484 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND C0T1AGE GARDENER. 
[ June ID, 18S4. 
minimum on grass on 27th, 26T°. Warmest day the 11th ; coldest day 
the 1st. Mean temperature of the air at 9 A.M , 54'1° ; mean temperature 
of soil 1 foot deep, 52 5° ; nights below 32° in shade, 1 ; on grass, 8. 
Wind principally from W. to S.W. Temperature about the average, and 
similar to last three years. Rain less than in aDy May since 1876, and 
less than in any month since April, 1881 ; the greater part of what fell 
came in the first week. Sunshine more than in the same month last 
year, but more than in the two previous years. The country was getting 
rather dry, and rain wanted at the end of the month. Queen wasps 
very plentiful.—J. Mallender. 
GATHERING FRUIT. 
In all gardens, especially where many small fruits are grown, 
much time is occupied at this season in gathering fruit. It is work 
which will permit no delay, and we often feel annoyed, when other 
operations are pressing, that we have to turn all hands into the 
Strawberry, Currant, and Raspberry quarters day after day and in 
the best of weather. The latter is a point of the greatest import¬ 
ance, and cannot be too emphatically stated at the outset. There 
are many good housewives who buy quantities of fruit, boil their 
jam the right time, put in the requisite quantity of sugar, and yet 
they cannot get it to thicken properly or keep for any length of 
time without fermenting or moulding. All this in nine cases out of 
ten is caused by the fruit being gathered when wet and not being 
properly dried before preserving. Fruit bought in markets may often 
have been wet when gathered without buyers knowing it, and it will 
only be indicated or detected when the jam becomes bad ; but in 
private gardens, where the fruit should always be gathered and taken 
direct to the preserving quarters, any loss through gathering it in a 
wet condition should never occur. Fruit gathered and immediately 
used for tarts is often collected in a wet state, and there is no help 
for this, as the demand for fruit for this purpose comes to us on wet 
days as well as on dry ones ; but little or no harm results from this, 
as, unless the fruit has been wet for a long time, the flavour does 
not suffer. Raspberries are the worst fruit to deal with when wet, 
as they absorb so much water. 
In all cases where the fruit can be preserved without having to 
be taken a distance, it is best to allow it to become quite ripe ; but 
when it has to be carted, sent by rail, or carried in any way some 
miles, it is an advantage to gather it before it becomes “ dead ripe.” 
AVhen it is well coloured but firm is the best condition of all to gather 
fruit for transit. Strawberries, Raspberries, and Red and White 
Currants, which are all very juicy when quite ripe, should in that case 
be gathered and placed in trays or dishes, which will prevent any of 
the juice being lost. Gooseberries and Black Currants will do in 
baskets. As a rule the morning is the best time to gather small 
fruits, and in market gardens much of it has to be gathered with the 
dew on it; but in private gardens, and in all cases where there is no 
particular reason for gathering it so early, none should be touched 
until the dew has evaporated. For this reason it is seldom that we 
can gather fruit before breakfast, but from nine o’clock until one or 
two o’clock we gather large quantities. Punnets, small baskets of 
various sorts, and 6-inch flower pots are all suitable in which to 
collect small fruits, to be emptied at the ends of the quarters into 
larger receptacles. We have never any call for a statement of the 
quantities of fruit collected and sent to the mansion during the 
season, but this does not prevent us booking every pound or quart 
of it, as I like to compare one season’s quantity with another, and 
the dates of gathering ; and I would advise all to keep a similar 
account, whether their employers may wish to see it or not. 
All Strawberries, Black Currants, and Raspberries for preserving 
should be gathered without the stems, and so should Black Currants, 
the stems only being required on when gathered for dessert. When 
the fruit is gathered clean and carefully it saves much work in the 
kitchen. As a rule it is much better to go over the quarters fre¬ 
quently, say every alternate day in the ripening season, to collect 
it fresh and good, than to allow a large quantity to ripen and then 
make a large gathering. In this case much of it may be over-ripe, 
and make an unprofitable mixture with that less ripe. 
Plums, whether on standard or wall trees, should be gathered 
lief ore any decay commences, or just when they are soft all through 
and on both sides. The same remarks apply to Peaches, Nectarines, 
and Apricots, and there should always be a decided objection to any 
one pressing their fingers round these to feel if they are ripe. Many 
fine fruits are damaged in this way. The best way of testing them 
is to pull them gently forward ; if they come away freely from the 
footstalk they are ripe, if not leave them. With these, as with all 
other fruits, it is of the utmost importance that they be gathered 
when quite dry and sound.— A Kitchen Gardener. 
Australian Horticulture. — In New South Wales the flower 
garden is more readily and successfully managed than in England, 
although in the more elevated regions of the Colony the more tender 
kinds of plants have to be protected from the effects of frost at night. 
Every description of garden flower known in the United Kingdom thrives 
in the most luxuriant manner ; the common Scarlet Pelargonium fre¬ 
quently attaining the proportions of a large bush, and blossoming the 
greater part of the year. The Sweetbriar, if allowed to run wild, becomes 
a kind of horticultural pest, overrunning the garden in every direction. 
