Transactions of the Tjondon Horticultural Society. 4 31 



" My object in this communication is to induce gardeners, who may find 

 their crop of figs begun to turn yellow, and, therefore, certainly condemned to 

 drop, if not saved by art, to repeat my experiment of ringing behind the fruit; 

 and, if repetition of the experiment by others should show the certain utility 

 of the practice, we shall possess the only particular still wanting to our perfe t 

 command over the produce of the fig tree ; for no fruit tree, as far as I know, 

 is so easily propagated, forced by soil and temperature to produce abun- 

 dant crops of fruit, and, except they fail of setting, made to bring them to per- 

 fect maturity." 



50. On the Means of oblaining abundant AHtumnal Crops of the 

 Double-bearing Hautbois Straxuberry. By T. A. Knight, Esq., 

 F.R.S., President. Read May 21. 1833. 



"Early in the spring of 1832, Mr. Knight introduced a few plants of the double- 

 bearing hautbois strawberry into a forcing-house, from which he obtained some 

 very fine and excellent fruit, and (what he chiefly wanted to obtain) numerous 

 very early runners. These were detached from the old plants as soon as they 

 had acquired sufficient maturity; and they were immediately planted in pots, 

 which, during a few days, were kept in the forcing-house, with a view of caus- 

 ing the plants to emit roots more freely. The pots were then, early in May, 

 removed into the open air; and the plants soon after blossomed very profusely, 

 and, in August, afforded much fruit of very large size, and of very excellent 

 quality ; and the fruit continued to ripen in succession through the following 

 months. 



"By raising many seedling plants from the double-bearing hautbois straw- 

 -berries, Mr. Knight entertains very little doubt but that varieties might be 

 obtained which would possess habits more resembhng those of the alpine 

 strawberries ; and he thinks it not improbable that similar habits might be given 

 to other species of strawberries ; for the Roseberry strawberry not very unfre- 

 quently affords an autumnal crop." 



51. On the Management of the Cactus. By Mr. John Green, Gar- 

 dener to Sir Edmund Antrobus, Bart., F.H.S. Read June 4. 1833. 



The splendid specimens of Cereus speciosus, speciosissimus, Jenkinson?', 

 &c., annually exhibited by Mr. Green, at the Horticultural Society Gar- 

 den, and in Regent Street, render the following communication extremely 

 interesting. 



" The compost that I use is an equal quantity of light turfy loam and pigeon's 

 dung, and one third sheep's dung, exposing the mixture one year to the in- 

 fluence of the summer's sun and winter's frost to mellow. When wanted for 

 use, I add one third of sandy peat, in both cases mixing them well to- 

 gether. 



" I grow the young plants, from February to Jul}', in the forcing flower-house, 

 kept from 53° to 60° Fahrenheit ; I afterwards remove them to a shelf in an 

 airy situation in the green-house, exposed to the mid-day sun, giving them 

 plenty of air, and little water. The plants that I want to flower the following 

 September are placed in the forcing-house the first week in December, giving 

 them very little water for the first ten days, and gradually increasing the water 

 as the plants advance in growth. About the first of February, I stop all the 

 young shoots, which soon become well ripened : from this time 1 decrease the 

 quantity of water until they become quite dry, in order to throw the plants 

 into a state of I'est : in the beginning of March, I replace them in a cold shady 

 situation in the green-house, keeping them quite dry until the following June, 

 when I put them again into the forcing-house, treating them as before. For 

 plants to flower in August, I place a quantity more in the forcing-house the 

 first week in January, treating them the same as those for September; only 

 they are put to rest in the green-house a fortnight later, and replaced in the 

 forcing-house one week sooner. 



