322 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 4, 18 
any intention of replanting. Should large clearances be made followed 
by the abandonment of the fuel-planting enterprise, the results may 
be disastrous. The indigenous and established sand-binding plants 
have been smothered by the Casuarina trees, and the consequence of the 
removal of the latter can only be the transformation of, at a moderate 
estimate, fifty miles of coast line north and south of Madras, metamor¬ 
phosed in the last twenty years into fine forest, into a chain of bare 
and blowing sand-dunes, the inland edges overlapping and hopelessly 
destroying the cultivated land, while those on the seaside contribute 
a liberal quota to the already surcharged streams which threaten to 
choke the new harbour. 
KITCHEN GARDEN. 
Mushroom Beds. —Those who have been collecting material for 
Muihroom beds lately should now make them up. Cultivators differ in 
opinion as to the best position for beds. Some adhere to the old heated 
houses, others grow them in sheds and outbuildings, while many make 
up the beds in the open and grow them well there. We approve of all 
ways so long as they suit the grower and the beds are made up the same 
*ki all cases. As is well known, horse droppings are the best of all 
materials for Mushroom growing. We have known good crops pro¬ 
duced from manure from the cow sheds, but prefer the horse droppings, 
only the beds need not be exclusively composed of these. Turf and 
soil, and even leaves, may be mixed with the droppings. We have often 
placed pieces of soil as large as the fist in the beds, and when the Mush¬ 
rooms appeared some of these were crowded with them. The manure 
■should be gathered into a heap, turned over frequently to allow the 
superfluous moisture to escape, and do not add the soil until the bed is 
about to be made up. If the soil is very dry it will be an advantage, as 
it will absorb the moisture from the manure and prevent it heating too 
much. Tie beds may be from 3 feet to 5 feet in width, and from 1 foot 
"to 18 inches in thickness if they are under cover, but if in the open 
they should be made up like a Potato pit with a ridge about 4 feet up 
in the centre, and a sharp slope to each side. The manure should be 
trodden and beaten as firmly as possible, the object being to make it 
retain the heat until the Mushrooms are growing freely. We have 
lately formed a bed in the potting shed. It was made one day and 
spawned the next. Two days afterwards the thermometer indicated 90° 
as the temperature of the bed, and now it is 95°, but the heat will not 
increase, and the holes in which the spawn were inserted, although left- 
open to allow the superfluous heat to escape, will be closed in a day or 
two and the soil put on. As long as the temperature does not rise above 
100° there will be no harm done. Indeed, a h ; gh temperature is neces¬ 
sary to make the spawn run and penetrate the bed everywhere. We 
liave known Mushroom beds fail through lack of heat, and when they 
were broken up the pieces of spawn were as hard as on the day they 
were inserte l. 
Tomatoes in the Open Air. —The recent bright weather has 
improved these a little, but not sufficiently to make the crop of 1888 a 
success. There is now no chance of this, and this is the worst season we 
have experienced for Tomatoes in the open during the last dozen years ; 
but one bad year in twelve is not discouraging, and in another year we 
shall try to extend their culture in the open, as it is an easy way of 
securing much good fruit. Our plants have failed to gain their usual 
strength, and the fruit is scarce, but the most must be made of what 
has been formed, and care should be taken that none of it be injured by 
frost. A few degrees will make the fruit spotted and diseased, and then 
it is useless, but if the fruit is cut off before it is injured and hung up 
m a warm glass house or room it will ripen slowly, and prove very useful 
in November and December. The fruit does not require to be fully 
grown to ripen in this way, as those not over half grown will ripen as 
well as those that are fully developed. 
Late Vegetable Marrows. —Peas and some other choice 
vegetables are not so plentiful as they were, and as autumn advances it 
will be more difficult to secure variety, but Marrows may be kept on for 
a long time. Many of the fruits are ripe and hard, indeed unfit for 
cooking, and if these are allowed to remain on the plants until the 
leaves die more young ones will fail to form, but if every old fruit is 
cut off numbers of young ones will form and swell at once, and these 
will give a supply until about Christmas. We always secure flue late 
young Marrows by being careful in cutting the old and matured fruits 
■at this time. 
Kidney Beans. —Both the irunners and dwarfs are exceedingly 
tender. The slightest frost will destroy the foliage, and then the supply 
of pods will cease. The dwarfs are the easiest to manage in late 
autumn. Where they are in good condition still and growing in close 
tows, if some frames are placed over the best of them and cover them 
with lights at night the supply may be kept for 6ome weeks after the 
exposed ones are destroyed. Hoops and mats placed over a few rows 
are also beneficial. Our latest runners are in flower, but we fear they 
will never form pols. Quantities have been gathered from earlier rows 
and sent into the kitchen to be salted in jars for winter use. When 
this is properly done they may be served on the table throughout the 
winter, and very few will be able to tell them from pods newly 
gathered. Where pits for forcing are numerous a sowing of dwarf Ne 
Plus Ultra Kidney Beans should be put in now. Fill sixty, eighty, or 
one hundred 3-inch pots half full of good soil, place six or eight seeds 
in each, put a little more soil over them, and stand them near the glass 
in a house or pit where the night temperature is about 70°, or a little 
less. Here the plants will appear in a week, and when from 4 inches 
to 6 inches high transfer them into 7-inch pots. Two or three may be 
placed into each of the lar er pots, and if well supplied with light, air, 
and heat they will grow robust and prove very fruitful by December. 
