us 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



t December 4l, 1876. 



grown in a more natural manner, and the fi nit is all produced 

 on young wood, which always has the best perfected eyes. 



I have described my treatment of Muscat Vines in previous 

 numbers of the Journal. It differs chiefly from the general 

 practice in having less fire heat, the temperature often being 

 as low as 55° at all stages of growth ; there is no syringing at 

 any time, not even at starting, no artificial setting beyond a 

 gentle tap on the trellis, abundance of water is given to the 

 roots both in winter and summer, and the ventilation is at- 

 tended to as soon as the sun touches the house. A sun tem- 

 perature of 80° to 90* is always desirable, but it is essential to 

 have the greatest part of the rise after the ventilators are open. 



In conclusion, I have to say, that although I believe I am 

 going in the right direction to grow Muscats, I consider I have 

 as yet only half succeeded, and that nobody knows what may 

 be done with this noble class of Grapes when we once set aside 

 our old-fashioned notions about its being difficult to grow and 

 requiring an extraordinary amount of fire heat. Muscats and 

 other light-coloured Grapes require more sunlight than black 

 Grapes require, but not more heat. 



All fruits, in my opinion, are better when the plants which 

 bear them are allowed to extend somewhat every year. — Wm, 



TAYT.OB. 



NOTES on VILLA and SUBURBAN GARDENING. 



Cucumbebs. — Those who require early Cucumbers, and have 

 no other convenience for growing them than by dung heat, must 

 now commence operations, as it takes a considerable time to 

 prepare the materials. It is the best way to use a email frame 

 for raising the plants, as Icbs manure is then required, and less 

 cost is incurred in keeping up the requisite heat. Again, by 

 raising the plants and having tbem well advanced in a single- 

 light frame materials for a larger frame or bed can be prepared, 

 and the season being then a little more advanced the plants may 

 be expeote d to do beet in the laBt-made and largest bed ; there- 

 fore lose no time now in preparing sufficient manure as will 

 make a fair-sized bed. After the manure has fermented it should 

 be repeatedly turned and well mixed in order tbat tbe rank steam 

 may escape, and then when put up all parts of the bed ■will heat 

 alike and settle down regularly. I use a third of good oak 

 leaves with the manure ; but these are not absolutely necesEary, 

 and many amateurs are not able to obtain leaves. 



When the rank heat has escaped and the manure is sweetened 

 measure tbe length and breadth of the frame, and set the bed 

 out a few inches wider all round. The bed ought to be 6 feet 

 high at the back and i at the front. First of all, however, a 

 layer of faggots should be placed at the bottom to keep the 

 manure clear from the ground, so as not to be affected by the 

 coldness of it. In building up the bed take care to lay the 

 manure regularly and beat it down as firmly as can be done 

 with the baok of the fork, but do not tread it down with the feet. 

 When high enough put on the frame and also tbe light ; this 

 will help to draw up the heat. Let a trial stick be thrust into 

 the centre of the bed, and watch this regularly as the heat rises, 

 and it will be easy to tell when the soil may be put in ; but take 

 care that tbe bed is not so hot as to burn the soil, for if so no 

 plants will grow in it, and it would all have to be taken out 

 again and much time lost. Neither should the soil be spread 

 all over the bed, but a heap should be made in the centre of it 

 leaohing near to the glass. This will not bring the heat down 

 very much, and it will soon become warmed through. Let the 

 mixture be two-thirds of good turfy loam and one-third of well- 

 decayed leaf soil. 



The seeds should be sown in well-drained pots or pans in the 

 soil that is warm. The soil should be rather dry than wet, and 

 that for the seeds be much finer than that for the after-growth 

 of the plants. Plunge tbe pots in the soil and only just cover 

 the seeds, and it is not advisable to water for two or three days, 

 or the seeds are liable to rot. When the plants appear, and 

 their seed leaves are fully grown, they may be potted-off one in 

 a pst in warm soil, and this should be done without taking 

 them out of the frame. 



When the plants have made about three rough leaveB they 

 may be planted in the bed prepared for tbem. The temperature 

 must not go below 65°, but 70° would be better if it can be pro- 

 vided. Ample covering must be placed over the glass at night; 

 and in order to encourage the plants to grow well the glass 

 must be kept very clean to admit as much light and sun as 

 possible in these short days. When the heat falls below tbat 

 stated above linings of heating material must be at once 

 applied ; but this need not go through the process of fermenta- 

 tion like the other, but great care must be taken that the rank 

 steam does not enter the frame, and which can be excluded by 

 stopping up the space along the bottom of the frame with the 

 exhausted manure. Occasionally, when the lights are slightly 

 propped up to let the inside steam out, the steam from tbe 

 lining enters there, so the mats must be put on with care, so as 



not to cover the lining as well as frame, or the steam is conveyed 

 inside the frame. The manure for the linings must be well mixed, 

 or one part will heat more than another. It is very essential 

 to select a sheltered yet as sunny a spot as possible for the bed, 

 and sometimes during very cold nights or windy weather it is 

 necessary to proteot the bed with straw, or, what is better, 

 thatched hurdles. They can be easily removed when not 

 wanted. 



