May SO, 1865. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUKE AND COTTACJE GARDENER. 



4ffi 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 



of 



M'nth 



Dey 



of 



Weet. 



TV 

 W 

 Th 



F 



S 

 Son 

 M 



MAT 30-JUNE 5, 1865. 



Toadgrass flowers. 

 Figwjrt flowers. 

 Bogbean flowers. 

 Elder flowers. 

 Hye Grass flowers. 

 Whit .Sdnday. 

 Whit Monday, 



AveraEB Temperature 



Rain In 



last 

 33 years. 



Son 



Sun 



near London. 



Rlse». 



Sets. 



Day. 



NiRht. 



Mean. 



Days. 



m. h. 



m. li. 



68.0 



45.2 



.■iG.C 



16 



52af3 



2.ir8 



69.1 



46.1 



67.1 



14 



51 3 



3 H 



68.2 



44.1 



.'iG.l 



13 



51 3 



5 8 



68,4 



45.0 



56.7 



16 



60 3 



6 8 



69.0 



44.4 



56.7 



17 



49 3 



7 8 



69.1 



44,8 



57.0 



14 



48 3 



8 a 



70.G 



47.0 



58.8- 



22 



47 3 



9 8 



Moon 

 Uises. 



48 9 

 51 10 



11 





 2 

 3 



4 



Moon 



Sets. 



Moon's 

 Aeo. 



Clock 

 after 

 Bun. 



m. h. 





m. B 



49 11 



6 



2 45 



morn. 



7 



2 36 



13 



3 



2 28 



37 



9 



2 18 



58 



10 



2 9 1 



21 1 



11 



1 59 



45 1 



12 



1 49 



Day of 

 Year. 



150 

 151 

 152 

 163 



154 

 Vm 

 156 



From observations taken near London during the last thirty-eight years, the average day temperature of the week is GS.O^, and its night 

 temperature 45.P. The greatest heat was 86° on the 3rd, 1846 j and the lowest cold, 32*', on the 31sC, 1857. The greatest fall of raiu was 

 0.91 Inch. 



PEOPAGATIOX OF THE FIG. 





IG 



#%, 



trees are 

 raised from 

 seed, and 

 propagated 

 bj' grafting, 

 'budding,layering, suckers, 

 cuttings, and eyes. From 

 seed tliere is a faint chance of 

 new sorts, but the fruit, from 

 its very nature, seems to be 

 scarcely susceptible of improve- 

 ment by cross-breeding. The 

 seed should be taken from the 

 pulp when the fruit is fully ripe, 

 washed, dried, put away in 

 paper until spring, when it may 

 be sown iu sandy loam, just 

 covering the seeds, and plung- 

 ing in a hotbed of 75°. When 

 the seedliags are sufficiently 

 large to handle pot-off singly 

 in 32-sized pots, and keep them 

 in a vinery until autumn, shift- 

 ing them, however, into 24-sized 

 pots in June, and keeping them 

 weR watered during the sum- 

 mer. In future seasons they 

 should be kept pot-bound, and 

 closely stopped to five joints, or 

 if there be room on the garden 

 walls they may be planted on 

 the south aspects only, and they 

 will grow like Willows. It is a 

 pity to take up much space with 

 them, for they will not produce fruit in less than three 

 years if grown in pots in a vinery ; and I never could 

 induce them to ripen fruit on walls iu less thau six, 

 though very closely stopped and root-pruned. The 

 readiest way of inducing them to fruit is to insert eyes, 

 as in budding Roses, in an old tree on the trellis at the 

 back of a vineiy, in the July of the same season as that 

 ia which they are raised. In this way they will occa- 

 sionally fruit in the second year, but more generally in 

 the tliird. Cuttings may likewise be taken aud grafted 

 on an old plant just when it begins to grow, the scions 

 being dormant or their vegetation not so forward as 

 that of the stock. Where there is no old plant on which 

 to graft or bud, I have worked on year-old trees from 

 eyes, discarding the seedlings when the grafts or buds 

 had taken. It is astonishing what an influence the stock 

 has on the graft or bud, either soon arriving at a fruiting 

 state. I have raised Figs from seed, but have only had 

 two worth their room, and one I have discarded, having 

 another which I consider an acquisition, it being a White 

 Ischia in part and in part a Brown Turkey. One remove 

 further and it will be a White Ischia with the charac- 

 No. 218.— Vol. VIII., New Series. 



teristics of the Brown Turkey. Beyond the desirability 

 of obtaining new kinds there is no advantage in raisiug 

 from seed. 



By grafting and budding, an old-established tree may 

 be given a new head in a short time. Tongue-gi'afting 

 is the best mode when the shoots of the stock are little 

 thicker than the graft ; cleft and crown-grafting are 

 better when the branches of the stock are thick. Beyond 

 changing an undesirable for a better variety without 

 losing time there is no advantage in grafting and budding, 

 for every shoot will make a cutting, and every bud a 

 plant ; half a dozen plants m'ly be obtained from buds 

 to one from grafting, and instead of one plant from a 

 cutting half a dozen may be had from eyes. 



Fig trees may also be raised from suckers, but these 

 are not so good as layers, for suckers receive a great 

 check when detached, and are apt to throw up suckers 

 after they become plants. They should be taken off in 

 autumn with roots attached, and either potted or planted 

 at once in the places where they are to remain, or planted 

 a foot apart by a south wall to gain strength, cutting 

 them down to three eyes in the spring if they are to be 

 trained to a wall or trellis, and not stopping them if 

 standards are desired. 



For layering select the shortest-jointed wood ; avoid 

 thac which is long-jointed. The operation is best done 

 in pots, bending the shoot over the pot, pegging it down 

 in the centre, and fastening the point of the shoot to an 

 upright stake. An incision is not necessary, though one 

 may be made at the upper side of the shoot, and imme- 

 diately below a joint. With a knife remove all the 

 eyes that would be buried in the soil, and rub out aU 

 others up to 9 inches or 1 foot for dwarf standards, 

 stopping or pinching out the leader three joints above 

 the disbudded part, leaving five, however, if the wood is 

 short-jointed. If the plant is intended for a trellis or 

 wall, leave three joints or cut down to that, and if for a 

 standard of any height, disbud to the required height, 

 not stopping the leader until from three to five joints 

 above the required height. In pegging tie shoot down 

 into the sod be careful not to break it, and the same 

 careful attention is needed in tying the shoot upright. 

 If the weather is dry and the operation performed out of 

 doors, water copiously. The soil should, of course, be 

 kept moist under glass. If layering is done in spring 

 the layers will be well rooted by autumn, and should 

 then be detached, potted if intended to be grown in that 

 way, and wintered in a cool house or shed ; or if required 

 for planting against walls or trelhses this may be done 

 at once. 



Cuttings afoot long, taken off with a little heel jf the 

 old wood, may be potted singly in 32-sized pots wath the 

 heel close on the drainage, and then headed down so as 

 to leave but one or two joints above the soil, picking out 

 the eyes at the base of the cutting so far as it is inserted 

 in the soil. Such cuttings placed in a hotbed and duly 

 watered will grow, and when rooted may be removed to 

 a vinery. The best time to put them in is spring, jnst 

 before they begin to grow, though they may 1/e taken at 

 No. 870.— Vol. XXXIII., Old Sbmis, 