Tying up Endive. —The best way to blanch autumn Endive is to 
gather the leaves up all round, forming them into a cone-like shape, and 
then tie them firmly round the top that they may retain this form. If 
done when quite dry wet will not readily reach the centre, and they 
will remain sound and good for a long time. 
FRUIT FORCING. 
Pines. —To maintain the sturdy healthful appearance of young 
growing stock free ventilation is necessary, maintaining the bottom 
heat about the roots at 80°, watering the plants whenever they require 
it. Employ weak liquid manure occasionally, and avoid using the syringe 
too frequently ; merely sprinkling the paths every morning and evening 
will suffice. Fire heat must be resorted to to maintain a night tem¬ 
perature of 60° to 65°. Fruiting plants should have a night temperature 
of 70°, 80° to 90° during the day, closing at 85°. Newly potted plants 
must have a bottom heat of 90° to 95°, with a view to the roots speedily 
penetrating the fresh soil. Recently started suckers should, as soon as 
roots are plentifully made, be raised near the glass, it being essential 
that those intended to be wintered in small pots be brought on very 
gradually. 
When the suckers started this autumn are well rooted they should be 
potted without delay, draining the pots well. Employ the fibry part 
only of turfy loam, and do not tear it up too fine, but use it in lumps 
proportionate to the size of the pots. The strongest plants may be 
transferred to the largest pots at once, the size of the pots being pro¬ 
portioned to the robustness of the varieties. Black Jamaicas do well in 
9 or 10 inch, Queen in 10 or 11 inch pots, Smooth-leaved Cayenne and 
similar varieties in 11 to 12 inch pots, and Providence in 13 or 14 inch 
pots, which will afford fruit. Where smaller plants and fruits are the 
objects aimed at, pots an inch or two less in diameter will answer. 
The plants not of a suitable size for transferring to the largest pots m.iy 
be shifted into 8 inch pots, in which they should be kept until spring. 
Strawberries in Pots. —Watering Strawberries for the coming 
forcing season must not be neglected, though plants in well drained soil 
in the open ground do not suffer from continuous rains, yet those in pots 
are seriously injured by continued needless waterings, especially those 
required for early forcing, still they must never be allowed to become 
dust dry. Any that have the soil very wet and remain so for a time 
without watering should have the drainage seen to, as worms or the 
material upon which the pots are placed choke the outlet, rendering the 
soil sodden, in which no plants will thrive. The crowns are often 
numerous in some varieties, especially Vicomte?se Hericart de Thury, a 
number of small crowns clustering near the central one. The small 
should be removed as soon as they can be taken with finger and thumb, 
leaving the centra or strongest crown. This will concentrate all the 
vigour of the plant into the chief crown, and though there will be fewer 
trusses of flowers there is no need to fear a deficiency of crop, and it is 
es ential that a forced Strawberry above all things be large and red. 
Give the plants sufficient room for the exposure of the foliage to light, 
keeping the plants free from runners, and the pots cleared of weeds. 
Cherry House.- —If it is intended to plant any trees it should be 
seen to as soon as the leaves begin falling. The Cherry—indeed, stone 
fruits generally, thrive best in a calcareous soil, turfy loam with a 
sixth of chalk or old mortar rubbish, being careful to have it free 
from pieces of wood, as old laths, &c.. and if deficient of grit add 
a similar proportion of road scrapings, and to this may be added a 
twentieth of steamed crushed bones. If the soil be light add a sixth of 
clay marl finely divided, the whole to be thoroughly incorporated. Pro¬ 
vide a drain of 3-inch tiles with proper incline of the bottom of the 
border to it, and the drain having due fall and sure outlet. There 
should also be 9 inches, or better 12 inches, of drainage, the roughest 
at the bottom, with the material diminishing in size upwards to that of 
road metal, and if the top 3 inches be of chalk or the rougher parts of 
old mortar rubbish it will be an advantage. A depth of 24 inches of 
border is ample, and 6 feet width will meet all the requirements of trees 
grown under glass, and the compost should be placed together firmly. 
Black Tartarian and May Duke are the best varieties ; but the yellow 
forms an excellent addition to the dessert when fresh fruit is not over- 
plentiful. Early Jaboulay, Elton, and Governor Wood are first rate. 
The lights having been remo ed they need not be replaced for a month 
or six weeks, the old surface soil being removed without injury to the 
roots and replaced with fresh compost, that above named answering 
with the addition of a fouith of manure. 
Trees in pots required to be shifted into a larger size should be 
attended to at once, and those not required to be so treated s! o lid be 
turned out of the pots, removing a few inches of soil from the base, 
cutting back the roots, and supply fresh loam, adding old mortar 
rubbish and a sprinkling of crushed bones, good drainage being 
proviled. Remove the surface soil, adding the above compost, with a 
