OCTOBER 11. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. as a small quantity thinly spread on the children's bread would make it much more satisfying, for bread alone does not appease hunger half so soon as when accompanied with butter, lard, &c. In my neighbourhood the poor are so extremely poor, that it is impossible to think that they could make even blackberry Where bees jam for their children's food; but in some cases this might be done, and I think with profit. are kept the honey would turn to good account if kept for this purpose, instead of being sold for a trifling sum, which is soon spent. One or two hives at least might be kept for the children's use, and they would certainly thrive well upon it. If the cottager's wife would send her children to gather blackberries, she might make them, in return, excellent puddings at scarcely any expense, for by simply stirring the fruit into flour, with sufficient water to make it all hold together, and then tying it up in a cloth, she will not need suet, and a very little sugar or treacle will give it proper sweetness. Apples cut into small pieces, gooseberries, and indeed any fruit made into puddings of this kind are very good, very cheap, and therefore very useful; and during the blackberry season dinners of this kind would be cheaper than bread, and the fruit would be more safely eaten than when devoured in a raw state by hungry children. A hedge of blackberry plants has been recommended in THE Cottage GARDENER as a fence, and admirable would be its The cottager might have use and appearance too. a beautiful, useful, and secure boundary to his garden, if he were to throw up a bank, and plant it with He might cover the inner side of blackberry plants. the bank with strawberries, and make it profitable too. No space need be lost, and every spot of ground that is turned to account adds to the beauty and the profit of the little homestead. How many beerhouses would be closed, how many empty seats in churches would be filled, how many suffering village shopkeepers would thrive, how many light hearts and happy faces would be seen, if cottagers would but ," "do their own business and work "study to be quiet," with their own hands," that they "may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that they may have lack of nothing." A parish then would be indeed one blooming garden; "trees of righteousness" would beautify it; there would be "no breaking in, or going out," and "no complaining in our streets." True happiness, whether in a palace or a cottage, consists only in walking closely and humbly with God. Let the cottage gardener remember this, and his path will then ever be one of pleasantness and peace. TO CORRESPONDENTS. BEER-DRINKING (A Tee-total Subscriber).-We cannot do more justice to you, as an able advocate of a good cause, than by inserting the following extract from your letter:-"This week you have stepped out of the garden and put your foot into the mash-tub; and here you must not be angry if you find yourself at once in hot water with all your teetotal readers, and I hope you have a legion of them. At p. 338 you say, 'Not that we would debar the cottager from a moderate quantity of wholesome beer,' &c. You know that there are thousands of intelligent and good men who are now trying to convince the cottagers, the artizans, and all the industrial classes of England, the true philsophy of drink. They have introduced joy and comfort into thousands of cottage homes by dispelling this same delusion about wholesome beer, and it grieves them to find a writer like yourself, with whom they cordially sympathise in your general advice, confirming a prejudice in favour of a beverage which has wrought such deadly ills in every rural district in our beloved country. Do not let any little imaginary pleasure or benefit connected with " drop of beer' blind your poorer readers to the danger of the pot; experience proves that it is very easy to give it up altogether, but very difficult to drink only a little. Good Will Shakspeare gave good a advice when he said, 'Oh! that men should put a thief into their DAHLIA SPORTIVE (C. S., Mile End).-Your dahlia having dark WASPS IN APRIL (J. S. L.).—It is possible that you might catch queen wasps at that season by hanging bottles of beer and sugar syrup about your south wall; at all events every one destroyed at that season prevents the formation of a nest. ERECTING A SMALL GREENHOUSE (Ibid).-If we were situated as you are we should refer to p. 119 of THE COTTAGE GARDENER, and follow the directions there given; obtain the rafters, bars, &c., all ready cut and planed, from Mr. Montgomery, of the Brentford Saw Mills, Middlesex; buy the requisite glass from some wholesale house, and then, by the aid of the village carpenter and bricklayer, put it together. You might erect that described in our 52nd number in the same way. We cannot subject our correspondents to private applications. FUMES FROM PIG-STYES (J. B.).