333 
THE COTTAG-E GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, August 24, 1858. 
the porous attraction of the sandstone, was mainly the cause of 
it, or, at all events, a great encourager of it. But we believe 
that that depends chiefly on the kind of stone used; the 
kind of spongy peat may also have a share in it. We have never 
used any kind of stone since, either for seeds, or seedlings, or 
for plants in pots. The best of all materials to keep the soil 
free, open, and operative, so to speak, is well-burnt cinders; 
we are indebted to Mr. Sims, the nurseryman, of Root’s 
Cray, Kent, for that most useful hint. He is very successful 
with cinders in the general cultivation of his pot Ferns. He 
says, in his Fern catalogues, that “ all filmy Ferns require 
peculiar culture. Soil, very fibry and spongy peat, with plenty 
of freestone, or well-burnt cinders (not less than one-inch 
pieces) intermixed,—two to three inches would be ample 
depth; the rest of the pot, or pan, to be filled with drainage.” 
Raise the soil considerably above the rim, and secure the 
plants on it, not in it. Keep always moist, but not stagnant; 
cover with a bell or other glass, and screen from sunshine . 
These filmy Ferns require more atmospheric moisture than 
other Ferns generally do ; they should, therefore, be grown in a 
case by themselves, as few other kinds succeed well under the 
close treatment necessary for these.] 
GOURD OR PUMPKIN CULTURE, 
<c Having some plants of a large sort of Gourd, I should 
be glad to know how to cultivate them, in order to produce 
fruit of the largest size. Instructions as to the treatment of 
these, from the time they are first planted, in order to pro¬ 
duce large fruit, will greatly oblige.”— Pumpkin. 
[You have left out the part of the country in which you 
live,—a mat ter of importance, as the Pumpkins will do as well 
in rich soil in the south, sown in April, as they will do with 
hotbed treatment in the north. Our answer, therefore, will 
apply to medium circumstances, and to the fact that the 
whole Cucumber tribe is rather impatient of a check. Even 
to obtain large size, therefore, I would not recommend sowing 
too early,— say about the middle of April, either under a 
handlight, or in a slight hotbed, or, if these are not attain¬ 
able, in a pot by the side of the fire, towards the end of 
April, and the plants hardened off in a window before placing 
them out of doors. As already stated, under favourable cir¬ 
cumstances, they need nothing more than to be planted in 
rich soil towards the end of May, and to be protected and 
shaded for a short time with an evergreen bough. But, in 
general circumstances, to give them every advantage, a trench 
should be cut out in a sunny spot, three feet wide, and two 
feet deep, and the place filled with hot, well-worked dung, 
placing the earth (and enriching it, also, with rotten manure) 
over it in a ridge. When finished, place a handlight over 
each of these places, and, as soon as the heat rises, turn the 
plants out, two in each place, if you have plenty,—one to be 
trained to the one side, and one to the other,—and the glass, as 
soon as the plants require it, to stand on four bricks at the 
corners, so that the runners may have a free outlet. If you 
had merely been growing for young fruit to be used in a 
green state, one plant in a place would do better than more, 
as by stopping and training it would soon cover a large 
space, and bear abundantly with a little thinning and stopping 
t now and then. When your object is not only ripe fruit, but 
I fruit of the largest size, some 150 lbs. or 200 lbs. in weight, 
then the treatment must be different. So long as the fruit is 
small and young, you may have numbers swelling and grow¬ 
ing, though of different ages ; but this is not the case as the 
fruit swells fast, and approaches maturity. Then younger 
fruits that show have no chance. Every Melon grower knows, 
that if his kind is at all large, and lie has only one fruit set 
and swelling fast on a plant, it is uphill work to get another 
! fruit to set and swell. This is also the case with these large 
Gourds. Only get one or two fruit to swell freely, and you 
j will get no more to come to any size on that plant. Hence 
! the importance of giving a fair chance of equal growth to as 
i : many fruits as you wish from a plant, by starting them on 
equal terms as to size in growth. In a large plant, this is not 
so easy in practice, as to write about on paper; therefore, 
I would counsel using more plants, and, in the case of ex- 
j traordinary size, to take only one or two fruit from each plant. 
