May 20, 1870. ] 



JOUBNAIi OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



itself, the jeautiful petals, and the little stamens in the centre, 

 ate as lovely as ever. The vital spark, however, the fruit which 

 was to have been, is gone. It is dead. 



Fig. 3 represents a healthy and perfect example of the young 

 embryo fruit of the Pear as it exists in its uninjured state. 

 The style in this instance, as in fig. 1, is still of the natural 

 pale-green colour, a represents a cross or transverse section 

 of the fruit in its perfect state. 



Fig. i represents a young embryo fruit of the Pear, also in 

 seotion, as at b, showing the effects of the frost after the fruits 



Fig. l. 



had been set and begun to swell. The style here, as will be 

 again seen, is, as in fig. 2, black, and the injury may be traced 

 to the centre of the fruit, as shown at B, which is a transverse 

 seotion of the latter. Fruits like these, having black hearts, 

 are also dead, being killed by frost. 



In the case of Strawberries the effects of frost on the ex- 

 panded blossoms, and it is but rarely they are injured at any 

 other stage, is very readily apparent, and pretty generally 

 understood by the term " black eyes." 



Fig. 5 represents the healthy and perfeot blossom and 

 embryo fruit (receptacle) of the Strawberry ; jig. 6, with the 



Fig. 5. 



blaok oentre or "black eye,'' has the fruit killed. It is here 

 also only the stjles and ovary that are injured, not the 

 stamens and petals which remain beautiful as ever, though the 

 fruit is dead. Strawberry blossom is sometimes injured in 

 the same way by heat or strong Bunshiue. 



It will be seen, therefore, that the most tender portion of the 

 flower or fruit is the style or pistil, and that is the vital part ; 

 when that is injured in any way, however slight, the uses of the 

 flower are at an end. The stamens are almost as hardy as the 

 leaves, and are very rarely injured. The petals, also, which are 

 the beauteous part, stand a good deal of rough usage. They are, 

 however, of no benefit to the fruit. To discover when Apples or 



Pears are killed by frost, simply look to the pistil, whioh ve*y 

 soon shows the effect ; if it is green it is well, if black then Hie 



dead ; and for further satisfaction cut transversely through the 

 young fruit, and experience will soon teach, even with the 

 fairest flower, the value of a black heart. — Akchahbaud. 



THE AMATEUR GARDENER.— No. 1. 



(CHAPTERS NOT IN WALTON.) 

 A GARDEN— TIME, AN EARLY MORNING IN JUNE. 

 " One, who long in pop'lous city pent, 

 Where houses thick and sewers annoy the air, 

 Forth issuing on a summer's morn to breathe 

 Among the pleasant gardens and the fields 

 Adjoin'd, from each thing met oonceives delight." 



Eortator. — What, Civis ! Can I trust my senses ': What 

 sudden calamity has driven you from your bed at this un- 

 seasonable hour, and translated you from the warmth of 

 blankets to the breezes of the oountry ? 



Cms. — Nay, friend, Hortator, don't be too hard upon me ; 

 no misfortune has overtaken me, but the warm rays of the sua 

 in this beautiful June morning bo roused me from my sleep, 

 that I thought I would fain see with my own eyes whether it 

 was really true that you worked thus early in your garden, and 

 I am well satisfied with the result of my unwonted vigour. 



Hortator. — Well, I am delighted to see you, from whatever 

 cause I am indebted for the visit ; and if I could induoe you to 

 fallow my example you would thank me to the end of your 

 days, and would find a new element in life, affording you in'' 

 exhaustible pleasure. But come, let us take a stroll round 

 the garden while breakfast is preparing, and excuse me one 

 moment while I run into the house to apprise my wife of the 

 Unexpected pleasure of the companionship of a friend at our 

 simple breakfast- table. 



Civis. — What a lovely morning ! What a soft balmy air ! 

 How delicious the scent of the Sweet Briar 1 and what a pej - 

 fume is wafted from the bed of Roses ! 



Hortator.— Yes ! Here is no pungent smell of Musk, no 

 strong artificial perfume, which rather offends than pleases the 

 senses. This is Nature's own laboratory, a natural floral dis- 

 tillery, an evidenoe of God's still " walking in the garden in 

 the cool of the day." 



Cins. — And what music too ! How delightfully that thruBii 

 sings in yonder tree ! 



Hortator (smiling). — Pardon me, friend Civis, but I am 

 a little amused at the evidenoe of your town breeding, or may 

 be, your unmusical ear. The bird whose flute-like note you now 

 hear is not the thrush or the " morvel," as the old wi iters 

 called it, but the blackbird. Pay me a few more morning visits 

 and I will soon teaeh you, unless your ear be dull indeed, to 

 distinguish between the two. But now the blackbird has ceased, 

 the thrush has taken up the song. Mark, what a change of 

 note ! the one soft, mellow, and broken ; the other bold, varied, 

 and continuous. I know not of what men's hearts can be 

 made who oan destroy these delightful songsters, the pride of 

 English rural life, the charm of our gardens and pleasaunoee, 

 who sing the great Creator's praise with sinless throats. 



Civis. — But are they not terrible destroyers of fruit ? 



Hortator. — Well, I admit they do sometimes thin our Cherry 

 trees, reduoe our crops of CurrantB, and steal a few Straw- 

 berries ; but all this black mail I would gladly sacrifice in pay- 

 ment for their sweet notes and melodious voices. Besides, 

 with a little care and a very little expense their depredations 

 may be reduced to the smallest of misdemeanors, not for a 