-Cleaning the stye out daily; WINTERING GERANIUMS (W. H. W.).-You will have seen what EXHAUSTED CUCUMBER BEDS (J. W. R.).-These will not do to POULTRY FEEDING (J. R.).-Our correspondent (as well as ourselves) will be obliged by Mr. Haynes, of Daneford, writing us a detailed account of "how he feeds his fowls, the time and quantity of each meal, and any other information he is so fortunate as to possess relative to management which affords him the good return he has described." DRESSING FLOWER BORDERS (Beta).-Dig the flower beds as son, if worked in now. BRITISH QUEEN STRAWBERRY (H. L. Jenner).-We have no fear that you will not be able to cultivate this strawberry near the sea, in Cornwall, although the soil is "like so much Irish snuff." The British Queen does not dislike a light soil, provided it is rich and trenched very deep. We should trench the soil three feet deep, and mix thoroughly-decayed stable dung throughout the texture of the soil to that depth. Your being near the sea is also in your favour, and so is the moistness of the climate. HowSEA-KALE AND ASPARAGUS (J. A.).-You must have dressed your sea-kale beds too soon; the leaves surely were not dead. ever, as you have done it now leave them alone. As to your asparagus beds, you will have seen full directions for dressing them in our last number. HEATING GREENHOUSE (Constant Subscriber).—Situated as your greenhouse is, it might be heated very easily by means of a boiler fitted at the back of your breakfast room fire, and with a pipe running from the boiler round the greenhouse. A Walker's stove would also You could obtain it through any respectable answer your purpose. ironmonger. MODEL FLOWERS (W. R. W. Smith).-Thanks for your suggestion-we will adopt it as soon as we can. FIG OVER-LUXURIANT (Rev. T. G. Simcox).-Your ten years old fig on an east wall, on a poor hungry soil, grows too rank, and upon stopping the shoots you find it bleeds much, and you ask our advice. We would take up your fig and replant it, raising the bed or border a foot above the ground level, taking care not to make it wide-say three feet at the most. The soil should be any poor fresh soil, with which some old lime rubbish may be incorporated. No pruning will avail whilst the tree has an unlimited range of root. You need not fear the tree bleeding to death. Figs will undergo almost any amount of this. In fact, it is difficult to kill a large fig, except by intense frost. GERANIUM CUTTINGS CROWDED (R. J. Y).-Pot them now, rather than in the spring, into pots about 5 inches in diameter, usually "the called 48's. SISYRINCHIUM BERMUDIANUM (W. M. H).-If, as you say, place where this was found (near Corfe Castle) has not certainly been cultivated, or had any care bestowed upon it for 50 years," and if it has not come from any chance sown seed, we think it might be 24 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. Your plant is Origanum majorana, the considered as naturalized. DESTROYING ROOTS OF TREES (Ibid).-Cutting down the poplar WINTERING FUCHSIAS AND GERANIUMS (One with a very Small Garden).-No wonder you killed your plants last winter by starting them into growth by keeping them in a warm kitchen, and then removing them into the cellar. You will have seen what we have lately said on the subject. All that is necessary may be summed up in seven words-keep your plants dry, cold, and dark. If your cellar is quite dry and keeps out the frost, put the plants there altogether. METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS (J. B., Knutsford).-Our observations are founded upon tables, kept in the vicinity of London. Horticultural Society's rules, for rural districts, generally require modification for every locality, but we will consider whether we can usefully publish a list of rules generally applicable, subject to such modifications. Can any one inform our correspondent whether Beauty of Clapham and Manchester are the same variety of geranium? We do not know the latter. Is there such a variety of fuchsia as Albiciensis, or some such name? ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS (Rhodon).-We will see whether we can arrange these alphabetically, without hindrance to answering with the least possible delay. We fear not. MONTHLY PARTS (Schol, Chelmsfordiensis).—Why do you not take "The Cottage Gardener" in weekly numbers? We cannot do more to make the monthly parts prospective than by giving the Why did you not put the calendar we do for the coming month. initials of your name? We recollect every schoolfellow, but remember none but Coote destined for the army. We shall be very pleased indeed to hear from you in your proper name, and can tell you of many of our old playmates; but it is a melancholy catalogue, for the most part. TURF UNDER TREES (0. S.).