620 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 1 , 1893. 
liquid manure in a tepid state. Keep the plants well up to the glass 
without touching it, and allow them plenty of room. 
Providing for Fruit in May and June .—Where the means are 
limited considerable judgment and skill are required to maintain a 
successional supply of ripe Pine Apples throughout the year. There is 
no trouble where the successional plants can be counted by hundreds, 
but where the number is more limited the difficulty is to act so as to 
have the fruit come in at the right time. A supply of ripe Pines being 
required in May and June and plants are not showing fruit it will be 
desirable to select from those started last March which have completed 
a stout growth, have a thickened base, and are now resting, being guided 
in the selection by such as show the best indications of starting into 
fruit when subjected to a higher temperature both at the roots and in 
the atmosphere. The plants are best placed in a structure by them¬ 
selves, but if this cannot be afforded assign them a light position in the 
house where the fruiters are swelling. A temperature of 65° at night, 
5° lower in the morning in cold weather, and 70° to 75° by day will be 
ample at present in the fruiting department. 
Cucumbers. —Winter-fruiting Cucumber plants are suffering from 
attacks of eelworm at the roots, this pest proving more disastrous than 
usual. This invisible (to the naked eye) foe gives no clear indications 
in the growth of the plants to an ordinary observer of the presence of 
the attack until the mischief is irremediable; but we advise subjecting 
all soil, especially turfy soil and animal manures, to a temperature of 
over 212°, but not so high as to burn or consume the fibry particles, 
before it is used for the plants, as a preventive. This we find infallible, 
but it is necessary to refrain from the use of vegetable or animal 
manures afcerwards, and from any form of bone manure other than 
vitriolised, and rely mainly on mineral manures for sustaining the plants 
in health and fruitfulness. 
Many failures, however, with winter fruiting Cucumbers arise from 
attempts at their culture in unsuitable structures. Cold weather necessi¬ 
tates heating the hot water pipes where there is a deficiency of heating 
surface to a temperature highly inimical to the plants by drying the 
atmosphere more than is good for the foliage, and where the pipes are 
in close proximity to the roots the soil is dried too much for healthy 
growth. The consequence is the fruits become stunted and swell 
indifferently, the plants falling a prey to insects. Air must be admitted 
very carefully, affording a little, however, whenever a favourable oppor¬ 
tunity offers, but exclude it when the external air is cutting and cold. 
In bright weather, and the air sharp, turn off the top heat when the 
sun is powerful and likely to raise the temperature above 80°, for much 
sun heat before the turn of the day only accelerates growth which 
cannot be sustained. In such weather damp the house in the morning 
and afternoon, closing about midday or I P.M. Do not wet the fruit or 
the embryonic may damp off, and that formed become scabbed and 
deformed. Water will be required at the roots once or twice a week, and 
it should be equal in temperature to the mean of the house. A tem¬ 
perature of 60° to 65° at night, and 70° to 75° by day artificially is 
suitable. 
The winter fruiting plants from the August sowing, and planted out 
in September, have grown to the extent of the trellis or nearly so, and 
are showing plenty of fruit. Only a few for Christmas and the New 
Year should be allowed to remain, and that on vigorous plants, as the 
plants will need all their strength to tide over a severe period should 
one occur, and fruit is most in demand during late winter and early 
spring. Attend frequently to stopping and thinning, also tying the 
shoots, avoiding overcrowding as one of the greatest evils. Remove 
bad and decayed leaves. Mildew is unusually prevalent this season, 
but it readily yields to dusting the foliage with flowers of sulphur or 
painting the hot-water pipes with a little sulphur. This also kills 
white fly, but aphides must be overcome by moderate fumigation on 
consecutive calm evenings. Subdue canker by rubbing quicklime into 
the affected parts, repeating as necessary. 
Strawberries In Pots. —Although John Ruskin has proved as 
susceptible of attack from mildew in many places as its prototype Black 
Prince, it is highly spoken of in some quarters and grown extensively 
as a first early forcing variety. Where it or Black Prince can be had 
free from fungal pests there is a manifest advantage, as the fruit comes 
earlier, and is higher coloured and better flavoured than very early fruit 
of other varieties. The earliest fruits have commenced swelling, the 
crowns and the trusses are “ peeping,” and with them tiny aphides, which 
must be killed either by dusting with tobacco powder or fumigation with 
tobacco, or they will increase amazingly, and fasten on and spoil the 
flower buds. The temperature may be advanced a few degrees by day ; 
a temperature of 50° to 55° being sufficient at night and by day in cold 
dull weather. A light syringing in the early part of bright afternoons 
will be advantageous to the plants. Examine the plants daily and supply 
water to all those that require it, but avoid making the soil sodden and 
sour by needless applications. 
More plants should be placed in a house from which frost is excluded, 
the decayed leaves being removed, the drainage seen to and rectified if 
necessary, the surface of the soil loosened, the pots washed clean, and a 
top-dressing of rich compost given. The plants will then be ready for 
introducing during the next three weeks to vineries and Peach houses 
being started, or a Strawberry house, assigning them a position near the 
glass. La Grosse Sucr6e, Vicomtesse Hericart de Thury, President, 
and Noble are suitable varieties. 
