July 27, 1876. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



81 



incurred from thinning-out the fruit early. When the trees are 

 overloaded with fruit a portion of it may be thrown off, but it is 

 not so when it has been regularly thinned-out and only the best 

 fruit left. Peaches and Neotaiines have now paBsed through 

 the stoning period, and if more fruit has been left upon the 

 treeB than is intended to remain for a full crop it ought to be 

 removed at once. Plums and Apricots are further advanced, at 

 least the earliest sorts. We have Bivers's Early Prolific now 

 changing colour on bushes and pyramids. This is an excellent 

 Plum, not only valuable for its earliness but also for its free- 

 fruiting qualities. Just a word in passing on thinning fruits. 

 Many gardeners ruin their trees from a laudable ambition to 

 grow large crops ; they allow too many fruits to remain on the 

 trees, and none of them grow to the largest size. Another great 

 mistake is allowing the fruit to remain too long on the trees 

 before removing that which is superfluous. The test of good 

 culture is size of fruit combined with weight of crop, and this 

 can only be obtained by judicious thinning. It is not impossible 

 to overthin. A tree that would ripen perfectly, say, twelve dozen 

 Peaches, would not produce better fruit if six dozen of them 

 were removed in an early stage of their growth ; the tree would 

 perhaps grow too strongly, and the balance would not be main- 

 tained correctly. Much depends also upon the health and 

 vigour of the tree. If the young growth is very luxuriant more 

 fruit should be allowed upon a given surface than when the 

 growth is moderate or weak. It is when trees are weak and not 

 over-healthy that the.most mischief ensues. The fruit sets more 

 freely on such trees than upon trees of vigorous growth. The 

 quantity of Peaches that a healthy tree of moderate growth ought 

 to bear iB one to every square foot. A tree trained to a wall sur- 

 face 12 feet high by 20 feet wide would bring to maturity 240 fruit. 

 Our dwarf and pyramid-trained trees have not yet been looked 

 over to thin-out and cut-back the young wood; it ought to have 

 been done, but other work has prevented it. The trees are very 

 lightly cropped, and the fruits have not in any case required to 

 be thinned-out. 



The ground is being prepared for Strawberry plants by trench- 

 ing, and the runners have been removed from the plants, but we 

 must wait until rain comes before planting them out. To free 

 the leaves from mildew and red spider they have been dipped in 

 water wherein soft soap has been dissolved, some tobacco juice 

 and flowers of sulphur alBO being added. 



Baspberries have very nearly all been gathered, and the young 

 canes that wil^ bear fruit next year have made good growths. 

 These are sometimes tied-up to the sticks at this time, but we 

 prefer to let them hang loose, so that they may be fully exposed 

 to the sun and air. The leaves are also frequently broken in 

 tying them up, and the bur's at the base of those leaves cannot 

 become matured. Other small fruits have ripened very rapidly, 

 and as no rain has fallen we had ample opportunity to gather 

 it for preserving purposes. 



VINERIES. 



The main difficulty with Vines from which the fruit has been 

 cut early in the season is to keep, the leaves in a healthy state. 

 Even under the best management red spider will be present to 

 do mischief, and the leaves fall off from the attacks of this pest 

 or other causes, the result being that the Vines will start into 

 growth before their time, and the more young growth there is 

 made so much the more difficult is it to start the Vines next 

 season. To prevent this early growth the house muBt be kept 

 as cool as possible. Our houses have the ventilators open to 

 their fullest extent night and day, and any growths that are 

 formed are at once stopped. The house is always hottest at 

 that part nearest the glass and coolest at the Burface of the 

 border, so that it is best to lower the Vines if the leaves are 

 shed about this time, or indeed any other plan may be tried to 

 retard growth. The weather has been very favourable to the 

 ripening of white Grapes. Muscats and Buckland Sweetwater 

 enjoy p'enty of Bunshine ; it is not quite safe to expose the fruit 

 too freely to the sun, as the skin is frequently injured, the 

 berries most fully exposed becoming rusty. Some time ago we 

 were recommended to expose Muscats to the sun by pushing 

 the leaves aside and tyiog the bunches up, so that they hung in 

 a sloping position to the sun. This may do in northern districts, 

 but in the south the berries will not Btand it. Ours were sadly 

 marred in consequence. They were intended for a fruit exhibi- 

 tion, but were quite unfit for that purpose. In the later houses 

 the berries are now colouring ; and in that where Lady Downe's 

 are grown the ventilators require to be open night and day to 

 prevent the berries from becoming scalded. There must be 

 something peculiar in the constitution of this sort, as no other 

 grown in the same house and under precisely similar circum- 

 stances becomeB injured from this cause. Although the weather 

 has been very sultry by day, the dewfall at night is sometimes 

 considerable, and as the ventilators are open the Vines have the 

 benefit of this, and no artificial heat being required it is better 

 not to damp-up the houses at night. 



