378 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[September 19. 
not famed for capital climate, we advise the immediate 
application of this principle, remembering that the vital 
powers of the fig are immense; indeed, it is a somewhat 
difficult matter to kill this singular tree, without the aid 
of fire. 
Strawberries. —We hope that the readers of The 
Cottage Gardener have rejected the false practice of 
mowing down tlieir strawberries, although it is expedient 
to reduce the amount of runners at this season; at least, 
such is our practice. We have, indeed, gone farther 
this season, having, after dressing away all runners, 
applied and dug in the manures considered requisite. 
The strawberry stools are thirty inches apart between 
the rows, and the plants about two feet apart in the 
row; we, however, merely dig one spade’s width down 
the centre between the rows, levelling a little fresh soil 
about the crowns. Every care is taken not to trim any 
leaves away in the operation, or to bury them ; and the 
runners being removed, the principal leaves fall on each 
side, and thus admit sunlight to the interior of each 
stool, which is of considerable benefit. 
Raspberries. —The autumn-bearing kinds now re¬ 
quire a little extra attention. No barren shoots should 
be permitted, and the bearing ones should be carefully tied 
or trained. Plenty of sunlight is the desideratum ; and 
much care should be exercised in gathering the produce 
when dry. Thus managed, and placed in a dry room 
on clean paper, they will keep for three days, provided 
a slight amount of ventilation may be permitted. 
Wasps. —We are exceedingly fortunate this season, for 
we have now (Sept. 2nd) scarcely a wasp to be seen. 
We have, however, laboured indefatigably for several 
seasons, both in getting the spring wasps caught and 
also in having the nests taken; especially those very 
near the gardens. We are tolerably well persuaded, that 
most of the depredations committed by the wasps are by 
those from nests within half a mile of the garden in 
question. Like some others of the animal or insect crea¬ 
tion, we do think they become attached to certain neigh¬ 
bourhoods, and if this opinion be correct, it shows that a 
person in following up their destruction is not working so 
much for his neighbours as for himself; that is to say, 
in country places where gardens are a good way apart. 
Where these terrible pests take to vineries, no time may 
be lost in taking precautionary or preventive measures. 
The old practice of bagging the grapes is not so well 
approved as in former times. The fact is, that a “ good 
bloom ” is now-a-days considered indispensable, and the 
bagging plan is by no means favourable to a good 
“ bloom.” The preventive principle is the best, and if 
the case is not excessively severe, ordinary canvass, 
woollen netting, or such things as book muslin, are used 
in covering those openings of the house where the 
ventilation is carried on. One great fault of these ma¬ 
terials is, that they much impede ventilation. Caution, 
therefore, must be exercised in this matter, or the vines 
may yet be injured in late houses, by what is termed 
burning. We have more than once known what is 
termed a “run” of warm and sunny weather, even in 
September, although we much fear the converse is more 
likely to be the case. Speaking of wasps, we regret we 
did not offer advice about them a fortnight sooner. So 
many objects, however, connected with horticultural 
matters are perpetually arising, that the best of us is at 
times liable to be rather “ too late for the train.” 
Gathering Fruit. —It is scarcely necessary to urge 
the importance of an almost daily attention to the 
gathering and duly storing of our hardy fruits. This re¬ 
quires a prudent forecast, for, to have a given kind as 
long in succession as possible, or so to economise as to 
secure a regular succession to the table, both know¬ 
ledge and watchfulness become necessary. 
To carry out such matters, recourse must be had at 
times to retarding principles. Thus, we will suppose 
that the proprietor is partial to the King Pippin apple, or 
the Jargonelle pear; it becomes a question, then, how to 
commence early with them, and how to arrest the decay 
of the remaining portion. As to early maturity, a few of 
the very best swelled fruits may be plucked a little before 
they are quite ripe, and such covered close in a warm 
room will be ready in a few days. There is an old prac¬ 
tice with some country fruiterers, of placing fruit under 
such requirements in boxes or tubs among layers of nettle 
leaves. Why nettle leaves are selected, we can scarcely say; 
but we believe it is understood that they impart neither 
flavour nor smell. The main principles involved in the 
operation are, doubtless, increased temperature, and an 
immunity from shrivelling, by warding off atmospheric 
action. The retarding principle is somewhat different; 
among the main features of which may be named, the 
shading the fruit, or a jiortion of it, on the tree; com¬ 
mencing the operation about the period that the fruit is 
changing or completing the ripening process. These 
things are always accomplished at the expense of some 
loss of flavour. Still it is often worth while to pay this 
penalty, for the sake of convenience and regularity of 
supply. R. Errington. 
THE ELOWER-GARDEN. 
Last year, while the other writers in The Cottage 
Gardener were diligently engaged trenching and drain¬ 
ing, enclosing and planting, all kinds of gardens for the 
cottager, from the orchard garden to the vegetable 
garden, and so on to flower, rock, pond, and fern 
gardens, and 1 forget how many more gardens besides— 
1 say, when all this was goiug on I was kept at home 
to clean the cottage windows, and to keep things straight 
and tidy about the door, and thus had more opportu¬ 
nities of making the cottager's acquaintance than some 
of them, and thus, by close contact, I soon gained on 
his confidence. By-and-bye, he began to show me his 
letters,—and queer letters some of them were ; and not 
only that, but he wished me to teach him—or, rather, I 
had seen his want of knowing how much he needed to 
be taught, how to write business letters himself—and 1 
showed him that it would never do to write such long 
letters as he used then to receive from Dublin—that it 
was a waste of paper, and that no one could waste time 
in reading over a sheet or two of post paper merely to 
know what class a Batchelor's Button belonged to, or 
what time of the moon’s age a bed of cabbages should 
be planted out; and now he writes much more to the 
purpose than some of his betters. From letter-writing 
lie began to be curious about the spelling and pro¬ 
nouncing, and the meaning, of the hard names they give 
to plants; and this I taught him also, so far, that he bad 
a great mind to have a book made up for “his ownself," 
as he would call it, in which he could learn these things 
for himself, without bothering me so much. Now, 
although his rent was not then all paid up, owing to the 
expenses of having done so much for his garden grounds, 
we saw enough of him to believe that all his arrears 
would be paid up, and that he could be trusted with a 
new book to the bargain. About that time people 
began to say, that no book could be made better than 
The Cottage Gardener’s “weekly twopenny,” and that 
if it could, it would trespass on the province of the 
“ twopenny” itself; but that was a wrong idea altogether, 
for good books are like money, the more we get of them 
the more we want to have. If there had not been a Cot¬ 
tage Gardener, there never would have been this call 
for a Cottage Gardener’s Dictionary —for a dictionary, 
as all the world knows by this time, this new book is to 
be. But 1 would not have so good a book confined to the 
cottager; if he had it all to himself, the next thing he 
would do would be to turn head-gardener himself, and, 
