November 29, 1864. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



439 



the heads might incline to come faster than we want them. 

 Other vegetables much the same as in the two previous 

 weeks. 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



Took most of the Strawberry plants in pots under cover 

 in the orchard-house. Placed some in frames with a little 

 bottom heat, just to give the plants a start, and yet, by 

 giving plenty of air, prevent anything like drawing the 

 crowns. These pots are merely set on the bed in reduced 

 leaves, a foot thick of fresh leaves being beneath them ; but 

 we would have preferred the pots to have been either 

 suspended or set on a hard bottom, as shelves, &c, at first, 

 as whatever will tend now to produce vigorous foliage will 

 also tend to rob the flower-buds of their strength. Having 

 no nice airy house at liberty, we do not now desire Straw- 

 berries very early. We have had them very tidy to look at 

 at Christmas and on New Years-day ; but unless the weather 

 was frosty and a bright sun, there was little flavour in the 

 fruit. In bright weather, and from keeping the pots rather 

 dry for some days before gathering, the fruit was very 

 tolerable. 



Pruned some more Peaches, and looked over Grapes in 

 vineries, and fruit of Apples, Pears, &c, in the fruit-room, 

 as this dull muggy weather is the worst for fruit-keeping. 

 We think if the shelves and drawers are clean nothing should 

 be used to set the fruit on except well-dried paper. Straw, 

 hay, &c, always give more or less of a taint whenever they 

 become a little damp. In this dull weather a pretty free 

 ventilation should also be given, or the place will become 

 too damp and confined, and the fruit in consequence will 

 sweat and rot. A few rotting fruit will contaminate the 

 whole house, and all such should therefore be removed. 

 Fruit spotted with the first marks of decay should either be 

 used at once or given to the garden men, as in a short time 

 they will be fit for nothing. 



Except in some of our large places, as Trentham, Enville, 

 Luton Hoo, Wrest Park, &c, it is rare to find a suitable 

 fruit-room. Any shed or out-of-the-way place is made to 

 answer. Much may be done in the most unsuitable places 

 if there is a proper amount of earnest enthusiasm ; but even 

 enthusiasm will die out if there is nothing with which to 

 feed its fire. We knew of a case in which a bachelor gardener 

 saved the crops of some Peach trees for two years in a severe 

 frosty night by each time getting out of bed, and taking 

 the whole of his bedclothes to act as coverings to the trees. 

 No other means being in future procurable, and as the pro- 

 prietors objected to even the appearance of branches, our 

 old confrere at last cooled in his enthusiasm, and the next 

 year the frost settled the young crop. That was not the 

 worst of it. We have no doubt that the use of the bed- 

 clothes for the above purpose, however commendable as an 

 effort of anxious enthusiasm, laid the foundation of our old 

 comrade's last illness. That is not the only instance in 

 which gardeners to our knowledge have injured their health 

 for life from an excess of otherwise most commendable zeal 

 and anxiety. To secure good winter fruit for table, and to 

 see it comfortably before it goes there, a good place, hollow- 

 walled, hollow-roofed, and yet air and ventilation at com- 

 mand, ought to be secured. 



Fig-house. — The fruit now becoming very insipid, we had 

 all removed that was larger than a pea, pulled off any leaves 

 that were left, gave the plants a fair thinning, as we grow 

 them roughly in the bush style, washed them over with soap 

 and water, and then painted with clay, sulphur, and a little 

 Gishurst mixed. We have not washed these Figs for several 

 years, as we never noticed anything on them ; but this season 

 we saw some scale, and we would rather have it all destroyed 

 before the plants come into leaf than afterwards. Prevention 

 is ever better than cure ; and most likely if we had washed 

 the trees last season we would not have had this incipient 

 appearance of insects now. We immediately watered the 

 plants to prevent the roots becoming overdry in winter, and 

 then filled the whole bed with bedding plants, and gave 

 plenty of air to keep the house cool, which will be continued 

 until we give more heat to start the Figs. After many trials 

 and some experience we have given up allowing a Fig to 

 stand over the winter that is much larger than a pea. Those 

 just swelling at the base of where the leaf was are still more 

 sure. Did we want to bring in our ripe Figs early in spring 

 we would have effected this thorough clearing by October, 



as we have long proved that the longer Figs are allowed to 

 bear in autumn and the beginning of winter the more apt 

 are they to drop their fruit next season. 