Vines in pots for very early forcing ought to be matured as 

 speedily as possible — not by starving them for want of water, 

 but by placing the pots where the Vines can be freely exposed to 



the sun. They will stand a great amount of heat at this season of 

 the year. The footstalks of the leaves should be Bhort and stout, 

 and the leaves ought to feel hard and crisp in the hand, and be 

 of a dark green colour. If they are too crowded in the house, 

 and no suitable position can be obtained for them under glass, 

 some of them may be removed under a wall faoing south or 

 west. The canes Bhould be nailed against the wall without 

 injuring the leaves ; here they may be Byringed and watered the 

 earns as those in the house. 



CUCUMBER AND MELON HOUSES. 



The last sowing of Melons may now be made to obtain fruit in 

 October and November. The plants must be grown in a heated 

 structure, and to be fairly successful they must be trained to a 

 trellis removed about a foot from the glass. We still prefer for 

 this sowing Victory of Bath and Scarlet Gem. The seeds ought 

 to be sown in bottom heat, and when the plants are potted-off 

 they should be again returned to the plunging material. When 

 they are well established in 6-inch pots plant out in the beds 

 prepared for them, which should be good turfy loam with the 

 addition of a little decayed manure — about one sixth part. The 

 mould ought to be pressed firmly about the roots of the plants 

 when they are put out in the beds. 



Cucumbers may also be sown for autumn and winter supply, 

 and the treatment required is very similar to that of Melons; 

 but Cucumbers delight in a richer and more open Boil. It ia 

 much the best method to train the plants to a trellis Bimilar to 

 that used for the Melon plants. We never grow Cucumbers in 

 dung frames now either for summer or winter supply, the fruit 

 obtained from a trellis being so much superior in appearance to 

 that which has been lying on the ground in a frame. One side 

 of such fruit is often of a dirty yellow colour, and never of the 

 lively green hue of the upper or side that haB been exposed ; and 

 when they are grown for exhibition, if the judges remove the 

 fruit to examine it all round, it would not compare favourably 

 with that from a house. 



PLANT STOVE AND ORCHID HOUSES. 



Owing to the excessively high temperature out of doors no 

 artificial heat haB been needed in any of these structures ; the 

 plants are all making very healthy growth. Many plants again 

 require repotting, and this is being done as opportunity offers. 

 We shut up with sunshine about 4 p.m. when the houses have a 

 south aspect, and an hour or more later with a west exposure. 

 Plants that usually suffer from the attacks of red Bpider are 

 freely syringed with clear water to prevent the appearance of 

 this pest. Climbing plants, such as Allamandas, Clerodendron 

 Balfourii, Stephanotis, &c, run rampant at this season; the 

 growthB must be thinned out, and those that remain be trained 

 into suitable positions. Such plants in good health when in 

 flower have a fine effect trained to wires over the plants under- 

 neath, but there are many disadvantages. If the water iB ap- 

 plied with force from a syringe it falls on the plants underneath 

 in the form of a heavy shower, and this repeated daily does 

 much mischief. If the plants are not kept clean by syringing 

 red spider attacks them and spreads on to other plants. The 

 best way is to grow only a few branches to each plant and keep 

 it clean by sponging the leaves with soapy water. 



Cool Orchids suffer from the effects of the heat, and shading 

 with thick canvas is injurious to the plants, causing weakly 

 growths. Our house is now shaded after a plan which has been 

 adopted for some years with success at the Messrs. Veitch's 

 Eoyal Exotic Nursery, King's Boad, Chelsea. The shading is 

 elevated about a foot above the glaes by means of stout laths 

 running parallel with the rafters and fixed to them by iron rods 

 about a foot in length, ono at top and another near the bottom 

 of the rafter. When the shading is held in position this way 

 the air has a free circulation between it and the glasB. We 

 syringe some of the New Grenadan Odontoglossums and Peru- 

 vian Masdevallias overhead twice daily. Many species of Or- 

 chids are benefited by a free use of the syringe in hot weather. 

 Cattleyas, Vandas, and Aerides ought not to be syringed. — 

 J. Douglas. 



TRADE CATALOGUE BECEIVED. 



J. Linden, Ghent, Belgium. — Catalogue of Azaleas, Camel- 

 lias, &c. 



HOETICULTUBAL EXHIBITIONS. 

 Secretaries will oblige us by informing us of the dates on 

 which exhibitions are to be held. 



Aberdeen (Boyal Horticultural Society). Jaly 26th, 27th, and 28th. Mr. 



Archibald J. Renins, 1*3£, Union Street. 

 Beighouse. July 29th. Messrs. C. Jessop & E. Ra-wnsley, Hon. Sees. 

 Saltaire. July 29tb. Mr. G. A. White, Hon. Sec. 

 Kilsby (Flowers). August 1st. Mr. C. E. Bracebridge, Sec. 

 Heworth (Horticultural). August 2nd. Mr. B. H. Feltoe, Hon. Sec. 

 Bawtenstall (Bosendale). August 4th and 5th. Mr. M. J. Lonsdale, Sec. 

 Southampton. AnguBt 5th and 7th. Mr. C. S. Fuidge, 39, York Street, See. 

 Finedon. August 7th. Mr. G-. C. Mann, Sec. 

 Taunton Deane. August 10th. Mr. F. H. Woodforde, M.D., and Mr. 



Clement Smith, Hon. Sees. 



