MONTHLY CALENDAR. 671 



§ 7.— Feuit-Culture under Glass. 



1S02. This seems almost a misnomer wo?p, as, with the exception of very late 

 crops, the great business at this season is to gather and enjoy the fruit 

 %Yhich our skill and perseverance have helped to produce. However, while 

 feasting eyes and appetite upon delicious flavours and tempting fruit, the idea 

 of culture must never be lost sight of. This, either in its j)ast, present, or 

 future tense, must ever be present to the mind, if success is to be constan 

 continuous, and all but certain, instead of accidental, fitful, and rare. Living 

 plants must not be treated like a box of raisins or a bag of sugar. It will 

 not do merely to eat the sweets, and leave the trees in a sort of lumber-room 

 of forgetfulness and dirt. Insects ai-e often allowed to perforate, and soot 

 and dust to suffocate the breathing-pores of the leaves. I have also seen the 

 leaves cut off to allow the sun to shine on the fncit. 



1803. It would be almost as wise to remove a man's lungs, and expose his 

 stomach to the influence of the aii-, or fill it with an air-pump, to make him 

 healthy. The leaves are the chief instruments in converting certain eai'thy 

 and saline matters, and air and water, into the proper food of plants. Con- 

 sequently, the greater the number, provided they are well exposed to the light, 

 and the more clean and healthy the condition of the leaves, the more rich and 

 luscious will be the fruit, and the more I'obust the health of the plant pro- 

 ducing it. But the leaves perform a twofold function ; they do not only ripen 

 one year's crop, but they lay the basis of fruitfulness for another season. No 

 sooner do they mature the fruit for the current year, than they begin to store 

 lip organizable matter for the next. The quantity of fruit for the next season 

 depends upon the amount of this organizable matter stored up ; and the 

 amount stored is determined by the number of clean healthy leaves that are 

 fully exposed to the light. Hence, the longer the leaves can be maintained 

 in perfect health, the better will be the crop for the ensuing season, and 

 vice versd. 



1804. Sometimes thrip attacks peaches, vines, &c., when the ft*uit is 

 ripe. It is then very difficult to eradicate, as either smoking or syringing 

 with any pungent fluid would mar the flavour of the fruit for weeks, if not 

 for ever. The houses should be thoroughly examined before the fruit is ripe, 

 and if a single thrip is visible, it must be at once destroyed. It is a good prac- 

 tice, if there is the least suspicion of their presence, to smoke two or three 

 times in succession to make sure of their destruction. Notwithstanding all I 

 have said about the importance of leaves, as soon as peach-leaves will fall off 

 with the gentlest touch by drawing the hand up the shoot, — not do7VJi, they 

 may be partially removed. When their adherence to the branch becomes so 

 slight, their elaborating functions are finished; and as there may not be 

 sufficient wind under glass to shake them off, they may be thus assisted by 

 the hand. 



1805. Vines. — Care must be taken in preserving the foliage of grape-vines, 



