6o Editors Letter- Box. 



Thomas W. Organ, M.D. — Have you any fixed rule or principle for pruning 

 melons to grow early fruit or large fruit ? Will the same plan give both results ? 

 — Melon-plants are rarely pruned in this country. In warm latitudes, where 

 melons are extensively grown for export or for home market, the fruit forms 

 abundantly, and ripens full)', though the plants are left to their natural growth. 

 In England, where melons are generally raised under glass, the system of prun- 

 ing is quite similar to that usually practised with the grape, and we think a like 

 course of treatment might be followed to advantage with the melon in open cul- 

 ture, wherever the seasons are short and cold. The vine having made a growth 

 of three or four feet, and the fruit being well set, nip off the ends of the leading 

 stems, and afterwards keep the laterals well in check. To do this thoroughly 

 will require an amount of time and patient attention few persons would be will- 

 ing to bestow. In cold climates, however favorable the condition of the soil, 

 the vines should be confined to two or three branches, and the fruit thinned to a 

 single specimen for each branch. But, whatever may be soil or climate, a judi- 

 cious shortening-in of the plant and thinning out of the fruit will promote size, 

 and hasten maturity. 



Idem. — When do you prune out limbs of cherry-trees? — Cherry-trees 

 should either be pruned in winter or early in spring, so that the pores of the 

 wood may become closed before the sap flows, in order to prevent bleeding 

 and gumming ; or, else, after the leaves have expanded. If pruned early, it 

 will have a tendency to promote the growth of the tree ; if pruned late, to check 

 it. A good time to cut out dead wood from old trees is after the fruit has been 

 gathered. 



Idem. — The tree-pasony (of which the botanical Xi2imt'\?, Pceonia ittoutati), 

 moutan being the Chinese name. It is a native of the North of China. In its 

 wild state, the flower is purple, but in gardens we find it white, pink, pale purple, 

 red, and rose. With us, it seldom attains a height of more than three feet ; but 

 in China is said to grow ten feet high. Seedlings are easily raised. 



Idem. — The seeds of perennial phlox often, but not always, come true. 



S. K. Stanton, Detroit, Mich. — Can you give the reason, and suggest a 

 remedy, for the tendency to rot in some varieties of the cherries, notably in the 

 Elton ? My trees of this kind are well grown, thrifty, and profuse bearers ; but 

 the rot attacks the fruit even while green, and it has been a difficult matter, for 

 the last three years, to find enough perfectly sound and ripe fruit to make it worth 

 while to mount a step-ladder to pick them. — The rotting of cherries when ripe 

 is generally caused by rain or damp weather, and the white, firm-fleshed varie- 

 ties, such as the Bigarreau, Elton, Napoleon, Florence, and others, are particu- 

 larly liable to it. The rotting of the fruit when half grown, however, appears to 

 proceed from a different cause, of which we confess ourselves entirely ignorant. 

 We should be glad to hear from any one who can account for it, and suggest a 

 preventive. 



