1869.] SEASONABLE HINTS FOR AMATEURS.-MAY. 111 SEASONABLE HINTS FOR AMATEURS.-MAY. HE severe weather which prevailed throughout the whole of March gave vegetation a very salutary check; fruit-tree buds were very little more advanced at the end of the month than they were at the beginning, owing to the low temperature and almost total absence of bright sunshine. The season, which at one time promised to be early, will, should the cold weather continue, be a late one under favourable circumstances, it can hardly be a very forward one. With the exception of Apricots, Peaches, and Nectarines, all other kinds of fruit trees have been from a fortnight to three weeks later in coming into flower, than they were last year. Most amateurs will be anxious, as soon as the weather is favourable, to get their places planted and decorated. As much of the beauty of a flower garden depends on the arrangement of the plants, this matter must be well considered, and attended to in planting. Those who can winter a quantity of Pelargoniums, can at once make their place gay and beautiful, there are now such a number of kinds adapted for this purpose, some remarkable for the beauty of their foliage, and others for the brilliance of their flowers. For most of the variegated sorts, the soil in the beds should be of a good depth-at least 18 to 20 in.—and it can hardly be made too rich. For the stronger-growing kinds of the plainleaved and zonals, no manure should be added to the soil, unless it be of a very light, poor nature, when some might be put into it; but it should be dug or trenched to a good depth, so that the roots may be able to strike down to some depth, which will enable the plants to stand dry weather without the constant aid of the watering-can. Calceolarias are very easily wintered, and all amateurs may with very little trouble have a good stock of them for planting. They come early into flower and continue to bloom late in the season, and when planted largely make a place look very gay and lively. All vacant spaces, either in beds or borders, should be filled up with hardy or tender annuals. No garden should be without Sweet Peas-they are so showy and ornamental, and are, moreover, so useful for cutting from; they may be grown in patches in mixed borders, but must be rodded to support them; they also make a good screen to hide unsightly objects when grown in rows. Nasturtiums of all kinds are very showy and ornamental, the creeping varieties being very useful for quickly covering bare places. The present is a good time to cultivate such spring flowers as Aubrietias, Alyssums, Arabises, &c. Russian and Neapolitan Violets should now be taken up and divided, and the runners planted about 10 in. apart every way on a border in which some peat or leaf-soil has been worked in; they do best on borders that only get a few hours' sun in the morning and afternoon, and must be kept well watered until they get well established; during the summer the runners must be kept pinched off, and the soil between the rows must be occasionally stirred with a hoe. Wallflowers for next year should now be sown in the open ground. When all the planting is finished, the beds and borders should be neatly raked over. Lawns will now require mowing weekly. Walks should be swept frequently when dry, and be well rolled after rains. As the pits and frames, which have been occupied during the winter with "bedding" plants, will now be empty, they should be turned to good account by growing plants for summer and autumn blooming. Seedling Cinerarias for flowering next winter and spring, should be potted off into small sixty pots; they will do very well in pits or frames if kept a little close until they begin to grow. when air should be admitted to them freely in fine weather. As soon as they begin to fill the pots with roots, they should be shifted into 48-sized pots. They should still be kept in frames, but as the season will now be advanced, the lights may remain off both day and night, except during heavy rains and bad weather, when they should be kept on. Seedlings of Primula sinensis will also do well in pots and frames during the summer months, but they require a little warmth when young until they get nice established plants. For the growth of Balsams, Cockscombs, and other tender annuals a slight hotbed should be made. The pots should be kept plunged, and air should be freely admitted in mild favourable weather. Pelargoniums of all kinds for autumn blooming may be grown in pits and frames. Much attention must now be paid to watering. Plants of all kinds in pots will require liberal supplies. Any plant requiring a larger pot should be at once shifted, and young ones should be neatly tied out as they advance in growth. As Azaleas and other plants go out of flower, the seed-vessels should be picked off. In the Kitchen Garden constant attention must be paid to all advancing crops. The young crops of Carrots, Turnips, Beet, Onions, Parsnips, &c., should be carefully thinned out as soon as they can well be handled, and the ground between the drills should be stirred with a hoe. Sowings for succession should be made of Peas, Broad Beans, French or Dwarf Beans, Turnips, Spinach, Lettuces, and Radishes; a sowing of Walcheren Cauliflower for autumn and winter use should be made about the middle of the month; Celery should be pricked out when fit. and trenches made ready for planting a portion for early use, putting some good manure in the trenches. Cauliflowers and Lettuces for successional crops should be planted. Cucumbers and Melons will now do well without requiring much attention, if there be a nice steady heat in the beds. They should have plenty of air when the weather permits, and water when they require it, and the shoots should be stopped, and thinned out to prevent them becoming crowded. As Potatos appear above ground, a little soil should be drawn up to them to protect them from frost. Disbudding, stopping, and regulating the shoots of fruit trees must now be attended to, and nothing should be allowed to interfere with its being timely and properly done, as on it depends in no small degree the beauty and health of the trees. When this is properly attended to, there is little need for winter pruning. 