May 18, 1871. ] 



JOUENAL OF HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB, 



357 



The cold north winds of late have tended to keep things 

 backward that were proceeding in free growth after the rains. 

 Some rows of forward Potatoes close to walls and fences we 

 watered well, as little or no rain seemed to touch them. This 

 ■will greatly help the tubering. To Potatoes under glass we 

 give very little water, and we find the tubers better flavoured 

 in consequence. The beds used for early Potatoes will, with a 

 little turning and the addition of fermenting material, come iu 

 for late Cucumbers and Melons, &c. 



FKtriT GAEDEN. 



Last week we noticed that the frost, not of the spring, but of 

 the winter, had done more harm than we expected. Many 

 little shoots of Peaches and Apricots that broke pretty well, 

 and even set fruit, are now flagging and dying back. The 

 heart of the shoot seems to have been injured. When pruned 

 out, in most cases, there will be enough left. Sometimes a 

 shoot seems injured merely in spots, others are injured half 

 way through on one side, and others again have pieces on 

 them seemingly dead quite through. When the latter is the 

 case, all above them must go. When there are merely injured 

 spots on one side, or not quite through the young shoot, the 

 fruit above these spots will often ripen well, but it is advisable 

 to replace these shoots with fresh ones from their bases next 

 season. 



There are many strange eccentricities in the knowledge of 

 most old gardeners as to the small channel of sound wood 

 necessary to keep up the requisite circulation. In our obser- 

 vations we have seen some of the finest and richest-coloured 

 Eibston Pippins towards the extremities of branches that were 

 so gnawed with canker, that in shoots IJ inch in diameter 

 there could not have been above from 1-16'h to l-8th of sound 

 wood in the centre, the bark and alburnum being all gone. We 

 once had a Nectarine tree that bore good crops for years after 

 the main stem was all gone, except a strip half an inch wide 

 on one side, and live wood beneath it for about 1 inch in depth. 

 To show, however, how variable these matters are, we may 

 state that a twelvemonth ago, in winter, we had a beautiful 

 Walbnrton Admirable Peach tree which had its stem gnawed 

 all round about 2 inches from the ground, and from 2 to 

 3 inches iu depth, by mice. As the gnawing did not go much, 

 if at all, beyond the last season's deposit of alburnum or fresh 

 wood, we were under no serious apprehension on the subject ; 

 but we had the opening well filled with cow dung and clay, and 

 bound all round with a cloth, expecting that in a couple of 

 years at farthest, as we had often witnessed in similar cases, 

 the bark would unite, and a fresh deposit of wood be formed. 

 All went on well until the fruit, which we thinned more than 

 usual, began to take the second swelling, and then, indepen- 

 dently of shading, &a., the leaves flagged, the fruit dropped, 

 and the shoots dried up. Iu this case we think that, besides 

 the gnawing, there had been a sort of poisoning from the 

 gnawing. There is always danger, therefore, when there is an 

 interruption of the flow of the sap ; but in this case, there 

 being the bulk of the wood untouched, through which the sap 

 might pass, the result was not what we expected. Why mention 

 it, then ? Just honestly to show we cannot in such cases speak 

 or predict with certainty ; all we can do is to call experience and 

 observation to our aid. Thus, from our correspondents, we have 

 received three different kinds of specimens of Peach shoots of 

 last year's growth. One lot is thoroughly dried up in wood and 

 buds. With such nothing can be done, and if the tree is all 

 the same, the sooner it is removed the better. The second has 

 spots about an inch long, as if burned with a hot iron, but the 

 spots are only on the outside of the shoot, not through it. 

 Most likely the fruit set above these spots will ripen, but we 

 would lay in a shoot from the base, so as to get rid of these 

 marked shoots next spring. Others have rings of these burned- 

 like spots right through, and in such oases everything above 

 them must die. All this we attribute partly tounripened wood, 

 but chiefly to the severe frost of the winter. Trees, however, 

 will go wrong at times, and the best gardening doctors will be 

 unable to find a reason or a cause. 



We turned a good many Siraivherries out of their pots after 

 cleaning them, removing fruit stems, &8., hoping that they 

 will give us a good return in autumn, and an extra crop next 

 season. To have good fruit iu autumn, the sooner the plants 

 are turned out into good soil in Miy the better. Some of 

 those we turned out first are now showing bloom buds. We 

 think we are right in attributing the comparative scarcity of 

 bloom out of doors to the frost injuring the buds, as the Straw- 

 berry plants in pots under protection of some kind, never 

 showed better bloom. We are g'ad to learn that the bloom of 



the Strawberry promises so well in many places. Hereabouts 

 there is comparative scarcity. Singular things, however, do 

 happen. We heard the other day of a fine plantation of winter - 

 standing Cabbages, and the garden iu a hollow too, just where 

 we should have expected them to suffer. In most places, how- 

 ever, where the plants were at all forward, there was- little left 

 but a wreck. In the place referred to, though the Cabbages 

 stood, not a Broccoli of any kind remained. 