Singleton, or White Ischia Fig.- — This dropping of the first 

 crop is very characteristic of the Bacifico, the Singleton, 

 and the White Ischia, all of which we believe to be aliases 

 of each other. There is not a better nor sweeter Fig than 

 this little honeycomb of a thing, which in general is not 

 much larger than half the size of a good White Marseilles ; 

 but to have it good and well ripened, and opening itself up 

 like the half-expanded flower of a Stapelia, requires a good 

 heat. We mention this the more particularly because, 

 though we have had a fine warm summer, we did not ripen 

 this Fig well in an orchard-house, and kept them too long 

 there to ripen kindly in a closer and warmer place afterwards. 

 It is true we were rather deficient of water during the sum- 

 mer, but we do not think that was the cause of not ripening 

 kindly so much as the craving for a closer and warmer 

 atmosphere. Such kinds as Lee's Perpetual or Brown 

 Turkey, and even White Marseilles, ripened kindly enough, 

 the latter two crops and a portion of a third ; whilst this 

 little thing did not lipen one crop comfortably. We cut 

 oif great batches of fruit from small pots, because there 

 seemed no chance to their ripening kindly. In a vinery or 

 in the Fig-house, where a little artificial heat was used, they 

 ripened kindly, and bore profusely. We mention this the 

 more particularly because we have a little doubt if the 

 questionable liquid we were forced to use suited this rather 

 delicate Fig over-well, though not hurting other Figs ; and, 

 therefore, we should be glad to know if others this season 

 have fruited this kind to their minds in an open, cool, un- 

 heated orchard-house. To make the Singleton yield a good 

 first crop in April May, &c, it should be pruned, and all the 

 fruit on it removed before the end of September. Without 

 such precautions it is so apt to throw off its first crop, that it 

 would be best to prune it, and treat it to yield only one crop 

 in the year. This one crop in the orchard-house ripened 

 very unsatisfactorily with us this season. 



ORNAMENTAL DEPARTMENT. 



As the weather permitted, got on with cleaning beds, 

 &c, regulating herbaceous plants, faggoting old Scarlet 

 Geraniums in pots, and shallow boxes, examining all young 

 stuff, to prevent damping, taking off each leaf that showed 

 any signs of such visitation, giving the plants more room, 

 stirring the surface soil, and carefully watering any plant 

 that seemed dry, so as not to damp the place. Thinned 

 creepers in conservatory, gave manure water to Chrysan- 

 themums, Primulas, Cinerarias, Pinks, and Perpetual Car- 

 nations, and to other things that needed it. As some 

 damp has been caused by previous washing and cleaning, 

 put on a brisk fire in the daytime, with plenty of air to dry 

 the house, giving air to hardwooded plants, however, as 

 detailed the other week. Placed Roses in pots in a little 

 bottom heat. It is amazing how these plants flourish in a 

 cool temperature with a slight increase of bottom heat, and 

 the pots plunged in a bed, even if the bed is old sawdust. 

 AH hardy shrubs force nicely into bloom when thus helped. 

 See what was lately said about looking after bulbs of all 

 kinds. Thinned out very much the creepers in the stove to 

 give light, and removed all the autumn Gesneras, &c, to 

 the floor of a cool house, where frost will not reach them. 

 Removed also the pots of Caladiums to the floor of a cool 

 stove, and covered them over with moss, which will prevent 

 them becoming over-dry, and otherwise we will let them get 

 pretty dry, but not quite so. All the Ainaryllids, Tritomas, 

 &c, that are now resting, will receive moisture enough if the 

 pots stand on a cool moist floor in a house where the tem- 

 perature is rarely under 40°. In such dull, foggy weather, 

 damp, and weak, sickly growth must be neutralised by 

 plenty of air, and a low temperature, and if possible a drier 

 atmosphere than that which prevails outside our houses. — 

 R. F. 



TRADE CATALOGUE RECEIVED. 

 B. S. Williams, Paradise and Victoria Nurseries, Holloway. 

 — Catalogue of New and, Choice Pelargoniums, New and Hare 

 Exotic and other Plants. 



