1871. 



NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



245 



make rampant growths in young trees, 

 or they -will rob the weaker ones of sap, 

 and destroy the balance of growth 

 which is so desirable. Trees that have 

 been planted two or three years in new 

 borders are apt to grow undesirably 

 strong. A good way of counteracting 

 this tendency is to crop them rather 

 heavily. 



Figs. — These will be swelling their 

 crop rapidly, and require to be well 

 supplied with manure- water, especially 

 if they are old plants with their roots 

 limited either to pots or borders of 

 comparatively small dimensions inside 

 the house. Syringe freely every fine 

 afternoon, and frequently sprinkle the 

 paths and surface of the border through 

 the day; but gradually withhold moist- 

 ure from the air as the fruit bhow signs 

 of ripening, and increase the ventilation, 

 otherwise the fruit will be insipid. 

 "When the second crop is forming in 

 early houses, thin them out in time. A 

 fair crop of large, well-swelled fruit is 

 worth twice the quantity of small, 

 skinny produce. Attend to stopping 

 and tying down shoots in later houses, 

 and avoid crowding in too much wood 

 and foliage. 



Melons. —Sow and plant out for 

 succession crops both at the beginning 

 and end of the month. Attend care- 

 fully to the tying and stopping of 

 those planted in April, and impregnate 

 the blooms, performing the operation in 

 the middle of the day. The depth of 

 soil for Melons should now be more 

 than for early crops, as it is very unde- 

 sirable to be obliged to water often 

 when the fruit is swelling. It frequent- 

 ly causes the fruit to burst. A greater 

 depth of soil prevents the crop from 

 suffering without being so copiously 

 supplied with water ; and a few heavy 

 waterings enables them to perfect their 

 crop, especially if the surface of. the 

 bed be mulched. As soon as the fruit 

 begins to ripen give more air, and no 

 more water at the root. 



Cucumbers. — Plant out for late 

 summer and autumn supplies. Those 

 now in full bearing will require copi- 

 ous supplies of water, and if from 

 long - continued bearing they should 

 show signs of flagging energy, top-dress 

 the bed with well-decayed manure ; old 

 mushroom-bed manure they do well 

 with. Keep thrip, green-fly, and red- 

 spider at bay by the usual preventives 

 and remedies. Those that have been 

 in bearing all winter may, if others are 

 sufficiently advanced to keep up the 

 supply, be torn out and their place 

 occupied with Melons, or, if required, 

 planted again for Cucumbers. 



Strawberries. — Those will now be 

 very troublesome with red -spider should 

 the weather be hot, and particularly if 

 the plants are standing on shelves, and, 

 except when ripening, will require to 

 be regularly syringed on fine afternoons. 

 To half-fill 6-inch pots with rich soil 

 and stand the pots in these, is the best 

 way of nourishing and swelling fine 

 fruit that we have tried. While they 

 are thus supplied with a feed of fresh 

 soil, their pots are also shaded more 

 fully from the sun than when standing 

 in shallow pans of water, or even when 

 such pans are filled with. soil. All 

 plants that are now done bearing may, 

 after being properly hardened, be plant- 

 ed out in well-trenched and manured 

 soil, to give runners for another year's 

 supply, and also to bear out-doors next 

 year, for which they are invaluable. 

 As a general rule, Keen's Seedling and 

 Prince of Wales are best for early 

 forcing. 



French Beans. — A quantity of these 

 should now be turned out into beds of 

 soil, in frames, to keep up the supply. 

 This is, however, best deferred till to- 

 wards the end of the month in most 

 localities. Those bearing in pots must 

 be well syringed and watered with man- 

 ure-water everyday, and turned out 

 immediately they cease bearing. 



We deeply regret that, owing to press of matter, several communications of 

 great interest are unavoidably postponed. 



All business communications should be addressed to the Publishers, and com- 

 munications for insertion in the ' Gardener ' to David Thomson, Drumlanrig 

 Gardens, Thornhill, Drumfriesshire. It will further oblige if all matter intended 

 for publication, and questions to be replied to, be forw^arded by the middle of the 



