September 10, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



237 



a free circulation of air daring their growth. All sackers should, 

 however, bo pulled off, as well as useless leaves that become 

 broken about ; the plants should also be watered freely during 

 this mouth. Spinach for a winter crop should be sown im- 

 mediately, and Tomatoes ripening should be encouraged to do 

 so by exposing the fruit to the sun as much as possible, other- 

 wise the process is long, and disease may overtake them. 



Another most particular operation now is the planting-out of 

 the different sorts of salading, such as Endive, Lettuces, &c. I 

 presume that of the former there have already been some plan- 

 tations made for early use, but none of the plants in the seed- 

 bed are strong ; they have yet time to grow-out considerably. 

 Good sorts are the Batavian Broad-leaved, Green Curled, Digs- 

 well Prize, and the Moss Curled. The last-named is a more 

 delicate sort, and should therefore be one of the first planted- 

 out. Of Lettuces, sowings should be made frequently, and from 

 each sowing plants should be put-out in every available space 

 of rich ground. There is now no fear of their running to seed, 

 and it is just the time of year to get up a quantity to use in 

 autumn and winter. There is no lack of suitable sorts; there 

 are Hicks' Hardy White Cos, the Black-seeded Bath Cos, &c. 

 The above varieties will do to sow now, and the plants should 

 be put-out thickly under the protection of a wall, or in any 

 sheltered corner to stand the winter. Corn Salad also should be 

 sown. This is a very hardy salad ; and Mustard and Cress must 

 not be neglected, as well as Radishes of sorts. 



No time must be lost at this season, every preparation being 

 made, and every care taken, to get things well established before 

 winter. Though their appearance will dictate what should be 

 done, the destruction of weeds must be pursued in every quarter, 

 for it any are allowed to shed their seed now the plants will 

 come up in the spring a hundredfold, and prove a source of 

 annoyance and give extra work at a period when other work has 

 to be done. 



Fruit G.vrdek. — Among fruit trees there are two things which 

 ought to be well looked after. The first is the ingathering of 

 the fruit as it ripens, and the second the destruction of the 

 insects that eat it. This is the month for them in abundance, 

 and I have already taken means to destroy them by the common 

 methods known to almost everyone ; but as to flies and wasps I 

 cannot find anything so suitable for trapping them as the hand- 

 light. For those who may not have tried the plan I will just 

 state what it is. First set a hand-light on a couple of bricks, 

 and place under it a saucer of some sweet enticing liquid, or even 

 a decayed Peach or any other ripe fruit. This hand-light ought 

 to have a small hole in the glass at the top, say IJ inch square. 

 On the top of this another one is set, but with no hole or outlet 

 of any kind, and the places where they join must be stopped 

 securely up. The wasps enter the bottom light, and after par- 

 taking of the liquid fly up and make their way through the hole 

 in the top into the other hand-light, from which they are unable 

 to return. I have caught many hundreds in this way, and saved 

 much fruit which would not otherwise have been preserved. The 

 next thing to look to is to clear the trees of all lateral growth, 

 which at this time of the year is abundant. This admits the 

 sun and light to the buds, and assists in their development for 

 another year. I do not advise the leaves to be picked off the 

 trees, as some would perhaps advocate, for the purpose of ripen- 

 ing the fruit and giving it a colour. I am of opinion that if the 

 wood is properly regulated during the summer, and all super- 

 fluous wood not wanted for the formation of the tree kept off, 

 and the rest pinched-back at the proper season, so that it may 

 not once get the upper hand, there is very little, if any, need to 

 interfere further. 



All fruit that will hang and is not wanted for present use 

 should be covered with netting. I much prefer the well-known 

 hexagon garden netting to any other; it is very thin, yet strong 

 in texture, and admits all the light ; the mesh is so fine that the 

 smallest fly cannot get through. Grape Vines on walls ought 

 also to have their fruit exposed as much as possible to the sun, 

 as it ripens so very slowly in the best of seasons, and the young 

 growth should be stopped-back where it is not wanted. 



Strawberry plantations should be made from plants layered 

 this summer, and old beds filled up where vacancies occur. Take 

 care not to plant them deeply. The ground should be well and 

 deeply dug or trenched, and plenty of good manure added. The 

 ground most suitable is that which has previously grown a light 

 crop, as it is not likely to be so much exhausted as if occupied 

 by a deep-rooting vigorous-growing crop, such as Parsnips or a 

 two-season Cabbage bed, which takes too much out of the ground 

 for the Strawberry plant to do well. — Thomas Recobd. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST AND PRESENT WEEKS. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



"We have on several occasions alluded to the drought and its 

 effect on the different sorts of vegetables; it is now telling on 

 the Apple and Pear in a way that we never saw before. On 

 large established trees the leaves are drooping, and in many 

 instances they are falling off with the fruit. In clayey loam 



with a deep clay subsoil this would not happen, as the subsoil 

 would retain the moisture. Of course, where the fruit has 

 ripened prematurely it would be folly to allow it to remain on the 

 trees to fall off and be rendered useless. Such fruit will not keep 

 well, and is also deficient in quality. We continue to gather and 

 store Apples and Pears as the fruit becomes ready for gathering. 