-It is chiefly the exclusion of light by the branches and foliage of the chesnut tree upon your lawn which kills the grass beneath it. Thin these branches as much as you can without spoiling their beauty, and early in the spring scratch the bare surface of the turf, and sow it with a mixture of the seeds of Poa trivialis and Poa nemoralis, two of the finest grasses which will grow tolerably beneath trees. There are other grasses which will grow Roll the ground after sowing. there, but they are very coarse. HORSE CHESNUT (Ibid).-The bitter principle in the nuts of the It very probably resembles the horse chesnut is not poisonous. asculin, or bitter alkaloid, found in the bark of the same tree, and which partakes of the medicinal qualities of quinine. The chief component of the horse chesnut is starch, and, to render it fit for food, nothing more is necessary than to peel the nuts, slice them, and boil them very gently. The water will dissolve all the bitterness, and may be removed by straining. They might then be mashed, and would make a good food for pigs. INSECT IN BEANS (Basil Ferrar).-You will find, in our paper to-day, a drawing and particulars relative to the little beetle boring Even if the grub from which it came has not holes in your beans. destroyed the embryo of the seed, yet the hole it makes so lets in the wet and air that the seed decays without growing. THUNBERGIAS IN WINDOW (J. C., Gateshead).-You wish to pre- Cut down METEOROLOGICAL TABLE (J. Bonsfield).-Thanks for your offer, WATER MELON (Clericus).-The leaf you sent us was certainly like the leaf of the bitter cucumber, and not like that of the water melon. The black seed you have sent (for which thanks) is certainly that of the water melon. Were all your plant's leaves the same shape as that you sent? VINEGAR PLANT (Rev. E. Bannister).-We have this reply from Mr. Middlemiss :-"It is more than probable that the small circles, of which the Rev. Gentleman speaks, contain the germs of the future vinegar plant. But it appears to me that he has been rather too kind to the mixture, having given it a place in his greenhouse. Darkness is certainly more conducive to the growth of the vinegar fungus than light; therefore, I think, if the Rev. E. B. will put the mixture, covered over, in a cupboard near his kitchen fire, and let it stand undisturbed for a little time, he will yet have a plant off the mixture. If the organ of inquisitiveness be large in the cook, the Rev. E. B. had better put the mixture in the cupboard without giving any strict injunctions about its not being touched; lest, curiosity being excited, the mixture may be often shook about. I may add, FOWL'S DUNG (W. A. Hadleigh).-This, especially if mixed with ASH-LEAVED KIDNEYS (Ibid).-These are best planted in the GERANIUM CUTTINGS (Hortus siccus).-It is common for the old EXPOSING VINES TO COLD (G. F. of F. W.).-You have been CRASSULAS DONE FLOWERING (Ibid).-Cut down those shoots of your crassulas which have flowered to within two inches of the old Those shoots stems. If there are any green shoots that have not flowered, leave them as they are, and they will flower next summer. which you cut now will not flower again till the summer after next. TROPOOLUM TRICOLORUM (A Constant Subscriber).~We cannot name tradesmen, but it so happens that the nurserymen you mention are those from whom we had this flower. INDEX (Carrig Cathol).-It would not pay to have a reprint of the We are considering whether we will not have two indexes in one. the next twelve months in one volume only. We will have the date put in as you suggest. Your questions shall be answered fully next week. REMOVING BEES (E. B. S.).-You may safely remove a this-year's May swarm to a distance of two miles next month. Place the hive on a board, stop up the entrance, tie the whole up in a cloth, pass a pole through the openings left where the four corners are tied together, and let the two men who carry it step together as they walk. PURE SAND (Ibid).-By "pure sand" is meant sand alone, sand unmixed with anything else. River sand is the best for potting purposes. Your other question next week. OLEANDER BUDS DROPPING (M. S.).-The roots of your plants are probably in difficulties. Examine the soil in the pot, and if it be hard and bound pick out as much as you can without disturbing the roots, and repot it in the same pot, giving it some fresh mould. Keep it near the glass, water it freely, and do not let it go to rest until late in next month. BEST CUCUMBER (W. H., Cheetham).-If you merely require a prolific useful sort use the common Long Prickly for forcing; if you wish more for size and beauty sow Latter's Victory of England, Allen's Victory of Suffolk, Victory of Bath, or Browston Hybrid. BEST PEA FOR WINTER SOWING (Ibid).-Prince Albert comes into bearing the earliest, and is both a good bearer and well-flavoured for an early pea. We cannot recommend sowing peas at this time; if you sow in strips of turf and place in a gentle hotbed at the end of January, you may plant out the seedlings at the end of March, turf and all, and have a forwarder crop than if you sow now, and without any danger from birds, slugs, and frosts. WINTERING SCARLET GERANIUMS (Ibid).