458 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Jane 10, 1886. 
exertion to himself, and with far greater advantage to the 
land, when there is only the faintest tinge of green by up- 
springing weeds, than he can cleanse one-tenth that extent 
after they have approached or attained to a flowering size. 
Assuming the man has 3s. a day, the saving effected by 
prompt action is obvious and important. But some wage- 
payers, for garden labour especially, conceive that their money 
is being wasted when they see a man hoeing where there are 
not strong weeds. Such persons are not practical. They 
have not, in fact, “ thought the matter out,” hence really do 
not know what is good for themselves. Sound gardeners, 
however, know it, and some of them, perhaps many, do much 
good by stealth in rushing the hoes through the ground in 
the absence of the lord and master; and others would only 
be too glad to ply the hoe sooner than they do if they were 
not overwhelmed by other pressing work in spring. Driven 
by circumstances, not a few owners of gardens feel compelled 
to reduce as much as possible the labour supply. It is very 
easy to reduce too much and lose in the end far more than is 
gained in the beginning. Saving labour results in weed- 
infested land, and this means a greater waste of money than 
it is possible to compute. It is the farmers of such filthy 
land who first fail. They allow it to be overrun by an army 
of robbers, and trust to the impossibility of their not pillaging. 
Those market gardeners who enrich their land the most freely 
and prevent the growth of weeds the most sedulously, pay 
the highest rents and make the most money. They cannot 
afford to let weeds grow, They would be ruined if they did ; 
and no labour is so productive to them as that by which 
weeds are prevented and the whole resources of the soil 
directed to the more remunerative crops. 
Hoeing before weeds are visible is the most economical 
and effectual of all methods of procedure; for, besides pre¬ 
venting robbers feasting on the food in the soil, it admits air 
and warmth in spring, greatly accelerating growth ; and in 
summer conserves the moisture that is continually escaping 
in hot dry weather through the fissures that form in soil 
when the surface is not periodically broken. By the practice 
indicated weeds are completely extirpated, and waste of the 
earth’s resources reduced to a minimum. — Expeeientia 
docet. 
ASPARAGUS. 
I read with interest the articles in the Journal recently upon the 
cultivation of Asparagus. There is one mode of assisting growth not 
referred to, and yet which, in my opinion, is such an excellent one 
that I think it deserves mention. 
In the autumn after the growth is thoroughly ripened and cut 
down, give a heavy dressing of Sea Wraick quite fresh from the 
shore, cover it over with a thin layer of soil dug from the alleys to 
prevent all evaporation, and leave it to rot. In spring the birds will 
attack the beds in swarms, devouring a sort of maggot which then 
developes in the decayed Sea Wraick. When they do this it shows that 
the beds are ready for dressing. Remove the surface soil that was 
laid over the Wraick, gently point the beds over not more than 2 or 
3 inches deep, then rake off the thick coarse undecayed stems of the 
Wraick. All the rest will be found to be almost entirely melted and 
ready to be washed into the soil when the next showers of rain come ; 
and as soon as they do come there will be no mistaking the effect 
produced, as the melting mass of saline matter is gradually washed 
down to the roots of the Asparagus just as it is pu-hing its way to 
the surface. Talk of French Asparagus—none of it is to be com- 
pared to what I used to grow by this method. Another advantage is 
that you are not troubled with weeds. 
One more observation even at the risk of being thought tedious. 
I have often heard it said that old Asparagus roots would not make 
good new beds. My experience is quite the contrary of this. I 
made some beds with two-year-old plants iu 1865, I had to change 
my residence eighteen years afterwards (in 1883). The Asparagus 
was so tine that I could not make up my mind to leave it behind, so 
I had a lot of dug up (great big old stools) and, without any other 
packing, put in a railway truck and replanted in new quarters. The 
first, year afler removal I did not allow it to be cut, but since then it 
has been perfectly vigorous, and cut regularly with most satisfactory 
results. 
I have generally heard people say that there is only one strain of 
Asparagus, and that aDy difference in quality is only the result of 
cultivation ; but that I refer to came from Cornwall, and from the 
first day 1 saw it to the present time I am convinced it is different 
from any other Asparagus I have ever seen.—A. D., Isle of Man. 
