320 Cucumbers. — Setti?ig the Blossoms of Pears. 



Gardener's Magazine, it may prove of the same advantage to 

 others that it has proved to me. 



I am, Sir, &c. 

 January 11. 1827. A Country Clergyman. 



Art. XXVI. Abridged Communications. 



1 . Cultivation of the Cucumber at Thoresby Gardens, Not- 

 tinghamshire. By Mr. Thomas Parkin, Foreman to 

 Mr. Bennet, C.M.H.S. 



Mr. P., with a commendable modesty, professes not to 

 write for the instruction of practical gardeners, but for the 

 information of such readers of our Magazine as have not the 

 advantage of professional advice or assistance. The manage- 

 ment of the cucumber frames at Thoresby Gardens is con- 

 ducted with so much ability and success, that it is more than 

 probable but few practitioners could desire a better return for 

 their labour: 1024 fruit from 14 lights between the 13th 

 March and the end of August ; 5 of the lights not worked 

 till the beginning of June. Mr. P.'s method is stopping the 

 leading shoots early; again stopping wherever the fruit ap- 

 pears ; compost, a light sandy maiden soil, mixed with decayed 

 oak leaves or rotten dung ; temperature of the frames from 

 75° to 95° ; watering plentifully with warmed water as soon 

 as the sun is off the plants. 



2. Setting the Blossoms of the more shy-bearing Kinds of 

 Pears. By Mr. James Michie, Gardener to Sir Charles 

 Hulse, Breamore House, near Fording Bridge, Hamp- 

 shire. 



A Gansell's Bergamot, twenty years old, on a wall with a 

 S.W. aspect, which seldom bore any fruit, bore abundantly 

 after being stuck over in the flowering season with sprigs of 

 blossom from a standard Swan's Ego; Pear. Some shoots of 

 an adjoining Chaumontelle, trained in among the shoots of 

 the G. B., had the same effect on that part of the tree. This 

 mode of artificial fecundation Mr. M. has followed for several 

 years with complete success. 