When the roots of the plants show through the soil a thin 

 layer of soil should be added, previously warmed, so as not to 

 oool the atmosphere. Also let the water be warmed before it is 

 applied. No manure water will be needed until the plants are 

 fruiting. The above are the principal directions for the manage- 

 ment of a dung bed, and if carried out carefully cannot fail to 

 prove successful. 



As to sorts, many grow what they call their own sorts with 

 local names, but a good form of Telegraph, such as Paul's or 

 Rollisson's, Monro's Duke of Edinburgh, the old Sion House, 

 Lord Kenyon's Favourite (a small but wonderfully prolific sort), 

 and Master's Prolific, are all suitable for early produce. — Thomas 

 Recobd. 



DOINGS OP THE LAST AND WORK FOR 

 THE PRESENT WEEK. 



HABDY TRUIT OAEOEN. 



It will be time to see that the pruning and nailing of wall 

 trees is proceeded with as soon as possible if it is not already 

 done. All the hardiest trees should be pruned first. Pears and 

 Apples will take no harm, nor in ordinary seasons in the south 

 of England, especially in dry districts, will the trees suffer; but 

 those who have only bad experience in such districts are not in 

 a position to dictate to gardeners where the rainfall has been 

 nearly double with a corresponding want of sunshine, which 

 has caused the young wood to be overcharged with moisture, 

 and consequently much less able to resist frost. Under such 

 unfavourable circumstances much may be done by an efficient 

 system of draining and border-making — indeed, it would be use- 

 less to try the cultivation of the finer fruits without this prepara- 

 tion, and all trees which are subject to gumming ought to have 

 good well-drained borders for the roots to work into. Those 

 who have had experience with wet low-lying districts will pro- 

 bably prefer to wait until all danger of severe frost is over before 

 pruning their trees. 



The training of Peach and Nectarine trees is seldom well 

 done by amateurs. Notwithstanding all that has been said and 

 written about different . systems of management, there is no 

 better mode of training than that which has been the custom 

 for so many years in all well-kept gardens — namely, the fan 

 method. The object of the cultivator is to encourage the 

 growth of young wood disposed as regularly as possible all over 

 the wall, and to cut out old wood where it is not required, re- 

 placing it with healthy young wood of the previous year. 

 Should very severe frost set in after the present wet and mild 

 autumn much damage may be done to both the old and young 

 wood, and the work of the pruner and trainer might have to be 

 done over again, and the trees would suffer much more severely 

 after they had been pruned and trained than if nothing had 

 been done to them. A little delay, therefore, in pruning these 

 tender fruits may be advantageous. 



Plum and Cherry trees suffer much from gumming in such 

 seasons as the present, and when an apparently healthy branoh 

 is badly gummed it is better to cut it off at once at the injured 

 part than allow it to remain to die, as it were, a lingering death 

 by strangulation. Such branohes sometimes do not show any 

 injury now, but will do so two months hence. The same may 

 be said of Apricots. The young wood seldom suffers, but large 

 branches die off at any Beason and without apparent cause. 

 Pruning may be done in the following order — first Apples, then 

 in succession Pears, Cherries, Plums, Apricots, PeacheB, and 

 Nectarines. Many of the old gardeners used to unfasten their 

 Peach and Nectarine trees from the walls at this season and seoure 

 the branches to stout poles, which had the effect of consider- 

 ably retarding the bloBsoming period, and gave a better chance 

 to resist early frosts. The branches should be nailed to the 

 walls about the end of February. When it is necessary in prun- 

 ing to cut-back the young wood of Peach and Nectarine trees it 

 ought always to be cut to a triple bud, as the middle bud of the 

 three will be a wood bud. Triple buds are not usually found on. 

 the weakeBt wood, but only on that which is strong or moderately 

 so. If there are no such buds it is better not to cutbaok the 

 growth at all. 



We have not done much in this department during the past 

 week except in continuing the pruning of Gooseberry, Rasp- 

 berry, and Red Currant bushes. After olearing away the 

 prunings wo are now giving a dressing of manure, and will pro- 

 ceed to fork it in the ground as soon as we can do so. If Straw- 

 berry beds have been neglected the weeds will have made con- 

 siderable progress, and they cannot be better disponed of than 

 by picking out the largest by hand and giving a dressing of ma- 