 It is also necessary to look over at least twice a-week all fruit 

 that has been gathered, as there are always some specimens show- 

 ing signs of decay, and which would, if allowed to remain, cause 

 the sound specimens to decay. Looked over wall trees and cut 

 out some superfluous wood, nailiug-in shoots where they are re- 

 quired. The slug worm or slimy grub has been unusually 

 troublesome this year, especially on Cherry trees, where it seems 

 to be more at home than it is on any other sort of tree. Dust- 

 ing with dry lime has been recommended to destroy it, but 

 a preferable way is to kill it with the fingers. It is a mere matter 

 of time, and if the grubs are destroyed as soon as observed it 

 will prevent the trees from being disfigured. If this pest is 

 allowed to have its way it will effectually skeletonise the leaves. 

 Sowed Cauliflower, Lettuce, Early Cabl:jage, and Onion seeds. 

 We do not find any sorts of Cauliflower succeed better than 

 Early London, Walchereu, and Lenormaud's. As soon as the 

 plants have formed the first rough leaf or two they should be 

 pricked-out in an open position and in poor soil. The same 

 treatment is recommended for the Cabbage plants ; two good 

 sorts are Early Tork and Enfield Market. The only variety of 

 Lettuce that has been sown this year is Hicks' Hardy White. 

 It is probably only a good strain of Paris White Cos, but it is as 

 well to know what is really good of the many varieties in culti- 

 vation. The only variety of Onion sown is the Deptford. 



FRUIT AND FORCING HOUSES. 



Pine Apples. — In the fruiting house there are Smooth-leaved 

 Cayenne, Charlotte Rothschild, and Black Jamaica swelling- 

 off. The night temperature is from 6.5° to 70°; a hiuher tem- 

 perature than this, say 5° more, might be maintained if neces- 

 sary. In our case the fruit is ripening faster than it is required, 

 and in the lower temperature the flavour is quite as good, if not 

 better. Many growers make a practice of watering with manure 

 water. Cow or sheep manure steeped in water and much 

 diluted is the best ; but a pinch of guano is less trouble, and is 

 also good. No manure water should be applied after the fruit 

 has grown to three parts the size it is expected to attain. If the 

 plants are kept overwet at the roots, or overdosed with manure 

 water, in all probability some of the best-looking fruit will be 

 black at the core and unpresentable on the table. 



Cucuinher House. — Making arrangements for planting out a 

 fresh lot of plants. As we have previously stated, the same 

 plants may be cultivated so as to continue in bearing for at least 

 twelve months ; but better crops and superior fruit are pro- 

 duced if the plants are renewed at least every six months. It 

 does not matter much whether the plants are put out in the 

 autumn or spring months. A good time for planting out winter- 

 hearing Cucumber plants is the end of September or early in 

 October; the plants will become established before the dull dark 

 days of Christmas. There is no more useful winter Cucumber 

 than Telegraph, or a good selection of the Sion House type. It is 

 folly to plant very large sorts. Except for exhibition it is not 

 worthwhile to cultivate them at all; however, there seems to 

 be a growing tendency to revert to such coarse varieties as 

 Marquis of Lome, and a very similar sort, sent out last year, 

 called Duke of Edinburgh ; both of these are large coarse Cu- 

 cumbers, not even adapted for exhibition, as the fruit does not 

 increase in length without becoming at the same time as thick 

 as a man's arm. A variety named Duke of Edinburgh, and 

 certificated by the Royal Horticultural Society, is quite a dif- 

 ferent thing, and would be unsurpassed as a winter Cucumber. 

 For summer Civcumbers Tender and True and Blue Gown are 

 models of what an exhibition variety ought to be, but, as with 

 all good Cucumbers, there will be great difficulty in keeping up a 

 true stock. 



Melons have not been good this year; but we would like to 

 impress upon all who wish to obtain good Melons that the 

 plauts must be kept quite free from red spider, and they must 

 not suffer from the want of water at the roots. Again and 

 again we have met with Melons grown in low lean-to pits with 

 no ventilation in the walls, and almost invariably the plants 

 have been suffering from damp at the collar. The cure for this 

 has been withholding water from the roots, and keeping the 

 surface of the ground quite dry. The check to the plants from 

 damping at the neck, combined with the overdry atmosphere, 

 has rendered them a suitable home for red spider; no after-skill 

 could possibly produce fruit fit to eat from such plants. We 

 have always found Melon plants the least liable to damp-off 

 when trained to a trellis overhead; but in whatever way the 

 plants are trained they ought at no time to suffer from want of 

 water at the roots. A good supply of water about two weeks 

 before the first fruits are likely to ripen, plenty of ventilation, 

 with a night temperature of 6j\ and a proportionate rise by day 

 will generally under such circumstances insure good-flavoured 

 fruit. To produce fruit in July, August, and September a span- 