-You will have seen full particulars how to winter young stock in one or two of our last numbers, and in our pages to-day. The name of your plant is Penstemon gentianoides coccinea; if you wish to propagate from it you may take it up and divide it into as many pieces as it will bear, pot the pieces, and keep them during the winter in a cold frame; or you may take cuttings from the stems now, pot them, and keep them in a cold frame. If you do not want to propagate from the plant, and your soil is dry and elevated, you may leave it in your border. NAMES OE PLANTS.-[* We have again to request that good specimens of flowers may be sent to us, and so packed as to come in good preservation. No one can tell certainly from mere leaves.]-(R. J. Y.). Your plant is Cuphea platycentra, one of the best of greenhouse or window plants; it is a native of Mexico, and introduced here in 1845. Like the scarlet geranium in summer it does well almost anywhere and anyhow; it is not particular about its soil, and flowers throughout the year; in winter it requires more warmth than that of a cold greenhouse. See p. 147 of our 2nd vol. and p. 268 of our first. (John Lee).-As far as we can judge from the faded flowers yours is Fuchsia splendens. (Verax).-We have no recollection of the plant named by us on Sept. 27th, but the plant of which you now enclose us a good specimen is certainly not a Coreopsis nor a Madia, but Gaillardia aristata. LONDON: Printed by HARRY WOOLDRIDGE, 147, Strand, in the N.B. The amount of Rain in inches, and the state of the Barometer during 1848, are shewn in the table below. ST. LUKE.-It is believed that this evangelist was of Grecian parentage, but a convert to Judaism in early life. It is more certain that he was a physician by profession (Coloss. iv. 14), but there is no early authority as to the place of his birth. The best testimony is in favour of his being born at Antioch. Probable surmises are that he was one of the seventy disciples sent forth by Christ to spread the Gospel tidings, for he only of the four evangelists records the event (Luke x.), and that he was one of the two disciples to whom Christ appeared on their journey to Emmaus, for St. Luke only mentions the name of one, Cleophas (Luke xxiv.), yet is so circumstantial in all other respects that the narrative could scarcely come from the pen of any but an eye-witness. Besides the Gospel which is known by his name, St. Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles, and in this book of the sacred writings the first allusion to himself is in the 10th verse of the 16th chapter, where the writer suddenly begins to write in the third person plural; hence it is concluded that he joined St. Paul about A.D. 53, and accompanied him to Philippi. With a slight interruption, we gather from the sacred writings that he continued St. Paul's constant companion probably down to the end of his first imprisonment at Rome. After this, tradition says he returned into Achaia, where he resided a long time, wrote his Gospel and the Acts, and died there at the age of about four score. chronologists have surmised that our world was called forth out of chaos on the 23rd of October; and Mr. Mackenzie, an old meteorologist, considers that they are about correct, because certain periodical phenomena have convinced him by their regular return, "that the elements were set in motion" about the end of our October. But we have to deal with facts, not surmises, and we may record that during the last twentytwo years the average highest temperature of these seven days is 58.4°, and the average lowest temperature 41.1. The changeful character of the season is shown that during these 22 years rain has fallen on 78 days of those before us and 76 have been fine. The greatest amount of rain falling on any one of the days was .85 of an inch. The highest temperature noticed during these days has been 722, and this occurred on the 21st in 1826. The lowest temperature was 20°, and which occurred on the same day in the year 1842. It is usually the season of violent gales of wind, and the one which occurred on the 18th, in the year 1834, was one of the most terrific that ever visited our coasts. The mean temperature of the year occurs about the 21st of October and the 24th of April. Thus, during the last twenty-two years, at Chiswick, the average temperature on the 21st of October is 49.8°, and of the 25th of April, 49.8°. NATURAL PHENOMENA INDICATIVE OF WEATHER. Bats.-These animals and Dor-beetles flitting about late in the evening in spring or autumn foretell that the next day will be fine. But, if bats retreat early to their hiding places, uttering their peculiar squeaking ery, bad weather may be anticipated. METEOROLOGY OF THE WEEK.-It deserves a passing notice that BLUE SKY.