In shady positions Violets grow as readily as in English woods, losing 
none of the fragrance which have rendered them such universal favourites. 
Roses and Camellias are abundant, especially the latter, bouquets of 
which, consisting each of about a dozen large beautiful flowers, are 
hawked about the Sydney streets during the season at the price of Is. 
each. 
THE ONION MAGGOT. 
The attack of the maggot of the Onion fly (Anthomyia Ceparum) has 
caused great havoc for many years, and nearly all methods of “ remedy ” 
have failed. Once the bed is attacked the Onions decay and the leaves 
turn yellow. All the Onions thus attacked should be at once lifted from 
the bed and destroyed. The earth should be attached to the bulb, and a 
knife is the best thing to use. It should be put under the bulb of the 
Onion, and the earth around the bulb lifted. If the Onion is only pulled 
up it is very probable that the rotten portion will remain in the ground, 
and that the maggot will stay there and develope into a mischievous egg- 
laying fly. This seems to be the only remedy once the Onion bed is 
attacked. The Onions must be lifted, and with the maggot in, then 
destroyed by burning. They must not be pulled and thrown on the path, 
for that is useless. After the attack all kinds of dressings are useless, and 
Miss Ormerod told me only last week that she found the fly that lays 
the eggs as lively as possible, and laying eggs in a crop covered with a 
dressing of soot. Before an attack a dressing of paraffin and water has 
been known to ward off an attack. Here it is believed that the efficacy 
of the dressing lies in the fact that the smell of the Onion crop is 
neutralised by the stronger smell of the dressing. It is well known that 
insects are attracted to their favourite crops by the smell, and attack 
frequently follows any thinning-out of the crop. This is not only the 
case with Onions, but also especially with Carrots, and in both casps 
paraffin (a wineglassful to a gallon of water) acts as a preventive by 
giving the crop an unattractive smell. The best preventive for the Onion 
crop is to sow the Onions in drills, and when the crop is young slightly 
earth them up. Unless the fly can get to the bulb, and there lay its eggs, 
it can do no damage, and if the drill is carefully earthed up the bulb of 
the Onion is protected during the time of attack. For nearly all crops a 
good preventive preparation of the land is a dressing of spent gas lime. 
This is a capital thing, and should be put on in the autumn and dug cr 
ploughed in. If used fresh from the gasworks it must be put in when 
no crop is in, but if allowed to stand and lose its causticity it is perfectly 
harmless. It is a good thing, used caustic and fresh, to clear land of 
wireworm. It will kill nearly everything, but the earth soon destroys its 
causticity, and then in the form of gypsum it is a valuable manure.— 
Henry F. Moore, Fromc. 
CORNISH HORTICULTURE. 
It now remains for me to make a few remarks respecting forcing flowers 
for market or other purposes. Forcing plants into flower is a phase of horti¬ 
culture which has been for a long time practised. It is only within the pasff* 
comparatively few years that it has become a matter of almost national im¬ 
portance, and that competition has become so keen and to such an extent 
which it has evidently now assumed. The number of persons of both sexes 
employed in the various departments of “flower-farming,” even in this 
country, to say nothing of the continental ones, probably number several 
thousands. There is a much-hackneyed saying to the effect that where one 
man will live another would starve. The success of the former individual 
does not, perhaps, wholly rest on his being the more industrious, for ingenuity 
often gains half the battle. Knowing what is wanted and when it is wanted 
are both matters of great importance. To get a favourite flower in bloom 
two or three weeks before anyone else, and to be the first in the market with 
it, makes a great difference in the favour of the grower. 
The plants most generally forced are Arum Lily (Richardia sethiopica), 
Belladonna Lily, Deutzia, Lily of the Valley, and Astilbe (Spiraea) japonica. 
Large quantities of Arum Lily tubers are procured from various parts of this 
country and from the continent every year by the Cornish growers. This 
handsome semi-aquatic thrives with astonishing success in the open air, even 
through the severest of winters. It is grown in comparatively small pots, 
and forcing commences during winter, the roots being taken from the 
open ground, potted, and placed in a gentle heat in batches from early 
winter right on until the out-of-door plants commence to show flower, which 
is generally during April. One important item in the culture of this fine 
plant, and which is frequently overlooked, is that it can hardly have too 
much water when forcing ; the soil in which it is grown may be kept con¬ 
stantly thoroughly saturated. Another consideration well worth mentioning 
is that the plant should not be overpotted, because when growing in a rich 
compost and in large pots the ends of the cultivator will in all probability 
be baulked in securing little other than a foliaceous growth and a super¬ 
abundance of large roots. For forcing, pots about 6 inches in diameter at 
the top will be found quite large enough. Gradual and gentle forcing is also 
very needful, as all sudden changes or a great heat will prove fatal to 
success. 
Various named sorts of Narcissi are largely grown. The earliest one is, 
of course, the Paper White, which belongs to the Polyanthus group. It is 
obtained in bloom in the early part of winter, throughout which season it 
continues to produce its pure white and fragrant flowers. It requires only 
a gentle heat to start the bulbs into growth, and can be had early in the 
