566 PRACTICE OF GARDENING. Part III. 



eopiously when the weather is mild and calm, and accompanied with sunshine, during the time the cherries 

 are in bloom, and also near the time of their ripening." {Hort. Trans, iv. 119.) 



3138. Insects, diseases, and depredators. " The cherry is liable to be infested by a 

 small grub-worm, which rolls itself up in the leaves, and extends its ravages to the fruit. 

 As soon as this insect is perceived, the trees should be searched daily, that it may be de- 

 stroyed by the hand, and prevented from spreading. It usually shows itself first about 

 the time "of flowering. Cherries set, or in blossom, require great attention. Like rose- 

 buds, they are liable to be destroyed by a small grub-worm, which rolls the leaves round 

 itself, occasionally, for a covering : it preys on the leaves as well as the fruit. The trees 

 should be searched once or twice a-day, to destroy them with the hand as soon as they 

 can be observed. Whenever a leaf appears to begin to curl, be sure there is an insect in 

 it, or the embryo of one. The cherry-house, as the season advances, may be smoked once 

 a-week or ten days, which will prevent the trees from being infested with a blackish kind 

 of insect, frequently very pernicious." {Gard. Remem. 161. 191.) When the fruit 

 are ripe, it is likely the birds will fly in and eat them, if you do not contrive nets, or some 

 other method, to keep them out. If the meshes of the nets which you employ are narrow, 

 the wasps and flies, as well as the birds, will be prevented from getting in ; for, as these 

 insects generally fly in, they therefore require room for their wings extended, otherwise 

 they are repulsed in their attempt. {Gard. Remem- p. 246.) 



3139. Nicol, after every winter pruning, washes the trees over with the mixture of soap, sulphur, &c. 

 already mentioned (3061.) ; and in spring and summer waters over the leaves, picks off grubs, and fumi- 

 gates, like M'Phail. 



3140. Torbron fumigates for the black fly, and picks off the grub. 



3141. Gathering and keeping the fruit. If it be found necessary, cherries will keep for 

 some time on the trees, provided the birds can be kept from them. Keep the house, for 

 this purpose, dry, cool, and well aired. ( Gard. Remem. 246. ) 



3142. Exposing the wood. This, according to all the authors quoted, may be done from 

 the time the fruit is gathered, till within a week or ten days of the recommencement of 

 forcing. The glass should be entirely taken off, unless the cherry-house is in part used 

 for some other purpose, to which this practice would be injurious. 



3143. Forcing cherry-trees in pots. M'Phail and Nicol concur in approving the very 

 general practice of planting cherry-trees in pots ; in which, or in tubs of a foot or fifteen 

 inches diameter, they may be successfully forced. " Three or four dozen good plants, 

 well managed in this way, would give a deal of fruit ; which might be had in succession 

 for a considerable length of time, by dividing the plants into three or four classes or divi- 

 sions, and shifting them from one compartment to another. In January, the first twelve 

 trees maybe placed (from the open air, of course,) in the green-house or conservatory, if 

 there be one, or in a peach-house now at work ; placing them in the coolest part of the 

 house, but in the full light, and where they may have plenty of air. They must be duly 

 attended to with water at the root, and be frequently syringed at top, generally once in 

 two days. The pots being occasionally watered with the drainings of the dunghill, would 

 add much to the vigor of the plants : there is no method of manuring more effectual, or 

 so easily accomplished. The plants may remain here till the fruit be fairly set, the stoning 

 over, and all danger of dropping be passed. They may then be placed in a vinery or 

 stove to ripen off, where they would come in early, and be very high-flavored, if placed 

 near the light, and so as that they might have free air daily. In February, a second and 

 third dozen should be taken in, and a fourth in the beginning of March, and each simi- 

 larly heated." {Kalend.) " It is very common with early forced cherry-trees to bear a 

 second crop late in the same season." {Hort. Trans, iii. 367.) 



3144. Forcing by a temporary structure. Torbron observes, that, " where a portion of 

 wall (especially with a southern aspect), already well furnished with May-dukes, perfectly 

 established, and in a bearing state, can be spared for forcing, a temporary glass case may be 

 put up against it ; the flue may be built on the surface of the border,without digging, or sink- 

 ing for a foundation ; neither will any upright glass or front wall be requisite ; the wooden 

 plate on which the lower end of the rafters are to rest may be supported by piles, sunk or 

 driven into the soil of the border, one pile under every, or every alternate rafter. The 

 space between the plate and the surface of the soil should be filled by boards nailed 

 against the piles, to exclude the external air, for the plate must be elevated above the level 

 of the surface from eighteen to thirty inches, or whatever height may be sufficient to let 

 the sashes slip down, in order to admit fresh air. I believe this to be an uncommon struc- 

 ture, and it may perhaps be objected to : but I am confident that it will suit well for 

 cherries, for I have constructed such places even for forcing peaches with good success, as 

 well as for maturmg and preserving a late crop of grapes. " {Hort. Trans, iv. 117.) 



Sect. V. Of the Culture of the Fig-house. 



3145. A house for forcing the fig is seldom built expressly for that purpose ; partly 

 from there being no great demand for the fruit in most families, and partly because figs 