1869.] ON GRAFTING OLD PEAR TREES. 113 A person The thinning of the fruit should also be timely and well attended to. of my acquaintance has a nice young Victoria Plum-tree against his house. In 1867 the fruit set very thickly on it; he was advised to thin it out well, and was told if he neglected it, the tree could not possibly bear any fruit the following year; but he neglected it, and the result was that the fruit was so small it was of little value, and the quantity was so great that it exhausted the tree so much that the following (last) year there was not a single blossom upon it. This neglect of thinning the fruit is the great evil in our orchard management. Amateurs who grow Vines up the rafters of their greenhouses must now attend to them. The young shoots will require stopping and tying down. The shoots should be stopped one or two joints beyond the fruit, and all laterals sent out afterwards should be stopped beyond the first eye. The thinning of the berries must also be attended to, as soon as they are fairly set. Much of the strength of the Vine is lost when the berries are allowed to get to a large size before they are thinned. It is also much more difficult to thin them properly, when they have become grown so closely together; besides which, the appearance of the berries is the more likely to suffer from handling them at an advanced stage of growth. Stourton. M. SAUL. ON GRAFTING OLD PEAR TREES. T the commencement of the present century, when the number of good varieties of Pears grown in this country was rather limited, those which were then considered the best were most generally planted in the gardens of the nobility and gentry; and where the soil has been suitable, many of these trees have attained a large size, and on walls have taken up a great amount of space, in many instances to very little purpose, as the bearing shoots are generally at the extremities of the trees, while a large space in the centre is unproductive. Now, trees of this class are invaluable as stocks for the many improved varieties of the present day; and thus, instead of the choice of fruits being limited to three or four good old sorts, it may be extended to as many sorts as there are side-shoots to graft upon. In this way, it would be easy from one tree against a 12-ft. wall to have from twenty to thirty different sorts. There is no more interesting object for the fruit cultivator to study, than the effect produced by the gradual cutting back of such trees, and engrafting improved varieties upon them. I have followed the practice here suggested for upwards of twenty years, and it has lost none of its interest as I have gained experience. Moreover, by this method, a great saving of time may be effected in the proving of different sorts, as they come into bearing much sooner when thus grafted than on young trees planted out, while if they are found to be in any way unsuitable, they may be cut back and regrafted the next season. The mode of working is simple enough, and may be so gradually carried out as to interfere very little with the quantity of fruit annually produced. Thus, one side of a tree may be grafted all up in one season, or each alternate horizontal branch may be cut back and grafted, and the remaining branches may be left to produce fruit until the grafted sorts show signs of bearing. Many of them will come into bud the third year, when the remaining branches may be cut off and grafted. Supposing, then, there were ten or a dozen large old trees to be operated upon, and that it was undesirable to interfere materially with the probable supply of fruit. I should graft one side of two trees every season, so that by the time I had got half through the lot, I should expect the first grafted ones to be in a good bearing state; and thus the whole stock might be changed at a very little sacrifice. I always prefer to graft in the rind where possible, but when the shoots are too small for that method, I adopt shoulder-grafting, or saddle-grafting. The sap should be well up when the operation is performed, and moss should be tied over the grafting clay, to prevent it from drying up too quickly, in case parching weather should follow the operation. Redleaf. JOHN COX. BELLE DE JERSEY PEAR. 'VIDENTLY this is the same fruit as the Belle Angevine, Duchesse de Berry, and Royal d'Angleterre of the French horticulturists, and the Uvedale's St. Germain of the English gardens. It is said to have been raised in England, and dedicated to Dr. Uvedale, who resided at Eltham in 1690. It has, therefore, no claim to novelty, although often produced as novel by the itinerant Continental dealers in trees and plants, who occasionally visit English towns for the purpose of turning "John Bull" to account. It is a fruit of remarkable size, and can be made very beautiful in appearance by rubbing the skin over with a sponge dipped in sweet oil during the period of the fruit's development, and exposing the outer side to the sun, which imparts to it a pretty rosy tint. By thinning the fruit, and only allowing those to remain on the trees which are on strong spurs, proceeding from the main branches, they frequently grow to 2 lb. and 3 lb. weight each, and one dozen of these pears exhibited in Covent Garden during the autumn of 1867 weighed upwards of 50 lb. The flavour is not good, and can only be made acceptable to the palate by stewing, and the addition of spice, sugar, and port wine. The remarkable prices some of these large specimen fruits realize is, no doubt, the inducement to produce them, a result which is easily effected by any practical horticulturist of ordinary intelligence. The itinerant dealers to whom I have alluded apply different names to the fruit, such as "La Merveilleuse," "La Belle Excellente," &c., &c., but they are very careful not to allow the specimens they exhibit to be cut or tasted, their object being to sell the trees, which, in spite of fine names and powerful recommendations, is an imposition upon unsophisticated purchasers. They affect to apologize for the objection by |