308 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
July 31. 
this may fairly be asserted, that blanks and defects 
are thus created; for I have myself known hundreds of 
oases during the last forty years; albeit, we hear such 
awful complaints occasionally of failures in crops. The 
fact as to this is, that fruit crops out-doors, ever were, 
and ever will be, fitful in character, until the whole 
gardening world in Britain is covered with glass; and 
even then, I am not well assured but that there may be 
a rock a-head for which our navigating system is scarcely 
prepared. 
About thinning-out fruits, it may be expected that I 
at once can show forth some system or maxim which 
will go far towards settling the practice; but this is not 
so easy as some might off-hand imagine. It is very 
easy, certainly, to assume that kind of positiveness 
which may allure for awhile, but we Cottage Gardeners 
endeavour to shoot more correctly. Still, it is possible 
to give something like a rule to steer by. 
Of course, our readers know that, as in other matters, 
much, very much depends on the age, constitution, kind, 
and character of the tree; and not only this, but the 
character and constitution of the soil the tree is growing 
in. If, however, we must speak in round numbers, let 
us say, that no two Apples should touch if we could 
help it. Pears of superior and keeping kinds should 
by no means be in bunches—a character they are apt to 
assume under fortunate circumstances ; but a tree on a 
wall would be pretty well equipped by being furnished 
with fruit at six inches apart. This is not what is 
called a heavy crop, but we must not always care for 
terms: let us try for a crop of really good fruit. 
Peaches , to be of superior size and quality, should not 
be nearer together than seven inches; Nectarines, the 
same ; Apricots, the larger kinds, may be allowed about 
five inches, but smaller kinds, or those for preserving, 
may be nearly double that thickness. Plums, such as the 
Greengage, may almost touch, or, indeed, they frequently 
come very fine in bunches; it is scarcely possible to 
offer any rule for them; and the same maybe said of 
Cherries. 
Above all, it is useless crowding fruit-trees with very 
full crops if they are scant of foliage, or the latter is 
much injured by insects. The character and amount of 
the foliage should, therefore, be taken into consideration. 
Let me recommend our readers to cast another glance 
over their fruit-trees, especially the more choice kinds. 
Apricots may be too far advanced, but much may be 
done for Apples, Pears, and even Peaches. And where 
crops are full, and it is not deemed expedient to remove 
any, let our friends remember the immense benefits 
arising from the application of liquid-manure: too little 
is done in this way. R. Errington. 
Alexander Crosse, Esq., died, recently, at his resi¬ 
dence, near Bridgewater, aged more than seventy. This 
gentleman has long been a great favourite of scientific 
research, and will be remembered for the commotion 
he made by claiming to be a modern Prometheus, 
having, as he believed, created an insect by the aid of 
Galvanism! The insect was an Acarus, or Mite, and 
has since been proved to have been hatched from an 
egg deposited on the mineral submitted to the galvanic 
action. 
SEASONABLE HINTS FOR THE FLOWER- 
GARDEN. 
I must show the white feather, to-day, for the first 
time in the experience of The Cottage Gardener. 
Last week 1 promised to give some detailed accounts of 
the different kinds of variegated, and of the fine-leaved 
plants, which have become so popular at our London 
exhibitions; but on turning to the usual sources of 
such information, I discovered that the trade names of 1 
these plants are in a worse condition than even a few j 
would believe; and that continental gardeners, having 
had the start of us in the introduction and cultivation 
of such plants, think it now a fair game, or at least, act ! 
in a way which points to no other conclusion, to gull ; 
and cheat the English with high-sounding names, for j 
which there is no authority whatever. I could mention, 
by name, five respectable firms in Loudon who en- ! 
courage all this absurdity (to call it by no harder name) ; 
—who buy every plant which “comes out” on the ; 
continent, and send them all over the kingdom under ; 
the most preposterous names that ever entered the head 
of a sane mortal, without taking the slightest trouble to ! 
ascertain if such names are right or wrong. The ill- j 
practice is catching, too—“Our own people” assume ; 
the professor’s chair, and out of dog-Latin and bad 1 
French manufacture, to order, on the foreign model, 
without a blush or scruple; therefore, to attempt to bear 
a small share of common sense on this mass of absurdity 
is just that in which I failed this last week; but I am 
not foiled, and I shall return to the subject when the 
weather is colder, and there is less to do out-of-doors. 
Meantime, we must begin to propagate and arrange for 
the flower-gardens of 185(5, and succeeding years. 
GERANIUM CUTTINGS. 
The first Geranium cuttings should be from the 
Flower of the Day, Mountain of Light, and Silver King. 
These three are all but one in the leaf, looks, and con 
stitution; they are slow growers, and take a long while 
to establish themselves from cuttings. Early in March 
is the best time to propagate them, and the Golden 
Chain , Dandy, and most other variegated bedders, 
except Mangles' ; but thousands have not the conve¬ 
nience to force their plants in February for March 
cuttings, and all such ought to get in their stock of 
cuttings early in August, in order that the stock may 
be firm and well-established before the winter sets in. 
I would on no account put in cuttings of delicate 
Geraniums like these behind a wail after the 20th of 
July, at the latest. I see no good in doing so; it 
encourages laziness, to begin with, for behind a wall 
they require less attention ; but they will acquire a 
certain degree of debility by their absence from the 
direct rays of the sun, which will render them more 
liable to mishaps in winter, so that nothing is gained, 
in the long run, by stifling cuttings out of the sun at 
any time; that is, such cuttings as will root perfectly j 
well in the full sun, as all Geranium cuttings will do, 
which would root behind a wall. A spare turf-pit is j 
the best place to put in early cuttings of all the 1 
variegated Geraniums; and they are far more safe out 
of pots, except in the hands of clever propagators. A j 
common box-frame, such as would do for cucumbers, is j 
the next best place, and a brick pit the third best. 
Geranium cuttings should never be kept too close; it 
is wrong to do so, but those that are shy or tender 
should be well screened from the sun at first; the 
frame, or pit, or any place about them ought to be 
damped every ovening of a hot day, till the middle of 
September, but the bottom of the cuttings should have 
but very little water indeed for just one month after 
they are put in ; the night-air, the dew, and the damp 
from watering round about them, will keep the leaves 
up while the roots are coming slowly in a half- dry 
bed. You might get them to root a week or so sooner 
by keeping them more close, and by giving more water 
to the bed; but then, see the risk of over-damping j 
them; perhaps you could not tell that anything was 
the matter with them till more than one-half of them 
damped off. 
