THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY 
’ commenced to force in November, in order to have ripe 
fruit about April or May. As I said, the success was very 
moderate indeed. In some places I have seen the stems 
of tho Vines as much as two feet outside the Vinery, a 
wall that height supporting the structure. Imagine a 
hard, long frost, and that stem, though well wrapped 
up, exposed to it, then the next morning a bright sun¬ 
shine—imagine then the effect. I have seen the young 
leaves droop, and the bunches of fruit curl up and 
come to nothing. Now, my remedy for this state of 
things is simple and effectual. Let the Vines in all the 
j houses that are forced be planted inside, and not allowed 
' to get into the cold border outside at all. Observe 
the difference then. The root action and the top action 
] are both at work simultaneously, and all will progress 
! satisfactorily together. Water should, of course, be ap- 
I plied liberally; but it should always be within a few 
degrees as warm as the internal air. 
Another cause of failure is the too rapid expansion of 
the leaves. All forcing should be done gradually. When 
the glass is put on the internal heat should not exceed 
the previous one more than 5° or 6°. In a fortnight that 
heat may be increased to 10° above the atmosphere out 
of doors—that is the average. Plenty of air should be 
given, and the Vines should be syringed frequently with 
tepid water. I always imagined that frequent syringing 
had the effect of softening the hard outer bark, and thus 
allowing the more free expansion of the inner wood, 
besides keeping the atmosphere in a moist condition. 
The heat should be gradually increased, being the first 
fortnight 4-5°, the next 50°, the next 55°, the next 60°, 
and lastly 70°. All these temperatures to be day heat. 
In the night the heat may be allowed to fall 5°. Equal 
temperature day and night is most unnatural, and, I 
am certaiu, injurious, especially in the short days of 
winter. 
Mr. John Mearns was once gardener at Walbeck, and 
thought he had hit upon a great thing when he went to 
the expense of forming flues under the Vine border. 
This was entirely against Nature. For half the expense 
he might have covered the border with glass, which 
would have kept his border dry and sufficiently warm 
if covered with mats in very frosty weather. I never 
saw a border so covered, but have no doubt it would 
answer admirably. Another improvement would be, for 
early crops, to make the border very shallow, with plenty 
of drainage underneath. That precaution would have 
the effect of causing the Vine to make short-jointed, 
sound wood, always of advantage in causing fruitfulness. 
1 would not advise more than a foot, or, at the farthest, 
fifteen inches of soil; but that should be frequently 
enriched with top dressings of well-rotted manure, 
forked in carefully just before the leaves fall. A con¬ 
siderable difficulty occurs towards the end of summer in 
preventing the Vine from starting its buds. I generally 
found it necessary to shade them from the sun, and by so 
doing prevent them starling prematurely. As soon as 
the leaves had fallen 1 pruned the Vines, and then kept 
them as cool and dry as possible, both at the root and 
the top. For early Vines I always adopted the spin- 
system, taking care to have at least one prominent bud 
to each spur, and also never to leave more than one 
I bunch to each spur. 
I have thus far confined my hints to forcing the Vine 
early. Pretty nearly the same hints apply to the forcing 
| of Peaches, Nectarines, and Cherries. The samo precau- 
i tion should be taken with regard to having the roots 
| under protection. The best Peach house I have seen is 
one at C. Mills’, Esq., Hillingdon House, near Uxbridge. 
It is span-roofed, the trees are planted on a border on 
each side of the house, a wall running down the middle. 
The trees are trained on an arched trellis, and when I 
saw them about two years ago they completely covered 
the roof, and wore as fruitful as could be wished. There 
GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, January 20, 1857, 270 
the principle of having the roots in action as well as 
the branches is carried out to tho greatest perfection. 
All Peach houses ought to be so managed in order to 
insure good early crops of well-flavoured fruit. 
Cherries are more difficult to force early. In the gar¬ 
dens belonging to the Earl of Derby, at Knowlesly Park, 
near Liverpool, there are tho finest Cherry trees for early 
forcing in England. They are grown in large pots, and 
are at least six feet high, well furnished with branches. 
I have seen them literally covered with blossoms aud 
fruit. Mr. Jenning, the gardener there, manages to 
force Cherries above the common run of success. He, 
however, as I understood, has so many trees, that one 
half are forced one year, and then are plunged in the 
open quarter for the following season. The other half 
are then forced, and thus year after year alternately. 
I believe the Cherries in the Royal Gardens at 
Frogmore are managed in the same way, and are 
nearly as successful; but the trees at Knowlesly 
are older and larger, aud consequently, with careful 
management, yield larger quantities of fruit. In the 
gardens at Heaton Park, near Manchester, the Earl 
of Wilton’s seat, Cherries are forced very successfully 
in exactly the same manner. These examples show 
that the method is a good and certain one to obtain this 
refreshing fruit at an early period of the year. The 
practice bears out the principle I am advocating, of 
having the roots in action at the same time as the trees 
are growing, blossoming, and bearing fruit. Early fruits 
should always be impregnated. Tiie pollen action is 
weak for want of sun and air, and, therefore, should 
be assisted as much as possible. I think, if I remember 
rightly, the gardener at Heaton Park told me he brought 
a small hive of bees into his Cherry house when the 
trees wore in blossom, and they dispersed the pollen for 
him effectual]v. T. Appleby. 
•/ 
CUCUMBER CULTURE. 
In former times “tho first Cucumber of the season” 
was a feat in which neighbouring gardeners were wont 
to compete; not that any exhibition took place, but the 
one who was known to cut the first one in the season 
was thought to bo entitled to the honours of that period. 
By-and-by, however, the more convenient application of 
heat rendered the production of them in winter a much 
easier matter than before, aud that honourable emulation 
of trying to produce the first spring-grown one gave 
way to the desire of furnishing fruit of unwieldy length. 
This mistaken notion is dying away; and though some 
few growers patronise long sorts, yet the major part are 
content with those of a moderate length, and abundance 
of them. To the latter class I acknowledge myself to 
belong, for I never could learn that one fruit of 
twenty-four inches long was as good as three or four of 
half that length, and I am sure the shorter kind is tho 
more prolific. 
As the amateur will be anxious to hear about the 
growing of them, I may say that if ho has no other 
means than that of an ordinary dung frame, he may 
with that compete at the proper time with any grower- 
in the kingdom, the condition of Cucumber growing 
being so simple as not to be easily misunderstood. 
Presuming he has turned and tempered his dung as 
directed in former chapters, he must make up what we 
will call his seed-bed, which is a rough bed, on which 
his smallest frame is set, and tho seed being sown in : 
pots is then plunged in the dung itself, covering the i 
surface over with ashes or sawdust; if the latter, let 
some scalding water be poured over it first. Take care 
that the heat of the bed is not greater than tho hand 
can endure, aud also that no rank or unpleasant smell 
arises in the bed. If it does arise, remove the plants, 
