1876. ] 
FOECING THE FIG. 
127 
and of excellent quality, and having kept well; many of the kinds beyond their 
usual time, such as the following culinary sorts :—Waltham Abbey Seedling, 
Mere de Menage, Brabant Bellefleur, Wadhurst Pippin, Hanwell Souring, 
Striped Beefing, and several more. I find that soil exercises considerable in¬ 
fluence over the keeping property of Apples. Thus, a heavy retentive loam, 
thoroughly drained, is the very best that can be selected, whether we aim at 
size or 'quality, and is, to a great extent, a preventive against canker. I know of 
no dessert apple late in the season half so good as the Stunner Pippin; we had 
it at the end of February, as plump, fresh, and juicy as when gathered from the 
tree, while all other kinds were less or more shrivelled. 
During July there was a slight advance of the maximum and minimum tem¬ 
perature, but still it was much below the average, with no abatement of cloudy 
and showery weather. Whatever the day-heat may have been, the nights were 
constantly cold, so that the heat of the following day was, for the most part, 
exhausted before the earth and air received much benefit. Under this depression, 
there was no falling-off in the quality of our autumn pears. The same cannot, 
•however, be said of the winter varieties, as they were, for the most part, perfectly 
useless ; among others I may reckon, Beurre Bose, Buerre Ranee, Ne Plus Meuris, 
Glou Morceau, Knight’s Monarch, Bergamotte Esperen, Broom Park, Bergamotte 
Cadette, Winter Nelis, Marie Louise, and L’Inconnue. Our principal supply was 
derived from the following, which carried on the succession till the middle of 
February :—Josephine de Malines, Chaumontel, St. Germain, and March Bergamot. 
I have to notice a curious circumstance connected with Josephine de Malines and 
March Bergamot. The flavour of both was delicious, but whether this property may 
have arisen from the cold wet season, or some other cause, it is very difficult to 
tell. One would naturally have concluded that a warm, dry summer was more 
conducive to a higher state of maturation, but it is really not so. I have grown 
both these varieties for many years, but never before found them worth cultivating, 
and I was so much dissatisfied with their quality that I seriously thought of 
having the trees regrafted. No doubt there are often passing, unobserved causes, 
or a correlation of causes which would, if understood, drive the mist away from 
much that now appears to us very obscure.— Alexander Ceamb, Tortwortli, 
FOECING THE FIG. 
iV^DVERTING to my remarks at p. 110, I may remark that to obtain very 
AV early figs, the old system had a good deal to recommend it, and where this 
can be carried out, I think it will still be found to be the best. The plants 
are taken out of the pots in October, and the roots, with part of the old 
ball, chopped off all round. The pots are washed, and if of large size, the plants 
are put back, with fresh soil, into the same pots. If wanted for the end of Feb¬ 
ruary or March, they are placed upon a dung-bed the first week in November. 
As the heat declines, the space is filled between them up to the rim of the pot. 
The roots will soon show all over the surface, when they should have a good 
