November 23, 1876 ) 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



439 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 1 Day 

 of of 



Month Week, 



NOVEMBER 23—29, 1876. 



Average 



Temperature near 



London. 



Sun 

 Rises. 



Sun 

 Sets. 



Moon 

 Rises. 



Moon 

 Sets. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 

 before 

 Sun. 



Day 



of 



Year. 









Day. 



Night. 



Mean. 



h. m. 



h. m. 



h. m. 



h. m. 



DayB. 



m. s. 





23 



Th 



Birmingham Show closes. 



47.6 



34.2 



40.9 



7 So 



3 59 



1 1 10 45 



7 



12 68 



328 



24 



P 



Leeds Show. 



47.4 



31.7 



39.5 



7 36 



3 58 



1 13 , 11 5S 



3> 



12 40 



S29 



25 



B 



Michaelmas Terms ends. 



46.4 



33.7 



40.0 



7 38 



S 57 



1 23 ; morn. 



9 



12 21 



330 



26 



Son 



24 Sunday afteb Trinity. 



47.2 



32.9 



40.0 



7 39 



3 56 



1 S3 i 1 12 



10 



12 1 



331 



27 



M 





47.0 



33 6 



40.3 



7 41 



3 55 



1 45 2 27 



11 



11 40 



332 



28 



To 





481 



33 9 



41.0 



7 42 



3 54 



1 59 3 47 



12 



11 19 



333 



29 



W 



Rjyal Horticultural Society — Fruit and Floral Com- 

 [ mittees at 11 a.m. 



51.3 



33.8 



42.5 



7 44 



3 53 



2 16 5 11 



13 



10 57 



334 



From observations taken near London during forty-three years, the average day temperature 

 SSI'. 



of the week is 48.0° ; and its night temperature 



FOLIAGE IN RELATION TO COLOURING AND 

 FLAVOUEING FRUITS. 



rT^*/J[ OR an unscientific gardener to attempt to 

 4 write on a scientific subject may savour of 

 presumptuousness, but my excuse is that 

 learners in the practical part of our pro- 

 fession are helped more by their fellow- 

 learners than they are by articles elaborately 

 written by the most talented men of science. 

 We can grope our way together, as it were, 

 feeling and sympathising with each other. 

 Occasionally one is able to give the others a 

 pull, and if it is not in the right direction there are plenty 

 to apply the drag. We are, I own, sadly behind in theo- 

 retic knowledge, but I think I have read somewhere that 

 " the greatest of men have very small swallows," and of- 

 course the little men cannot be expected to take in a whole 

 cyclopaedia at once. Professors of science are generally 

 highly educated men whose language is of necessity 

 beyond the comprehension of ordinary gardeners ; and 

 although they are generally right in their conclusions, 

 yet, owing to their want of practical knowledge, they are, 

 of course, sometimes wrong. I hope it is not a general 

 failing of gardeners, but I must own to the possession of 

 it myself, that I would rather listen to the rough original 

 reasonings of one of Nature's children unadorned with 

 scientific education, but with a taste for observing every- 

 day things, than I would read the reports in the Times 

 of great scientific meetings. Perhaps the reason is that 

 the observant gardener has so much delightful food for 

 his mind that it makes him dainty, or in my case it 

 may be mere laziness, reaching no further than the spot 

 on which I stand. Let us hope so. I know I ought to 

 have read myself up on the subject of this article, but 

 then there would have been a disadvantage, for if I read 

 I might be tempted to copy. Now, if not strictly correct 

 I am at least original, and may tempt some of my fellow- 

 workers to think for themselves. 



A great many complaints have appeared in the garden- 

 ing papers this season about Melons without flavour and 

 Grapes without colour, and as no satisfactory explanation, 

 as far as I have seen, has been giveD, I will attempt to 

 give my own ideas of the matter. 



A certain proportion of healthy foliage is absolutely 

 necessary to elaborate the juices for growing, colouring, 

 and flavouring fruits. If the foliage is injured by scorch- 

 irig, by insects, or any other means, the fruit must suffer. 

 The past summer has been an exceptional one, and plants 

 required exceptional treatment. Three times the usual 

 quantity of water was necessary, and where it was not 

 applied, in addition to the plants being starved, red spider 

 and other insects would so mutilate tbe leaves that they 

 could not properly perform their functions. I have often 

 said that Vines, as a rule, do not have sufficient water, 

 and the same applies to Melons. It is one of the greatest 

 mistakes in fruit-culture to keep Melons dry when they 

 are approaching maturity. I suppose the variety I cul- 

 tivate exclusively (Meredith's Cashmere) is one of the 



No. 817.— Vol. XXXI., Netv Series. 



most difficult to keep from cracking, yet I would on no 

 account keep it dry as a preventive of its only fault, for 

 by so doing the flavour becomes very poor indeed. I 

 prefer crippling the stalk of the fruit, so as to limit its 

 supply of sap without cheeking the supply to the foliage. 

 The stalk is squeezed between the finger and thumb, and 

 it often requires doing daily, as the wounds soon heal. 

 One, if not the principal, cause of the cracking of Melons 

 is from a too limited Bupply of water. When the plants 

 and fruits are young and require to grow vigorously they 

 get into a partially hidebound state, and afterwards when 

 the fruit expands to its natural size the skin has lost its 

 elasticity and is forced open. 



A heavy soil approaching to clay, and sufficiently rich 

 to require nothing mixed with it, grows the best Melons. 

 Manure makes them coarse in texture and deficient in 

 flavour ; so that when soil can be procured rich enough 

 of itself it is better if the roots do not come in contact 

 with manure at all. 



I have said that foliage is required in proportion to the 

 fruit. In addition to this I believe that in a hot season 

 with a dry atmosphere, owing to greater evaporation 

 going on, greater appropriation, too, of the juices by the 

 fruit, and probably a greater waste also, that more foliage 

 in proportion to the quantity of fruit is required than in 

 a season with a humid atmosphere ; but in practice the 

 reverse of this happens. The foliage is left in the usual 

 proportion, but the hotter and drier the weather the 

 more it is injured by insects and scorching, and too often 

 nothing is done to alleviate the mischief either by allow- 

 ing the shoots to ramble a little, reducing the quantity of 

 fruit, or supplying more water than in an ordinary, or 

 even an exceptionally, wet season. 



To second these remarks I may say — firstly, that my 

 fruit on the whole has not been below the average in 

 quality this season ; secondly, that I never knew of an 

 instance of good-flavoured fruit of any kind where the 

 plants were badly infested with red spider, or the foliage 

 much injured by scorching or otherwise ; thirdly, that 

 as I, in common with many others, made the mistake 

 of planting Madresfield Court Grape in a late vinery, 

 and am obliged to give it exceptional treatment to pre- 

 vent it cracking either by withholding water or reducing 

 its foliage (the latter method I prefer, as its roots are 

 in company with others requiring water), I shortened 

 it back last season to two or three leaves beyond the 

 fruit when it was about three parts coloured, and it 

 finished off very well without cracking. This season, a 

 much drier one, the same treatment not only prevented 

 cracking, but the Grapes never finished colouring, while 

 other kinds in the same house are perfect. I have no 

 hesitation in saying that had I left a few more leaves the 

 Madresfield Court Grape would have finished thoroughly ; 

 but it is a difficult matter to know how to act to a nicety, 

 and to be certain of growing this noble Grape to perfection 

 it should be grown with the Black Hamburgh or other 

 early Grapes. 



With regard to Grapes losing colour after they have 

 once been black, I think it is in cases of insufficient 



No. 1469.— Vol. LVI.. Old Series. 



