Bearing in mind at planting, or at any time after planting, what is required, the pruning must be in accordance therewith.

Planting. This work should not be deferred any longer than the end of this month; therefore make every preparation for getting it out of hand. Trees intended either for walls, espaliers, or to be grown as standards, may one and all be got in, provided the weather is favourable. For walls the best sorts are-Apricots, Peaches, Nectarines, Plums, Pears, Vines, Figs, Cherries, and Quinces; for standards, Apples, Pears, Plums, and Cherries, with smaller quantities of Quinces, Medlars, Mulberries, and Filberts; for espaliers, Apples, Pears, Plums, Cherries, and Quinces. Where the soil is of a loamy nature there will be no necessity to use dung at the time of planting, as it is easy enough to supply nourishment whenever requisite; but too rampant a growth is not at any time desirable; therefore do without stimulants at the onset, at all events. The following rules should be carefully attended to:-In taking up the tree, preserve all the fibres you can; remove the damaged ends. of the root; cut in the head in proportion to the injuries the root has received; plant the tree no deeper than the collar of the root; and, by way of securing it against damage from high winds, etc., fasten it securely to the wall, or to a stout stake, as the case may be.

Plums. As these bear principally on the young wood in the same way that Apricots do, they should be pruned in a similar manner when on a wall or trellis; but standards merely require thinning out, to give light and air and throw additional strength into the bearing branches.

Quinces. The directions given for the pruning of Plums equally apply to these, and as such is the case there will be no necessity to repeat the advice.

Raspberries. You may now make fresh plantations of

these, observing to procure young stools that are furnished. each with several strong canes or shoots of last summer's. growth, which may be obtained in plenty from old plantations, as they always send up an abundance of young growth. Preference should be had, as a rule, for those with good fibrous roots, while such as have naked and woody ones ought to be rejected. Make it a practice to prune off the weak tops of these canes, as well as the long straggling fibres of their roots, and plant them in trenches made with a spade, in rows four feet and a half asunder, and two or three feet apart in each row. This distance may appear considerable at first, but they should never be planted closer, as the advantage of it will be seen in two years' time; for when planted too close they will, in the summer season, form a perfect thicket, the result of which will be that the fruit will turn out not only small, but very inferior in flavour, to say nothing of the difficulty that will be experienced in the gathering of them, from want of space to move about.

Strawberries.-Nothing is more simple than the culti vation of these, although it is not every one who knows how to set about the work. This month is the last for making beds with the slightest hope of a good crop; indeed, if the planting was done in August or September, it would be infinitely better. The plants should be put out eighteen inches apart in the rows, and three rows together the same distance from each other; but if you have six rows or more, every third vacancy should be two feet wide. Provided the soil be good and strong, you will have berries as fine, and as rich in flavour, as those who go to a far greater expense in their cultivation. On a warmly situated border the fruit. will come earlier; but for this purpose you must procure strong plants, insert them firmly in the ground, water them in very dry weather, and leave nature to do the rest. As soon as the fruit begins to swell, put clean straw between

the rows to prevent the fruit from becoming gritty in rainy weather.

Vines. These may be trained and pruned any time during this month, or even later, provided the weather will permit. When about to undertake work of this kind, bear in mind that, as the strong new shoots of last summer are the only bearing wood, such branches and shoots should be trained very carefully from about ten to twelve inches apart, either horizontally or perpendicularly, according as the space of wall will allow; and therefore, in the pruning, carefully leave a requisite supply of last year's shoots, so that every part may be adequately furnished with them.

FEBRUARY.

Alterations. If you intend making any alterations in this department, now is the time to do it. In a word, begin the year as you mean to go on, by making every improvement in your power, not only for appearance' sake, but with a view to benefiting whatever you contemplate cultivating; for, remember, "Whatever is worth doing, is worth doing well."

Arrears. Provided you have cleared up all arrears, such work as pruning, nailing, and planting-of which we shall have occasion to speak presently-is the chief thing to be done this month; but if, from unforeseen causes, you have been unable to follow our advice as closely as you should have done, why then there is but one remedy open to you, namely, to lose no time in making up for delay; and since, as we have already stated, the present time is favourable for the work, we would strongly impress upon our readers the necessity of getting it done immediately.

Currants. These are propagated by seeds, suckers, or cuttings. The first should by rights be sown as soon as ripe, when they will come up in the spring following. But as it is a far easier-that is to say, a more expeditious— method to increase your stock either by cuttings or suckers, we would recommend you to put in as many of the eligible shoots made in pruning as you are likely to want; and as pruning should be completed at once, now is the time to think of propagating also. Black Currant bushes are not fond of the knife; therefore only the weak and spindly shoots ought to be cut off, clean to the base, and the strong ones left, because the fruit comes on the last year's wood;. but the bush must not be allowed to get choked or crowded. With regard to suckers, all you will have to do is to ascertain from what part of the bush they spring, and, having detached them with a knife, plant them out in rows six inches apart, and the same distance asunder in the rows.

Gooseberries.-The directions given for the above stand good with regard to these; therefore it is unnecessary to enlarge upon the subject.

Grafting. The end of this month is a good time tobegin this work; and as it is easy to get a piece of any good Pear or Apple, Plum, Cherry, Peach or Apricot, Nectarine,. or other fruit, you may cut down any other less valuable. tree of the kind. All you have to do is to cut both the stock and the graft to fit each other; tie them well to secure them, and put clay or grafting wax (see page 124) over them to keep the air out. There are a great many methods

of joining the two, but where the tree to graft on and the piece to be grafted on it are the same size, the operation is much about the same as splicing a broken stick.

Planting.—In performing this operation, always make the hole deeper and larger than required to admit the root,. and throw the loosened soil back in part, so that the tree

will stand on soft ground. Set the tree in the hole higher than it is to be, because it will be trodden deeper in, and sink, and for this you must allow; the surface ought to just cover the collar, and no more. If you are planting new wall-fruit trees, choose one year old from the working, or at most two; cut back all the branches to three eyes, and of course three shoots will come for each one removed, so that the wall will be rapidly furnished. Some buy trained trees, and want fruit directly. In this case, the roots must not lose a fibre, and must not be exposed an hour to the air. Besides this, we should cut back every alternate branch to three eyes, and have the others only shortened back to wellripened wood. The only difference observed in planting a standard fruit tree would be, that it must be fastened to a stake instead of the wall; the holes to be made twenty or thirty feet apart in the open ground for standards, and from fifteen to twenty for the wall. The stem should be six or eight inches from the wall at the crown of the root, and slope to the wall. With regard to supporting the standards, three stakes a foot off, on three sides, and to cross at the top where the stem is to be tied, will be found the most firm. Raspberry canes, Gooseberry and Currant bushes, and Filberts must be planted by the same rules, and with equal care. Planting espaliers is similar to planting wall trees ; the only difference between them is that the former is nailed to a wall, and the latter tied to a trellis, but pruned and trained flat, and never suffered to grow outwards.

Pruning. Work of this description should be forwarded as quickly as possible, the chief object being to get the operation over before the trees have made any considerable advance in the blooming line. While the wall trees demand attention, it should be remembered that standards may be improved greatly by equal care, although they are generally left to themselves, rarely being visited