed  itself 
in  its  new  home,  before  it  gets  established,  as  is  represented  by 
the  loss  of  all  these  root-fibres.  If  the  tree  still  has  the  same 
amount  of  branch  to  maintain,  it  is  obvious  that  it  can  have 
but  very  little  energy  left  for  adding  to  its  liabilities  by  making 
fresh  shoots  the  first  year,  and  the  probability  is  that  most  of 
the  buds  which  should  have  formed  shoots  will  form  blossom-buds 
for  the  following  season,  while  many  of  the  buds  on  the  lower 
parts  of  the  stems  will  not  break  out  at  all.  The  season  following 
the  tree  will  probably  bear  fruit,  but  the  branches,  being  no 
thicker  than  when  the  tree  was  planted,  will  bear  down  to  break¬ 
ing  with  even  the  weight  of  a  small  quantity  of  fruit,  and  the 
shaue  of  the  tree  will  be  spoilt  for  the  future  This  is  universally 
agreed  upon  by  experienced  men,  and  therefore,  those  who 
advocate  leaving  the  trees  untouched  for  twelve  months  also 
advocate  the  cutting  back,  at  the  end  of  that  time  not  only  of 
any  young  growth  that  may  have  been  made  the  first  season,  but 
of  a  large  part  of  that  of  the  season  before— their  last  season  m 
the  nursery— so  that  when  you  have  had  the  tree  a  year  and  a 
half  it  is  much  smaller  than  when  it  was  planted;  but  from 
these  shortened  branches  of  two-year-old  wood  very  strong 
growths  will  burst  out  the  following  spring,  and  thus  what  rs 
l0e,t  in  the  size  of  the  tree  is  gained  in  vigour. 
There  is  undoubtedly  a  good  deal  to  be  said  m  favour  ot  this 
system  for  standard  trees,  where  the  first  object  is  to  get  a 
strong  healthy  tree,  able  to  bear  the  weight  of  fruit  before  a  crop 
checks  and  enfeebles  the  growth.  It  is  doubtful  however  it 
any  better  results  are  obtained  this  way  even  with  standards, 
than  is  obtained  by  cutting  back  the  branches  to  half  then 
length  at  the  time  of  planting— always  supposing  this  to  be 
done  before  Christmas— when  two  good  strong  shoots  will  grow 
from  each  cut-back  branch,  while  on  the  lower  part  ot  it  fruit 
-ours  will  form  ;  and  then,  bycutting  off  not  more  than  a  quaiter 
of  thece  young  shcots  in  the  autumn  fruit  spurs  are  formed  upon 
them  and  strong  growth  maintained,  and  thus  the  branches 
become  well  feathered  with  fruit-spurs— a  very  desirable  object 
gained.  Thus  we  see  the  working  of  this  general  principle 
cutting  back  a  newlv-planted  tree  induces  vigour  of  growth, 
leaving  them  unpruned  leads  to  fruitfulness  (and.  probably,  un¬ 
sightly/naked  branches)  even  before  the  tree  is  strong  enough 
t0  WhenVe  come  to  bushes,  pyramids,  and  dwarf  trees  generally, 