-It is a proverb, not destitute of truth, that "If during a rainy morning there is seen a piece of blue sky large enough to make a Dutchman's breeches the afternoon probably will be fine." BONES reunited after being broken are apt to ache at the point of their reunion at the approach of rain-to the truth of which Lord Bacon gives his testimony, though his theory is more than doubtful. "Aches and corns," says this philosopher, "do afflict either towards rain or frost: the one making the humours to abound more, and the other makes them sharper." Whilst "Hudibras" exaggerating for the sake of his satire says: Old sinners too have all points O' th' compass in their bones and joints, INSECTS.-In May and October, in the shady places of gardens, the large Sword-grass moth is occasionally found. It is the Calocampa exoleta of some naturalists, and the Noctua exoleta of others. It is one of the finest of our autumn moths, measuring more than two inches across its expanded fore-wings. These are partly brown, grey, and buff, pencilled with black zig-zag lines towards their base, and dotted with black on the veins and margin. There are two somewhat ear-shaped, light-coloured spots in the centre of each fore-wing. The hind-wings are greyish-brown, with a darker and crescent-shaped mark near the base. The front of the thorax is pale ochrous-coloured, and its back dark brown, and marked as represented in our drawing. The caterpillar is green, dotted with white, with a yellow line down each side near the back, and a red line along above the feet. It feeds on any species of Iris, and we have found it also on the common Sawwort (Serratula tinctoria). LAST week we closed our observations with some notes upon the consequences arising from roots being kept in a heat too high for their healthy growth, and we may resume our remarks by observing that if the temperature of the soil be unnaturally below that in which the branches are vegetating, the effects are equally, though differently, disastrous. The sup No. LV., VOL. III. ply of sap obtained by the chilled roots is too much diminished in quantity, and the edges of the leaves consequently die, or the blossoms fall, or disease attacks some part of the fruit, according to the nature of the plant, or the stage of growth in which it ocThe shanking in grapes appears traceable to this cause. curs. Then, again, a soil abounding in superfluous water is always colder than a soil of similar constitution that has been well drained. The reason for this is obviously that the same quantity of caloric (heat) which will warm the earth four degrees will only heat water one degree; or, to use the language of the chemist, the capacity for heat of water is four times greater than that of the earth's. In every day experience, we see the low lying, and consequently the wettest, portions of a field are always those on which the evening mist or fog first appears; for at one season of the year it becomes colder than the air, and the atmospheric moisture always precipitates first on the coldest surface. At other seasons of the year, evaporation from the wettest portion of a field is the most abundant; and, at those seasons, mists are formed by the temperature of the air being much below that of the earth, and consequently condensing the watery exhalations from the latter. The greater the difference of temperature the denser is the mist, the condensation being more complete. Returning to our immediate subject-the seed-we will observe, as on a former occasion, that the time will probably arrive when greater precision will be attained as to the time when our various seeds may best be committed to the soil. We shall owe that advance to a more complete knowledge of what may be termed the coincidences or synchronisms of nature. The attempt to attain knowledge on this subject is not new, for nearly a century since Harald Barck and Alexander Berger, in Sweden, made many observations directed to this object, and in later years Stillingfleet and Martyn have done the same in England. The first named of these botanists thus expresses himself upon the subject: "If botanists noted the time of the foliation and blossoming of trees and herbs, and the days on which the seed is sown, flowers, and ripens, and if they continued these observations for many years, there can be no doubt but that we might find some rule from which we might conclude at what time grains and culinary plants, according to the nature of each soil, ought to be sown; nor should we be at a loss to guess at the approach of winter; nor ignorant whether we ought to make our autumn sowing later or earlier." M. Barck would derive his intimations from the vegetable tribes alone, but we think the other kingdoms of organic nature might be included-as the appearances of certain migratory birds, and the birth of certain insects. For example, in the east of England, it is a common saying among gardeners-confirmed by practice-When you have seen two swallows together, sow kidney beans. This synchronical mode of regulating the opera. tions of the cultivator of the soil is no modern suggestion, but the efforts of Barck and his