On the Cultivation of the Granadilla, $c. 61 



round it is filled with fresh earth, and then I give it plenty of 

 water, of which it requires an abundant supply during the 

 summer months. Except the fresh earth which is given to 

 it at the time its roots are pruned, it requires no other 

 dressing. 



The shoots of each plant, being in number from seven to 

 ten, are trained under the rafters of the house, in the manner 

 of the grape vine, and will extend twenty feet in the course 

 of the season, being carried horizontally on wires from the 

 tops of the rafters along the upper part of the house. 



The plant begins to flower in May, but being excluded 

 from the action of the air, and the communication usually 

 effected by insects, the farina from the male does not readily 

 come in contact with the female part of the flower, and there- 

 fore some artificial assistance is necessary to fecundate the 

 germen. This is given by a camel's-hair pencil being lightly 

 drawn over the anthers, when they are in a proper state, and 

 applied to the style; the operation should be performed 

 about nine or ten o'clock in the forenoon, and if the plant 

 be in good health, the fruit will then set kindly, especially if 

 the fecundation takes place when the weather is clear and 

 warm. 



The fruit that sets in May usually ripens in the end of 

 August, or early in September. As the plant flowers at in- 

 tervals of three weeks, I never let more than five or six fruit 

 of one setting remain, but keep up a succession, so as to make 

 my crop last till the end of November. 



There are here two fruiting plants, which are now very 

 strong; they are about six inches in circumference, at the 

 bottom of the stem, and each plant produces twenty fruits, on 

 an average, in a season. 



