Another plan is to lay the pots on the ground and cover them with mats. Take them back to the house before the buds begin to move. Shape the trees in winter, and summer prune as may be necessary. They require syringing as well as rich feeding when carrying a crop. A mixture of poultry droppings or night soil (half a barrowful) added to the same amount of sifted soil and of wood ashes, with a peck of soot and a peck of bone dust, all made into a compost a few days before use, is a strong surface-dressing. A layer half an inch thick when the fruit is swelling should be given two or three times, and be watered down with a fine rose. Messrs Bunyard recommend cow manure mixed with malt combings, and (as an artificial) sulphate of ammonia. Liquid manure (not strong nor cold) must also be given two or three times a week. The fruit must be thinned, and the trees never over-cropped. Large trees in 16 or 18-inch pots need the annual renewal of the soil rather than repotting. The flowers should be fertilised by the admission of bees, by shaking the trees in fine weather about mid-day, or by passing a light brush gently over the blooms from flower to flower. Change of diet as well as air, and frequent syringing with clear water (say Messrs Bunyard) are very necessary ("Modern Fruit Culture," p. 23). But a dry atmosphere is best when pear and plum trees are in flower. Syringing in the open air is good for all trees in dry weather after the fruit has set. The following is a good wash to be applied when the trees are brought into the house in January or February. Put a peck of fresh soot into a coarse sack, and hang it in a tub containing 30 or 40 gallons of water; leave it there for eight or ten days; then remove it and throw in half a peck of fresh lime. Mix well, then take off the surface scum. A decoction of quassia made by boiling 2 or 3 ozs. of chips to a gallon of water for twenty-five or thirty minutes (or steeped in soft water for twenty-four hours) added to the above is a useful insecticide. Syringe with this before the buds appear, but not again until the fruit is set, then once a week, or oftener, as occasion may require. _N. B._--Never repot until you have learnt that the ball and roots of the tree are thoroughly moist. Soak the ball, if necessary, for twenty minutes. In surface-dressing leave a space near the tree open, that you may see what water is wanted. Never give _strong_ liquid manure. As severe frosts and dull weather sometimes occur in March when the trees are in bloom, some hot-water pipes (two rows of 4-inch) may be added if means allow. A span-roof house should run north and south. Only the choicest sorts should be deemed worthy of a house, such as Bon Chrétien, Souvenir du Congrès, B. Brown, B. Superfin, Louise Bonne, B. Hardy, Maréchal de la Cour, Marie Louise, D. du Comice, Josephine de Malines, Winter Nelis, Passe Crassanne, Bergamotte Esperen, and others.