successors have only been to find such indications in our north ern clime that would be of the same utility, and similarly admonitory as others adopted by the ancients in more sunny latitudes. Thus Hesiod says, If it rain three days together when the cuckoo sings, then late sowing will be as good as early sowing; and in another place, when snails begin to move and climb up plants, cease from digging about vines, and take to pruning. That our operations may be made justly coincident with certain appearances in nature is supported even by our present limited knowledge. "It is wonderful,” says Mr. Stillingfleet, "to observe the conformity between vegetation and the arrival of certain birds of passage. I will give one instance as marked down in a diary kept by me in Norfolk, in the year 1755. 'April 16th young figs appear; the 17th of the same month the cuckoo sings.' Now the word KOKKU signifies a cuckoo and the young fig, and the reason given for it is, that in Greece they appeared together. I will just add, that in the same year I first found the cuckoo flower in blossom the 19th of April." THE FRUIT-GARDEN. ROOT PRUNING. At page 331 of our last volume, a few maxims were laid down which had, in the main, reference to root pruning under all circumstances. We now proceed to particularise its application, for occasions will arise, both from kind and circumstance, which will in some degree modify the operation. In the first place, then, even old trees of some kinds will bear root pruning, but not all alike. We have within these last twenty years root-pruned pear trees in so severe a manner as would have been totally destructive of the constitution of the peach. The trees alluded to were of the Aston-town variety; they were growing against a wall having a northeastern aspect, and were, to all appearance at least, thirty or forty years old. Indeed, their trunks at the base were, at the time of the operation, nearly a foot in diameter. These trees we were informed had been useful bearing trees some years previously, but had ceased to be productive; producing breast wood nearly a yard from the wall. A former gardener, lamenting their barrenness, had trenched a huge quantity of manure in at their roots; for, as far as I could learn, muck-plenty of muck-as the Cheshire folk term manure, was the only cure known to him for all vegetable diseases. The best of the joke, however, remains; the trees had huge old spurs all over them, extending six inches from the wall, most of them of a peculiarly remarkable character; these he, at the same time, shaved clean away. What, of course, might have been anticipated did indeed occur; the trees made what was termed capital new wood, and this, according to the most approved ancient recipe, was scientifically spurred back, with the idea of generating fruit spurs. The obstinate trees, however, had been so much accustomed to run riot, that they became actually more unmanageable, and instead of yielding their contributions to the proprietor's fruit room they continued year by year to augment the faggot pile. Still the worthy who managed them persisted in spurring back, with an amount of patience which really deserved a better fate. In this state, then, we found the trees 22 years ago, when next March arrives. We had then been what may be termed dabbling in root-pruning somewhat secretly, for in those times we could not afford to be laughed at. Ringing also had been practised, and in a year or so afterwards these huge Astontown pears had a ring of bark removed, of some four or five inches diameter, all round the bole, removing alburnous matter as well entirely away. "Kill or was the maxim. oure We will not go so far as to say that the trees made as much breast-wood as ever, but, truly, they still rambled away, laughing our puny efforts to scorn. Neither, as far as we remember, were any amount of blossom-buds produced worthy of notice; and, strange to say (old as the trees were, and possessing a huge excrescence of old bark nearly an inch in thickness), the wound made by ringing commenced healing with such rapidity, that in a couple of years we could barely discern the place from whence the bark had been removed. Finding that ringing would not reach the evil, recourse was next had to root pruning; and as the trees showed such an amount of hardihood, we determined that this business should not be half done. An excavation was accordingly made in front of each tree opposite the bole, and at about half a yard distance from it; and here we cut through every root which presented a barrier to such proceedings, feeling assured that some enormous tap roots had penetrated the subsoil, which is what is termed by the country people a "booty sand," that is to say, an adhesive material, which appears to blend the marly with the sandstone principle. After passing through or between huge black roots, we indeed met with the tap-roots; and really one tree stood more like a threelegged stool than anything