Thinning Grapes. — It is the best economy not to leave too 

 many bunches, and to thin these bunches, as soon as they can 

 well be handled, with the scissors, and there is proof that tb 

 setting is fully accomplished. When thinned early there is no- 

 necessity to touch much the berries that are left, and the less 

 they are touched with the hand or the sides of the scissors the 

 better. We say nothing of pricking a berry with the scissors, 

 for, of course, that berry will crack and do no good afterwards. 

 The points of the scissors should be kept quite clean. Those 

 not experienced should also use a little forked stick for holding 

 the bunch. It should be touched by the hand as little as 

 possible, and the touching with the hair of the head ought also 

 to be especially guarded against. If these liitle matters are 

 neglected a sort of rusting on the berries is apt to ensue. The 

 crusting and rusting, though often attributed to this cause, is- 

 frequently owing to another and quite different one, and that is- 



SuJjihur Fumes Overhot. — We have not a doubt that many 

 of the clouded berries, and shrivelled-up and clouded young 

 bunches, of which several correspondents complain, are owing 

 to warm sulphur fumes and the want of sufiieient ventilation. 

 Daubing hot-water pipes, and even flues, with sulphur when 

 the heat is little above 1C0° is one of the beet means for keep- 

 ing houses free of red spider. When the heat in the pipes rises 

 to 180° and upwards, unless there be plenty of ventilation given, 

 many things will suffer from the sulphur fumes, and Grapes,, 

 especially, when young and scarcely half the size of small peas. 

 When they are larger the fumes have less fffect. When the 

 small berries become clouded they rarely recover ; even when 

 the berry swells there is a cloud, a rust, or encrustation that 

 continues. Singularly, too, hardy though it be, there is na 

 Grape that suffers so much from this cause in its young state 

 as the Black Hamburgh. We have had bunches affected when- 

 those of Muscats, Sweetwaters, &e., were not at all tonched. 

 Whenever, therefore, under such circumstances the pipes with- 

 sulphur on them become rather warm it will be wise policy to 

 leave a little air on the top ventilators. Altogether, in heating; 

 by hot water, it is safest, best, and most economical in every 

 way to have plenty of piping, and not to be compelled to over- 

 heat it. We have known many cases where the saving of b 

 couple of pounds in piping has secured an extra expense of 

 £5 for fuel, and that or more every year. One of the most 

 sensitive plants to sulphur fumes, even from hot-water pipes, is 

 the Maiden-hair Fern. The fresh-formed fronds are easilj 

 destroyed. The extreme heat of hot water must therefore be 

 guarded against. 



OESAJIENTAL DEPAKTMENT. 



Mowing, machining, preparing beds and borders, and putting 

 edgings in order, have formed the chief out-door work. We- 

 have commenced with Violets, dividing and planting, partly 

 to stand and partly to lift again, as fully noticed in an articlen 

 lately. All may be freely propagated by runners, cither planted 

 at once or placed under hand-lights or frames, but where plenty 

 of plants are grown dividing is the process that involves least 

 labour. Much time has been devoted to potting and cleaning 

 Ferns, cleaning Azaleas done flowering, and moving them to 

 where they could have a little heat and more sun, and the 

 demand for more of such subjects, and less of a desire for Figs, 

 have forced us reluctantly to take the Figs out of a low house, 

 and devote it in the meantime to plants. For many years the- 

 Figs were a feature in the place. The plants had been turned 

 out of pots into a pit, and, excluding drainage, never had more 

 than 9 inches of soil, but fruited abundantly, often producing 

 three gatherings before we stopped, though we ought to have- 

 been satisfied with two. Surface-manuring, and plenty of water 

 which could not stagnate, were the chief sources of success. As^ 

 we must get a lot of plants for corridors, now to be covered 

 with glass, we could not well help ourselves, unless we had first 

 had a range of preparatory houses. As a rule the preparatory 

 houses are apt to be forgotten. Even for the palace and the 

 mansion there must be the workshops, though unseen, and for 

 fine conservatories there must be workshops, if the best re- 

 sults are to be secured all the year through. A house to bring 

 Azaleas into is of great importance, as there is always a risk in 

 taking them to vineries and Peach houses. A few leaves 