J The plant being stopped at first, only two runners should be 
allowed to grow, and the laterals from these stopped as soon 
as they show fruit. When two fruits, one on a lateral from each 
main runner, have set, and commenced swelling, cut aw T ay all 
others that show, so as to have these two fruits on the plant. 
\ou may stop several joints [beyond the fruit, and other 
laterals should be allowed to grow a joint or two, if there is 
room for them. Mere young growths, as autumn comes on, 
should be discouraged, as they take more from the main 
strength of the plant than what they return. After September, 
therefore, or the end of August, all laterals should be pinched 
back. The more space that is occupied with shoots, having 
their large foliage fully exposed to the sun, the greater de¬ 
mand will be made upon the roots. And if that demand is 
plentifully supplied with manure water, and mere young 
growth after the middle of August is discouraged, the chief 
force of the plant will be throw T n into the swelling of the 
fruit into a large size. If our correspondent wishes to have 
fruit that "will astonish his neighbours, and require a barrow 
to move them, we recommend leaving only one fruit to a 
plant. If lie would prefer having a similar, or a little more 
weight distributed in tour or half a dozen, he must watch the 
plant, and allow none to swell until he starts the desired 
number on something like equal terms. We recollect once 
having a very strong, vigorous Melon plant; and, though it 
showed fruit abundantly, we could not get the young fruit to 
begin to swell; but they turned yellowish, and refused to go 
on. On close examination, in a secluded corner we found on 
the plant one very fine Melon, swelling freely, concealed from 
view by foliage. If that Melon had been removed, there 
would have been no difficulty in setting and swelling half a 
dozen on the plant. The same rule holds in large Pumpkins. 
In dry weather they will greedily drink manure water.— 
R. Fish.] 
HOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY’S MEETING. 
An ordinary Meeting of the British Pomological 
Society was held at St. James’s Hall, 69—71, Regent 
Street, on Thursday, the 19th inst., H. G. Bohn, Esq., 
in the chair. 
The following gentlemen were elected ordinary 
members: — 
J . R. Scott, Esq., Crouch End, Hornsey 
Henry Day, Esq., Hemel Hempstead, Herts 
William Field, Esq., 4,Paper Buildings, Temple 
B. Coulson Robinson, Esq., 43, Mecklenburg 
Square 
Alfred Dalby, Esq., 43, Mecklenburg Square, 
and 8, King’s Bench Walk 
W. Green, Esq., Mortwals, Takeley, Essex 
William Donald, Esq., 69, Regent Street, and 
West Lodge, Acton 
James Eraser, Esq., 25, Westland Row, Dublin 
Mr. William Paul, Cheshunt 
Mr. Francis Dancer, Little Sutton, Chiswick 
Mr. George Gordon 
Mr. D. Ferguson, Stowe, Bucks 
Mr. James H. Smith, Hunmanby Hall, Yorkshire 
Air. John Pottle, The Grove, Little Bealings, 
Woodbridge 
The Committee, — consisting of Messrs. Boiin, 
Moore, and Busby, —appointed at last Meeting to 
seek for, and, if found, to secure, more eligible apart¬ 
ments for the Society’s Meeting, reported that they 
had engaged the room in which they were now as¬ 
sembled, at the same rate of rent as had been paid at 
St. Martin’s Hall. They believed that its more 
western and more central position, and its contiguity 
to the chief omnibus routes, would render it more 
convenient to the present members, and calculated to 
place the existence of the Society more prominently 
before public notice. 
The approval and entire satisfaction of the members 
present, the Meeting being a full one, was unanimously 
expressed. 
A subject was again brought forward, which had 
