The Florist, fruitist, and garden miscellany Volume 6 - Softcover

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1856 Excerpt: ... practice to screen the blossoms of wall trees by sticking twigs of Larch or of evergreens, as Firs or Laurels, betwixt the branches and the walls in such a manner as to overhang the blossoms where they are thickest, and some instead of these use the leaves of strong Fern; but all these things are an objection, on account of their shading the blossom too much, by which it is rendered weak, and the fruit produced often drop away before arriving at any considerable size, so that all this trouble goes for nothing, as there would probably have been as good a crop had the trees been left to their chance." The next extract was from old Philip Miller, who, it would be remembered, was a very celebrated gardener at the commencement of the last century; in his "Gardeners'-Dictionary" of 1741, he says that "There is not anything in the business of gardening which has more exercised the thoughts of the curious than how to preserve their tender sorts of fruit from being blighted in the spring." After stating the contrivances in use in his day, he goes on to say "that the blights which are so often complained of do not proceed from any inclemencies of the season; where they are most subject to what is called 'a blight,' we shall find the branches very small, weak, and not half ripened, as also trained in very close to each other. These branches are, for the most part, full of blossom buds (which is chiefly obtained by their want of strength); these buds do indeed open, and to persons not skilled in fruit trees show a great prospect of a plentiful crop, whereas the whole strength of the branch is spent in nourishing the flowers, and, being unable to do any more, the blossoms fall off, and the small efforts of the fruit buds are checked, so that many times the greatest par...