406 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



r November 14, 1865. 



crop. We have gathered a basket of fully ripe Fig3 this after- 

 noon (November 3rd), and they are as fine in flavour, but not 

 so large as the first crop. There were fifteen in the basket ; 

 many more could have been added, but the invitation to pro- 

 ceed further was declined. These are, of course, the Figs that 

 are not expected to ripen in the autumn, and but rarely escape 

 the frosts of winter. — A. T., Noirmoiit, Jersey. 



We have gathered here (near Horsham), the second crop of 

 Figs out of doors. Such a thing has not been seen by an old 

 gardener that has been in this place twenty years. They are 

 the White Marseilles. — B. 



STAKES FOR PLANTS. 



The staking of plants, &c., had been an eye-sore to us for 

 some time, and a few seasons since we adopted a plan to 

 which we desire to draw your attention ; it is that of making 

 stakes of galvanised wire, and shoeing them 

 with wood for out-door work, but using them 

 unshod for Pelargoniums, &c. They are scarce- 

 ly obsen-ed when a plant is nicely tied to 

 them, and we have, since we adopted them, 

 used nothing else. The shoes will last several 

 seasons, and the wire perhaps twenty years. 

 We make them thus : — 



The wires maybe stout, thin, or medium, at 

 pleasure. The shoe is of red wood, and a hole 

 is bored, the wire put into a vice, and the shoe 

 struck on. Any person fond of neatness will 

 be pleased at their appearance, or rather non- 

 appearance, the fob'age generally hiding them. 

 — Geo. BnBTON & Son. 



MANGO AND GUAVA CULTURE. 



In reply to the letter of " G. S." in your last 

 Number, I beg to say, that the Mango will 

 grow from cuttings if they are taken from the 

 half-ripened wood, cut through a joint, and 

 placed in a gentlo bottom heat, as I have reared 

 the tree myself in this way. At the same time 

 I quite agree with your eoi-respondent that it 

 would be far better to procure healthy plants 

 of some of the best varieties from Bombay or 

 Madras, as weU as seeds, which if brought over 

 in damp earth grow readily. 



I have no doubt but that " G. S." is right in what he says 

 about the Mango, and I should be the last person to lay down 

 rules for the cultivation of a tree whose habits I understand 

 «o little. At the same time I must say I never succeeded in 

 fruiting it in any ordinary stove, although I have often tried, 

 and it was not until I kept the trees dry and hot in winter that 

 I did so. 



With regard to the Guava, I have grown Cattley's Guava 

 (Psidium Cattleyanum), and it has the double advantage of 

 tearing well, and being very ornamental, but I do not consider 

 it equal to the White Guava (P. pyriferum), which has a finer- 

 flavoured fruit, about as big as a duck's egg, of a beautifully 

 golden yellow colour. The latter tree is very shy of bearing in 

 England, unless grafted on the P. Cattleyanum, when it fruits 

 plentifully. If both varieties are allowed to gi-ow together on 

 the same stock the effect is very good, the deep claret-coloured 

 fruit of P. Cattleyanum contrasting beautifully with the golden 

 P. pyriferum. All the Guava tribe grow readily from either 

 seeds or cuttings. — J. H. 



cross pieces are nailed to these three longitudinal pieces, first 

 at the two ends, and then at 15 to 18 inches apart in the in- 

 termediate space. This forms the skeleton of the cover. You 

 now turn it upside down, so that all the cross pieces are down- 

 wards, as these, independently of supporting the straw, keep 

 it also at a distance from the sash. As it is desirable not to 

 strain the three longitudinal pieces, these cross pieces are only 

 half the width of the long ones. The spaces between the 

 longitudinal pieces are now neatly filled with straw ; so that 

 .when firmly pressed it will be as thick as the longitudinal 

 pieces — namely, 1 inch. The straw is put in so as to mix the 

 upper and lower ends regularly. Then, beginning at the middle 

 of the comer, a tar-string is fastened to one of the side longi- 

 tudinal pieces, opposite one of the cross pieces beneath, is 

 pulled firm to another tack in the central longitudinal pieces 

 and taken from thence to another tack on the opposite side, 

 piece. A string goes across, opposite every cross piece of wood, 

 until the bottom and upper end pieces are reached, when a 

 cross piece of wood is nailed on similar to the one on the 

 opposite side, as being better for taking hold of when covering 

 and uncovering than the straw fastened with a string. In a 

 cover rather better than 4 feet wide, it will at once be perceived 

 that there will be fully 18 inches of string from the side longi- 

 tudinal piece to the central one, and that space is too much to 

 enable the string to keep the staw firm in the various vicissi- 

 tudes from dryness to wet. In the centre of each of these 

 spaces, therefore, a loop is put over the string, passed through 

 the straw, and fastened firmly round the cross piece on the 

 under side. Firmness would at once be secured by placing 

 cross pieces of wood over the straw, similar to those under- 

 neath it, and I did so for some time ; but then the covers were 

 more expensive at first, and did not last so long ; because, iu 

 the first place, they were heavier, and strained the longitudinal 

 pieces more ; and secondly, because in wet weather the wet 

 lodged at the cross pieces, and thus occasioned rotting there. 

 I may add, that I like the straw to be drawn before it is thrashed. 

 The soft ears are thus got rid of, and the straw tubes are not 

 bruised by the flail or thrashing-machine. 



CONSTRUCTING STRAW CO\'ERS. 



In compliance with the request of several correspondents we 

 repeat the directions given by Mr. Fish in Vol. XIII. for 

 making these effective and inexpensive coverings. 



Measure the length and breadth of the sash to be covered, 

 so that in covering a pit the covers fit closely to each other all 

 the way along. Then to make a single cover, get three slips of 

 wood 1 inch thick, and from 2 to 3 inches broad. Two of these 

 form the sides of the cover, and one goes right in the centre. 

 You will perceive that these three pieces will sustain the whole 

 weight of the cover. Being set out to the requisite width, 



PITS FOR BEDDING PLANTS. 



A VEUT common complaint amongst gardeners is that in 

 spring they have a great deficiency of accommodation for their 

 young stock of bedding plants, and it is certainly very dis- 

 heartening for a gardener, after having successfully managed 

 to keep through the winter a good stock of Calceolarias, Ver- 

 benas, i'c, in boxes, when spring comes and vegetation becomes 

 active, not to know what to do with them to give them the 

 needful additional room. He is often obliged to huddle them 

 together into pits, almost as closely as they were in the boxes, 

 and the consequence is they become drawn up to long spindly 

 shoots, deprived of their lower leaves, and so become weakened. 



I think it would not be lost money for any gentleman, whose 

 gardener has much to do with bedding plants, to erect in a neat 

 and substantial manner, and in extent according to the require- 

 ments of his establishment, a range of pits similar to that of 

 which I enclose drawings. 



Besides being useful for bedding plants, by good management 

 and forethought they could be doing good service all the year 

 round. A crop of Melons and Cucumbers could be put in at 

 the beginning of June after the bedding plants had been cleared 

 out ; and after the Melons and Cucumbers were done, I think, 

 provided the pits were closely fitted up, it would not be im- 

 possible to carry on the forcing of Dwarf Kidney Beans, Let- 

 tuces, Kadishes, &c., during the winter months, but, of course, 

 in this case judicious firing and careful matting over would be 

 necessary for success in frosty weather. 



Fig. 1. 

 In Fit). I, a a is the ground level ; b, a line of pillars, on the 

 tops of which is laid a strong beam for the support of the 

 planks on which rests the soil of the bed ; c c, hot-air chamber. 



