.'32 General Notices. 



men of Ills management, nor is it a suitable tree to receive it. The main 

 l)ranclics are niit placed near enough at bottom, and the stem is too long; 

 so that tliis tree will always remain out of due form. There arc maiden 

 trees planted and intended for Mr. Seymour's method, with which they n)ay 

 succeed, es|)ecially if they attend to laying in the young shoots in proper 

 time. Of this I have no doubt, as the person chargetl with the execution 

 has a competent knowledge of, and nmch approves, the system." Though 

 this niethoil of training the peach, is similar in princijjle to the mother- 

 hrancli-traiitiii<> of the French garileners, described hi various horticultural 

 works published in that kingdom, and particularly by Mr. JSmith in the 

 T'rtinsrirfidiis of the Calahniian Jlorttcultitral Surictj/; yet originalit\' cannot 

 i)e denied Mr. Seymour in his car/i/ .itoppiiig the sunnner shoots intended 

 to bear fruit the iollowing year. His practice in this is entirely new, and 

 n>ay, therefore, be caileil the spur-bcarlng, with as much propriety as it has 

 been called the mothcr-brnnrh-hcarhig, system. — J. j\I. 



Dcsfroi/inii the Apple Biiii (^A^phix /aii'igerfi). — I have found oil and soot 

 well mixed together and rubbeil in with a brush, an effectual ciu-e for the 

 A'phis lanigera on apple trees : for thougii it has appearctl again on the 

 same tree, it has never attacked the same parts which had been once well 

 saturated with the mixture. — B. B. Sept. 6. 1831. 



Hardihood of hi/hrid Melons^ Sfc. — Sir, My i)ur[)osc now is to afford yoii 

 another instance of the greater hardihood of newly originated hybrids, in 

 corroboration of your remark (Vol. VII. p. Gf)().); but 1 have rather attri- 

 buted their aliility to resist unfavourable circumstances to the greater degree 

 of vigour observable, than to any s]K'cific hardihood peculiar to the indi- 

 vidual ; for I ilo not consiikr that they will retain the property after being 

 frecjucntly reproduced from seed, uninHiienccil anew by foreign fecundation. 

 r have this summer met with better success in my cultivation of melons, in 

 an un|)rotected state, from the seeds of hybrids obtained by cross impreg- 

 nation the season previous, than witli old varieties. The offspring of three 

 different hybridisations (one more especially, of which the parents were the 

 two mojt dissimilar varieties I could select) each yieliled more ample and 

 finer [)rotluce than any one of between twenty and thirty established 

 varieties, under no other dissimilar circumstances than that some of the 

 latter were raised from older seed. I send you copies of two letters 

 received from the secretary to our Horticultural Society, in allusion to a 

 melon I hail sent him, which was raiseil from seed, and grown thi-oughout 

 in the open air and conunon groutul. Tiic second letter was written in 

 consequence of my expressing a doubt as to his sincerity, and intimating 

 that he had been lavish of his praise merely to yiekl me gratification. 



" Hurcrslcr, Sept. 27. 

 " Sir, I 1)PK to forw.-iril you tin- mulon Rcc<l, as. rotjiicstcd, niul to ^tate that tho melon 

 which you kindly |iicsoiitcil im.- was hy far the fuiu.st.flavourcil 1 cvere.it, niul tliis was the opi- 

 liiun of othcri wliu t:i>tc(l it. I consider it far superior to thosc grown by lieat. Yours, Sec. 

 " To J. C. K., Esq. J. Etans." 



" Worcester, Oct. I. 

 " .Sir, The colour of the melon was deep oranRC ; and I assure you that what I said respecting 

 lt» flavour was not exaggerated ; especially when 1 inrorm vou tha< a person who had I'rcijucntly 

 tasted melons crown in pits, &c., but would never partake of theiu, nevertheless eat plen- 

 tifully of the one you favourc<t me with, and said it was far Mi]>erior to any he had ever tasted. 



" Vours &c. 

 " To J. C. K., Esq. J. Evans." 



The melon in ciuestiou weighed '.^Albs. ; the largest of that .sort weighed 

 a (jnarter more; but of other hybrids I cut one .>lbs. 12oz. ; anil yet others, 

 with tiie assistance only of a garden hand-glass, attained to 41bs., 5lbs., and 

 even (ilbs. On reference to the account of the meeting for September, 

 yon will note that I there received two prizes for such. (See p. 121 ) I 

 will next year, provided I am equally fortunate, send you a fruit, to enable 

 \()u to judge tor yourself Some that I eat myself were equal to the best 

 produce of my frames rij)ened in July and August; which latter, all who 

 tasted, and, among others, an Eastern traveller, avowed they had never 