In reply to “ Thinker’s ” inquiry (page 442), five years ago I made a 
trial on our Asparagus beds. We have six long beds. On two of these all 
shoots were kept cut until the middle of June. On the next two the thin 
spray was left from the commencing of cutting. On the other two spray 
was kept cut close from the commencement also ; but strong shoots were 
left here and there singled until one was left at each crown. The follow¬ 
ing year the beds were anxiously watched, but I could not perceive any 
difference whatever on any of the beds ; neither have I done so since. I 
have wished since that I had carried the experiment on the following 
year ; but since then 1 have cut all away until the middle of June. Our 
Peas generally govern the Asparagus. As soon as they are in we leave off 
cutting the Asparagus altogether. I have given the beds a good dressing 
of manure every March.' We first throw the soil into the alleys (or I 
should say part of it, as we do not bare the crowns) ; we then put on the 
manure and cover frem the alleys. In April it has a dressing of salt. I 
should like to give another dressing when I leave off cutting, but I am not 
allowed to do so.—J. L. B. 
FRUIT STONING. 
Few things are so tantalising in horticultural practice as to 
have an abundant show of fruit blossom, and then have to expe¬ 
rience a blighting of anticipations by the embryo fruit falling 
with or soon after the faded petals. Then the tiding safely over 
a good set raises anxieties as to the fruit swelling. Much does 
not swell—it “stands still,” and is not long ere it falls. After 
this our care is about the stoning. The fruit may be cast in 
this, and our hopes of a crop for that year at least are lost. 
There are two very important periods in the growth of fruit 
from the time the blossoms expand until perfection. There is 
the blossoming, during which the fruit is set or not set, depend¬ 
ing upon the development of the organs of fructification, and 
the other is in the development and maturation of the fruit. 
The blossoming is a natural sequence of the formation of fruit 
buds in the previous season of growth. The buds are perfect 
or imperfect in the year of their formation. They do not change 
in the bud state. What they are formed when the leaves are 
on the trees, and what they attain in respect of perfection or 
imperfection, is effected whilst the foliage is upon the trees, and 
by or before it becomes mature and falls. Perfectly developed 
buds are, I am aware, formed at a very early stage. Jn some 
instances, as in the case of Vines, it is evidenced in bunches 
formed on laterals, and we sometimes have Peaches blossoming 
and setting in late summer when the leaves are upon the trees, 
and we have very frequent examples in Pears and Apples bear¬ 
ing secondary crops of fruit, but I have never known an instance 
of trees with no blossom buds when the foliage fell forming 
them during the winter months or season of rest. Peach trees 
that are forced early sometimes lose part of their leaves from 
red spider, and these plump the buds on the leafless parts quite 
as well as those that are furnished with leaves, and set and stone 
quite as surely as fruit on wood the buds of which had foliage 
up to a late period. Royal George and all the small-flowered 
Peaches and Nectarines bear more hardship in the loss of foliage 
than the large-flowered varieties, of which Noblesse, Grosse 
Mignonne, Early York, Ac , are types. The first ripen or perfect 
the blossom buds, but the large-flowered seldom or never, form¬ 
ing imperfect pistils—that is, having short styles, and the 
anthers are devoid of pollen, if indeed the buds are not cast 
when we anticipate their swelling. I mention this because I 
have a recollection that “ Thinker ” asked my opinion upon 
this point—viz., “ Did not the wood ripen after the leaves were 
off and in subsequent seasons ?” I have no doubt of the wood 
hardening, but of its ripening I have very grave doubts, for 
ripening —that is, solidification during growth or with foliage, 
and hardening without foliage, are very different. In one we 
have a perfectly elaborated and assimilated formation of wood, 
and such a deposition of what physiologists term cambium, that 
a perfect bud is insured, certain to develope under favourable 
conditions in a perfect blossom, and to set and stone perfectly; 
but in the sappy growth we get crude sap and sound matter 
intermingled, the growth is not solidified as grown, the buds are 
not perfectly formed, the wood only ripens sufficiently to with¬ 
stand ordinary temperatures of cold, and though we get a sheet 
of bloom there is no solidity of the organs of fructification even 
if we grant them to be perfect, and the blossom does not set or 
the fruit does not swell or stone. This in consequence of there 
being little or no ripened wood. “What!” I hear “Thinker” 
say, “ No ripe wood ! Why, you contradict yourself! There 
are Grapes borne perfect in every way on laterals, second crops 
