SEPTEMBER. 
193 
the time of sowing the seeds, the plants will, with proper care, be fitted for 
planting out, and this should not be later than the middle of August. A good 
bottom heat, as well as a top heat, is necessary for the successful culture of 
Cucumbers in winter. If the heat be fine, bottom heat is not required in 
August nor the early part of September, but should wet unfavourable weather 
prevail, a little bottom heat is then indispensable. Cucumbers in winter 
should always be trained on trellises. I have always found them do well in a 
compost of light turfy loam, with plenty of rotten leaves mixed with it. 
When planted out, all the air possible should be given, in order to secure 
short, stiff, vigorous growth in the plants. Attention must be paid to the 
training of the plants ; as soon as they reach part of the way up the trellis they 
should be stopped; they will then soon push out laterals, which must be also 
stopped, and tied to the trellises, distributing them regularly all over; but 
strong, robust, vigorous, healthy growth is the principal point to bear in mind 
at first, and not a quantity of weak shoots. From the beginning of October 
a steady, regular bottom heat, of from 75 Q to 80°, should be maintained. 
If the weather be fine, little or no artificial top heat will be necessary until 
towards the end of the month, when it will become necessary to have it con¬ 
stantly, regulating it according to the weather. The plants should have a good 
watering whenever they require it, at about the same temperature as that of 
the atmosphere of the pit or house, and all the air possible must be given when 
the weather permits. The plants should not be allowed to bear any fruit until 
November, by which time they will be in a condition to do good work during 
the dark winter months. 
The bottom heat should not range much above 80°, nor below 75°. 
The top heat must be regulated according to the state of the weather; a tem¬ 
perature of from 65° to 70° by night, and 70° to 75° by day, with an 
increase by sun-heat of a few degrees, will be a safe one. In very severe 
cold weather, coverings should, when practicable, be used at night, as they not 
only save fuel, but it is much better for the plants. On no account should the 
plants be overcropped; this would be fatal to them at this season. By only 
allowing a few fruit on the plants at one time, their vigour remains un¬ 
diminished, and they continue to swell out fine, handsome fruit in the dullest 
weather, and during the shortest days. If any young gardener, who may 
have heretofore had. some difficulty in growing Cucumbers in winter will carry 
out the method I have briefly described, he will find the advice given will not 
disappoint him. 
Stourton. M. Saijl. 
ON VARIABILITY IN THE PEAR TREE. 
[The following article by M. Decaisne, which appears in the first Number of 
the new “Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society,” is translated from 
“ Annales des Sciences Naturelles,” 1864, and embodies the results of experi¬ 
ments made at the Museum of Natural History, Paris, from 1853 to 1862.] 
The almost unlimited and still increasing number of varieties in fruit trees, 
pulse, and all economical vegetables in general, is a phenomenon to which 
science has hitherto paid little attention. There is the greater reason to be 
astonished at this, since it has been remarked even by persons most unaccustomed 
to the study of plants, and since, from the earliest times, it has been an object 
of importance on the part of cultivators. 
Writers of antiquity—Theophrastus, Pliny, Columella, and others, like 
those who have succeeded them in ages nearer to the present, the brothers 
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