Plants for introducing later on will be quite safe in their quarters 
outdoors, plunged in ashes to the rim, and a light covering may be given 
of dry fern or litter in severe weather, removing it when the weather is 
mild. If placed in frames, the plants should have the lights drawn off 
in mild weather, and in wet weather the lights should be tilted, for 
the plants cannot be kept too cool, nor must any be allowed to suffer for 
want of water at the roots. 
THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 
Vacant Ground. —In most kitchen gardens there is now a consider¬ 
able amount of ground void of crops, and whether this shall be 
dug or trenched or made tidy for the winter ought to depend upon 
circumstances. Some soils would be greatly benefited by being early 
manured and roughly laid up to the pulverising influences of frost, 
winds, sunshine, and rains. Either double digging or trenching would be 
beneficial in other cases ; while in not a few instances all such operations 
would be deferred with advantage to nearer cropping time. Soils differ 
so greatly in their constitution that it is almost impossible to lay down 
any general rules as to their proper treatment, as what would be right 
in one instance might be radically wrong in another case not apparently 
dissimilar. 
Heavy Soils. —These naturally are of a decidedly clayey nature, 
and are usually most fertile under good treatment owing to their 
ability to absorb and retain both fertilising matter and moisture, but if 
mismanaged they are by no means so productive as medium and lighter 
soils. If there is too great a percentage of pure clay present in the 
soil, an early exposure to frosts may lead to this running badly and 
assuming the consistency of birdlime and the ground be very difficult of 
cultivation during the rest of the year accordingly. When former 
experience has shown that autumn or early digging leads to such results 
it should be discontinued till such times as it has been possible to well 
mix with the clayey soil a heavy dressing or repeated dressings of sand, 
ashes of all kinds, burnt clay, leaf soil, decayed garden rubbish, mixed 
with lime, well decayed tanner’s bark, and such like. Once such 
materials get well mixed with clayey soil they will prevent it from running 
together again, and gradually convert the mass into an easily worked, 
very fertile soil. Have all or any of these materials collected, and later 
on wheeled on to the vacant plots, dig in with forks early next spring, 
or any time not long in advance of cropping, and while yet in a semi-dry 
state, breaking up the clods, and well mix the additions with the clayey 
soil by means of a course of chopping with two-tined or Canterbury 
hoes. 
Heavy loamy soils, or those which do not contain more than 25 per 
cent, of clay, will usually be improved by being manured and roughly 
dug during the autumn and early winter, or long enough in advance of 
cropping to admit of pulverisation taking place. In some instances it 
has been found to answer well to dig before midwinter, and again early 
in the spring, thereby avoiding the risk of having a finely divided 
surface and great tough lumps underneath. On no account should 
heavy land be wheeled over, unduly trampled on, or dug during wet 
weather, or when water is standing on the surface, as this would of a 
certainty lead to its working very badly for at least one season, and 
most probably for some time longer. Either do the necessary wheeling 
over it during the prevalence of frosts, or else lay down planks to run 
on. Cow manure is about the worst kind that can well be used on 
heavy or clayey land, as it serves to make it still colder and more reten¬ 
tive. Horse stable manure only about half decayed is best for very 
clayey soil. Dug in freely now it will serve to keep the ground looser, 
and further act mechanically in breaking up the clay. 
medium and Xlght Soils. —When either of these rest upon a 
gravelly or chalk subsoil and naturally work freely without a long 
exposure to pulverising influences, it is not often a good policy to dig 
them now. Even if autumn or early winter digging has been found 
advantageous in former years, it would be yet unwise to manure them 
long in advance of cropping, as they are not sufficiently retentive to 
admit of this being done without the risk of the greater portion of the 
more soluble parts of the manure being washed down into the drains. 
Well decayed manure from farmyards best suits these non-retentive 
soils, the cow manure being most suitable for the lightest or least 
retentive soils. 
The summer of 1893 proved exceptionally trying to crops on medium 
and light soils, their inability to retain moisture, owing to the absence 
of clay in their composition, being most marked. This failing should be 
remedied as far as possible in future years, a start being made at once 
by giving a dressing of either marl or clay. Make no attempt to divide 
the lumps, but distribute all thinly over the surface, trusting to the 
action of frosts to break them down, the mixing with the soil taking 
place early in the spring. This addition of clay or marl, and which 
latter may be defined as a mixture of clay and lime, soon has the effect 
of making light soils more retentive of moisture and fertility, and 
therefore more productive at all times. 
Trenchlngr.—In order to improve the depth of fertile soil, and to 
certain extent be in a position to produce good crops of vegetables during 
a hot dry season, trenching should be resorted to according as the 
opportunities for carrying out this work properly offers. What is known 
as bastard trenching consists of breaking up the ground two spits or 
more in depth without reversing the positions of the surface soil and 
that immediately beneath. It is both the safest and best practice in 
all cases where the subsoil is of a clayey nature, and not previously 
ameliorated by having a variety of decaying substances, including 
strawy manure, vegetable refuse, and such like mixed with it. Bringing 
up a mass of poor soil to the surface, and burying that which has 
