616 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Jane 19, 1890. 
lightly, which means size, quality, and high finish, bulk meaning small 
fruit, bad colour, poor quality, often shanking, and always non-keeping. 
Water thoroughly when necessary, and always to moisten the soil 
through to the drainage, one good watering being worth many driblets. 
Afford liquid manure, as feeding seems necessary to the health and 
•vigour of the Vines. 
Cucumbers. —In houses fire heat will only be necessary to prevent 
the temperature falling below G5° at night and to insure 70° to 75° by 
day artificially. Attend well to stopping the shoots, removing bad 
leaves, well thinning the old growths, and- watering with weak liquid 
manure about twice a week. To encourage surface roots sprinkle the 
'bed with fresh horse manure once or twice a week, and occasionally 
•with a little soot, both of which will be beneficial in supplying ammonia 
to the atmosphere as well as aliment to the roots. 
Utilising Empty Houses. —Houses cleared of pot Vines, Strawberries 
in pots, bedding plants, &c., may be usefully appropriated to Cucumbers. 
They may be grown in 12-inch pots or in boxes of 15 inches depth and 
18 inches to 2 feet square. A wood or other trellis may be improvised 
at 15 inches from the glass. No fire heat will be necessary, the house 
being closed between 3 and 4 P.M., or earlier according to the sun or 
•weather being clear or overcast, syringing then, the floors and every 
available surface being kept damp so as to secure a good moisture 
through the day, but do not syringe in the morning, it often being the 
cause of great mischief to the foliage. Admit air at 75°, and allow the 
temperature to rise to 85° or 90° with sun, and close between 80° and 85°, 
and if the temperature rise afterwards to 90° or 95° all the better. 
Train with a single stem to the trellis, rubbing off all laterals to that 
height, then allow them to grow ; pinch the leader after it has grown 
two-thirds across the trellis. The laterals must be stopped one or two 
yoints beyond the show of fruit. 
Pits and Frames. —Water the plants about 4 P.M., closing then or 
earlier according to the weather, but it is not safe to close so early as 
to raise the temperature above 90° or 95°. Liquid manure should be 
given occasionally, but it is not advisable to give it over the foliage, nor 
afford it too frequently. Keep the growths fairly thin, thinning out old 
■growths and encouraging others in their place, so as to keep up a suc¬ 
cession of bearing wood. Stop one or two'joints beyond the fruit. 
Avoid overcrowding, and especially overcropping, and allowing the fruit 
to remain on the plants a day longer than can be helped. 
Melons. —Plants that were raised some time ago should be planted 
out at once. They will set freely in the hot days that usually prevail 
in July, and afford good fruit in late August or early September. In 
well-heated light houses there will be no difficulty in maintaining a 
supply of fairly flavoured fruit through October cr November from 
■sowing up to the third or fourth week in July. 
Pits and Frames. —A last sowing should be made at once for those 
heated by fermenting material, and it is advisable to make up the beds 
at the same time as the seed is sown, which should be in 4-inch pots 
•about half filled with soil placed in a house or frame. One or two seeds 
■may be sown in each pot duly covered with soil, supplying soil around 
the stem as the plants advance, but not higher than half an inch from 
the seed leaves. When the bed is ready turn the plants out of the pots, 
place one in the centre of each light, planting within half an inch of 
"the seed leaves with the soil inclining from the stem, give a good water- 
ing, and shade from bright sun. Pinch out the point of the leader at 
■the second rough leaf, which will induce side shoots, reduce these to 
four, take two to the front and two to the back of the frame or pic. 
Tubbing off the laterals to within G or 9 inches of the stem all around, 
and every other lateral upon the primary shoots, stopping those at 1 foot 
•from the sides of the frame. The plants will be showing and setting 
■fruit in plenty early in August, and they will ripen in late September. 
All the stopping and disbudding must be done whilst the growths are 
small, for large reductions only tend to a stagnation of the sap or gross¬ 
ness in the parts retained, and are unfavourable to the setting of the 
•crop. 
Second Crops in Frames. —Cut back Melons which have fruited, 
remove a little of the surface soil and give fresh, a’so a good watering. 
If due regard has been paid to keeping the soil moist for the first crop, 
and shemts retained in advance of the cutting back from near the base of 
•the fruited Vines, fresh growth will be quickly made, and fruits will 
9[)eedily set and swell; in fact, fruits may be had set and swelling 
before the first crop is cut, growths having been encouraged from near 
the collar of the plants. The plants, however, must not be kept so dry at 
the roots during the growth and ripening of the first crop as to com¬ 
pletely exhaust them, and in many instances to the extent of spoiling 
the fruit, as it ripens prematurely, consequently is not solid, and the 
■flavour is indifferent. Proper supplies of water are necessary when the 
■fruit is swelling, and enough should be given when ripening to preserve 
the foliage in good condition, there being no comparison of fruit ripened 
with foliage and that which has none or enfeebled to aid it during the 
ripening process. 