else. Three huge black roots had struck down almost perpendicularly. Here, then, lay the true secret of the enormous amount of breast-wood. These fangs were cut away, and a great sacrifice this appeared. We here found, too, the stratum of manure before alluded to, at about four feet in depth, or nearly so; it had become, in time, a complete humus, or peaty-looking substance, and was crossed in all directions with roots. The soil was then filled in; and, it being the month of December, we waited with some anxiety to see how far this strong operation would affect the production of breast-wood the following spring. April and May arrived; but what a change had occurred! The trees could scarcely develop a shoot of six inches in length, all that summer; and we now found that cutting away the roots, or in other words restricting the supply of food, was a more powerful operation by far than merely arresting or clogging the vital action for a time, by means of ringing. The trees now became short-jointed; spurs, real natural spurs, began to form, and thenceforward we began to eat Aston-town pears again. The trees have continued to bear tolerably good crops in most seasons since; but, strange to say, they are again inclined to become somewhat over-luxuriant. Alburnous matter. The outer portion of the wood, in which are most of the sap vessels carrying the sap from the roots. I ought to mention here that the cutting of the roots was so severe that the main trunk of the trees (which I before named as nearly a foot in diameter at bottom, and might be about six inches at the top) sunk, and became detached from the wall which it before joined; and at this time the main bole hangs six or eight inches from the wall at the top. 66 We will commence our further remarks upon rootpruning by quoting the words of Dr. Lindley, in his Theory of Horticulture." At page 262 the doctor says: "If performed at all, root-pruning should take place in the autumn; for at that time the roots, like the other parts of a plant, are comparatively empty of fluid; but if deferred till the spring, then the roots are all distended with fluid, which has been collecting in them during winter, and every plant taken away carries with it a portion of that nurture which the plant has been laying up as the store upon which to commence its renewed growth." "Its effect is proportionately to cut off the supply of food, and thus to arrest the rapid growth of the branches; and the connexion between this and the production of fruit has already been explained." Again: "It is by pushing the root-pruning to excess that the Chinese obtain the curious dwarf trees which excite so much curiosity in Europe." Admitting most fully these views of the matter, we will proceed to offer remarks based on long practice and observation. ROOT-PRUNING THE PEAR.-First in order, then, we would name the pear as the most eligible subject for this operation; this we think has become tolerably manifest. Next to the pear we think the apple may be placed, then the plum, next the peach and nectarine, then the cherry and apricot. We speak now of the ordinary wall fruits, and the order in which they are here placed is intended to point both to their vital powers of endurance, as also to the frequency of the cases which may be expected to present themselves to fruit growers. The fig and the vine we have left out of the catalogue, as they are not every day fruits; we shall, however, have something to say about them in due course. To begin with the pear: we must point to the fact that on the free stock this tree is peculiarly liable to tap-roots. On the quince it is quite another matter; here the roots are of the most fibrous character, so much so that we can barely conceive a case in which root-pruning becomes necessary. We, nevertheless, have no less an authority than Mr. Rivers against us, who, it would seem, root prunes even on this stock periodically. We must, however, remember his object, which is to produce trees so dwarf and compact in character that the holder of a score square yards may possess his miniature fruit-garden, and vegetables to boot. As to the free stock, then, if pears are growing luxuriantly on these without bearing, it is almost impossible to root prune too severely, at least the deeper roots. If in an orchard, and trees are of some size, they may be curtailed all round also; the amount of root removed bearing, of course, a direct ratio to the amount of luxuriance. In the espalier border we must be content to get at them how we can, remembering what we before observed, that even the cutting of one side will assuredly affect the whole system of the tree, although perhaps not in an equal degree; at least, we dare not in the present state of gardening science affirm it. ROOT PRUNING THE APPLE.-This tree is found in such a variety of shapes and sizes that it is not very easy to generalise a system of root-pruning, at least so as to make ourselves generally understood by those |