120 
CALENDAR FOR MAY. 
and stop those reserved one leaf before the best bunch, and re« 
move all the others, being careful to damage none of the foliage 
left on the plant. 
Continue every available means to keep insects and vermin of 
all sorts in check, or the enormous rate of increase in many of 
these pests will render abortive all previous care and labour. 
One of the best agents in effecting the destruction of insects on 
walls, and also in assisting the development of the trees, is 
regular and powerful syringing with clean water, which should 
be frequently done after the fruit is set and while it is 
swelling. 
Forcing Garden. In the cucumber and melon pits the heat 
may range from 80° to 90°, allowing it to decline about twenty 
degrees or more during the night. Maintain a moist genial 
atmosphere, and fumigate when necessary. Keep the shoots 
thin, so as to have no more foliage than is completely exposed 
to the light, and thin the fruit, so as not to weaken the vines by 
overbearing. Keep melons free of supernumerary leaves and 
laterals when the fruit is set, and apply less water to such as 
are near ripening, also giving more air at the same time. Main¬ 
tain a proper succession of both cucumbers and melons by the 
plantation of fresh beds. Grow the succession pines in a strong 
moist heat, watering overhead and closing the frames early in 
the afternoon ; shade in bright weather. Reduce the supply of 
water to the ripening fruit, and give air more freely. Peaches 
and nectarines should also have less water and more air as the 
fruit ripens, and should be constantly attended to, as to thinning, 
tying in, &c. The same treatment is also applicable to the early 
vines, where the fruit is ripening, observing not to syringe the 
fruit after the bloom appears on the berries. Thin the berries 
and regulate the shoots of the later crops, and keep up a moist 
genial temperature, as the berries swell at 80° or more in sunny 
weather, with a free circulation of air. Keep the strawberries in 
the coolest part of the house, with plenty of air and moisture ; 
less of the last to such as are ripe or nearly so. Make final 
sowings of French beans, so as to maintain a thorough supply 
till those from the open ground are in. Water and syringe 
freely, and fumigate often. Make a fresh mushroom bed about 
the middle of the month, and keep those in bearing cool and 