Setting Melons hi Frames. —In the warmer months the plants grow 
freely, particularly in dull periods, and there is difficulty in setting the 
fruit. There is a crowding of the foliage, the plants growing too freely, 
the atmosphere is too moist, and the temperature too low. Anything 
•in the way of crowding is fatal to a good set and the satisfactory 
■swelling of the fruit. The shoots should be kept rather thin by 
removing every alternate lateral whilst quite small, for to remove 
them when large very often induees gumming and canker. The 
laterals retained will for the most part show fruit at the second or third 
■joint; if not, stop them at the second joint, and the .sub-laterals 
will show fruit freely, when water should be given sparingly, but if 
necessary, pour it between the shoots so as not to wet the surface of the 
bed to any great extent. Place hot dung against the sides of the franae, 
or grass mowings will do, with a little litter over the grass. This will 
raise a gentle heat, admitting of a little ventilation being left on con¬ 
stantly day and night, which prevents the deposition of moisture on the 
blossom, which is fatal to fructification. Fertilise the flowers when fully 
expanded. Admit air freely if weather permit, increasing the ventila¬ 
tion at 70°, allowing it to rise to 80° or 85°, or 90°, at which keep it 
through the day, closing at 80°, except the small portion before alluded 
to. When the fruit is set, two to four on a plant and the size of a 
bantam’s egg, commence watering by sprinkling the foliage at closing 
time, always keeping the water from the neck or collar of the plants, and 
besides the sprinkling give a good watering twice a week in hot weather, 
once a week will be ample in dull weather. Commence ventilating at 
75°, allow the heat to rise to 85° or 90°, close by or before the sun’s 
power is much diminished or when the temperature recedes to 80°, or 
between 4 and 5 P.M., with a gentle damping, being careful to avoid 
the stems. The temperature will run up 10° or more, which will be 
advantageous to the swelling the fruit. When the fruit is advanced 
for ripening keep the bed well lined with hot dung or grass mowings, 
and admit air freely, omitting the sprinklings, watering if necessary 
through the spout of the pot instead of through a rose. Cut the fruit a 
day or two after it commences giving off its aroma, placing it in a dry 
room, and in two or three days it will be in perfection, which is when 
the ripening colour pervades every part of the fruit, after which flavour 
is lost rapidly, and in a few days it is entirely gone. 
KITCHEN GARDEN. 
Stimulating Vegetables. —These may do more harm than good 
if applied too soon, and incite sappy growth. Many advancing crops, 
such as Cauliflower, Peas, Beans, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Onions, Carrots, 
&c., may now be usefully assisted with liquid manure. Surface 
dressings of artificial manure are of little use during hot dry weather ; 
with liquid it is quite different. The water alone is beneficial, and the 
manure in it reaches the roots at once, and is used forthwith. The 
drainings from a manure heap are igenerally good, but not always 
obtainable in dry weather, but a quantity of horse, cow, or pig manure 
placed into a tank filled with water, allowed to remain there for a few 
days may be given to vegetable crops with advantage. A mere surface 
watering is useless ; a thorough soaking is the only application from 
which the best results can be obtained. 
Late Peas. —Many late crops do not prove so useful as intended 
through gaining maturity too early. Peas are frequently amongst these. 
The seed is sown too soon, and the pods are ready for use before the end 
of the season, or the time which is usually considered late. There are 
very few Peas in gardens or markets after September, and yet by sowing 
late there might be many in October. The point to aim at is to sow in 
time to have them in full bloom about the last week in September. 
Late Peas require about fourteen weeks to gain maturity. They should 
not be treated as a chance crop to be sown anywhere, but should have a 
position in the garden where they will be under the influence of the sun 
when the pods are swelling in October. Dig the soil deeply, and use 
manure liberally, but not in lumps, because these often become very 
dry in hot weather. We sow our Peas at this season 4 inches deep for 
receiving uniformity of moisture. 
Kidney Beans. — There is often a deficiency of tender young 
Beans late in autumn, the old rows having been bearing so long that 
their pods soon become tough. It is a bad plan to depend on the summer 
bearing rows for the latest supply, and seed sown towards the end of 
June produces plants that begin fruiting in September, and continue 
till cut off by frost, which may be November. 
Cabbage Stumps. —Many of the spring Cabbage have now been 
cut, they have been a good crop this season. The stumps still remain 
in the ground, and by September or October they will yield a number 
of acceptable heads, and after these are cut further growth will furnish 
greens all the winter, and in March and April next year these Cabbage 
sprouts may prove almost the only greens available. The dead leaves 
should be cleaned from the stems now, and the ground cleared by weed¬ 
ing and hoeing. 
Swedish Turnips. —These are extremely useful for the winter and 
spring supply. They are not always grown in gardens. Some consider 
them coarse, but are very hardy, and although yellow fleshed, much 
better in flavour than many of the white fleshed sorts. We sow a large 
breadth of them every June, and find them most acceptable from 
December onwards. They should be generally sown at this time. 
Weeds. —These are now growing apace, but few of them have 
seeded as yet, and if they are destroyed before the seed matures the 
garden will remain clean during the autumn. When the weather is dry 
the Dutch hoe is used, but in damp weather we resort to hand-weeding, 
and to-day there is not a weed to be seen in our kitchen garden. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Crotons. —Gootl heads that are well rooted in 3-inch pots may now 
be placed into 6 and 7-inch pots. Some of the smaller growing kinds 
will succeed in 6-inch pots. These do well in fibry loam, one-seventh 
of decayed manure and sand ; a little soot may also be incorporated 
with the soil. After potting arrange them close to the glass, where they 
will enjoy abundance of light. Moderate shade for an hour or two 
during the hottest part of the day will be beneficial, and protect highly 
