68 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, May 1, 1860. 
lime speedily destroys tlie vegetation, and a useful friable 
mass is obtained in less than two months if the operation 
be done in summer; in winter it takes longer. One or 
two turnings are necessary after the lime has run, and 
an excellent mixture for dressing grass-land any way 
affected with moss is obtained. 
Many other mixtures may also be had where there is 
a suitable material, and some districts afford substances 
which might with advantage be used at once. For in¬ 
stance : Marl is ready for use when dug, and Sea-weed 
is best worked into the land when it is obtained; while 
some materials, as millwash, old rags, and similar things 
keep a considerable time. But the locality generally be¬ 
speaks which manures are in most abundance; and I 
confess myself more in favour of quantity in this article 
than quality, unless under peculiar circumstances. 
_ J. Robson. 
FORCING THE SIR HARRY STRAWBERRY. 
I was much pleased the other day with a very fine lot of 
forced Strawberries grown by Mr. Kearns, gardener to Mr. 
Humphrys, of Ballyliouse ; they were Sir Harris, and in six- 
inch pots. On one of the plants that were taken down for me to 
examine (and that not the largest) I counted fifty good-sized 
berries, some very large. There were heaps of smaller ones, but 
I did not count them, as they probably will not come to per- ! 
fection. Two good platefuls, I was told, had already been 
gathered. Mr. Kearns had two sets of Sir Harrys procured from 
different sources; there was at least ten days between them, 
though they had had in all respects the same treatment. 
Keens' Seedling , in the same house, and with the same ad¬ 
vantages in every respect, was only coming into blossom, and 
with very inferior promise. 
I think we may safely conclude that no Strawberry equals Sir 
Harry for an early-forced crop.—Q. Q. 
[We should like to know from other correspondents whether 
they have found Sir Harry forces well.—E ds. 0. G.J 
CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED WITH THE 
FLAYOUR AND TEXTURE OF FRUITS. 
This seems a question very imperfectly understood at present, 
and no wonder, for it has not until lately received a tithe of the 
attention the subject both requires and deserves. Pomologicnl 
societies are effecting much good, and are capable of doing much 
more ; and with such men as Mr. Hogg aiding the movements, 
we may soon expect considerable progress. The information 
furnished by many exhibitors concerning the soil and subsoil, 
degree of latitude or locality, altitude of the district, aspects, &c., 
is of no small value, and will induce many to compare circum¬ 
stances, and draw useful conclusions therefrom. 
To begin with Pears. Every cultivator knows that very ano¬ 
malous appearances present themselves, not only with regard to 
the same kind in different localities and soils, but in the same 
garden occasionally. This, of course, I have witnessed with 
several kinds ; and after due consideration I am convinced it is 
not heat alone, but that permanency of moisture at the roots is 
equally important. And not only with Pears, but with most 
other fruits. Some may think it strange that writers who have 
ever advocated thorough drainage, and the avoidance of deep 
borders, should, as in the present case, be as anxious to recom¬ 
mend a due attention to moisture at given periods; but the fact 
is, that in counteracting extremes much of the art of culture 
consists. But let us inquire into the effects of drought on fruits 
in general, and first on Melons. 
Cultivators are well acquainted with the fact of Melons cracking 
and becoming totally spoiled, principally during the last swelling. 
This occurs more frequently to those on dung-beds. Some forty 
years since when I began to grow Melons on my own responsi¬ 
bility, I remember well having two or three frames of Melons, in 
those days all scarlet-fleshed, and chiefly “rocks,” for not a soul 
then knew or cared for the breed we now call Orion , &c. These 
Melons of mine grew with freedom, and had a good fair crop ; and 
I must here confess that young aspirants in those days were fond 
of big loaves, and watered very improperly during the first 
swelling. About the early part of Juno these Melons had mostly 
taken their final swelling, or, at least, the skin had become set and 
rough, and I was advised to put the frames on bricks, m order to 
let the roots pasture in the rotten and warm linings. I did so, 
and in a fortnight or so those which were fixed in the coat rifted 
and rotted in strange ways. Here was a sudden accession of 
supply from the roots luxuriating in the dung which the fruit 
could not withstand, and I name it by the way, not as falling at 
once on our subject, but as pointing to the cracking, rifting, and 
coarseness of fruits about which we will inquire. 
I have known Cherries, such as Bigarreau, during hot and dry 
periods, so short of flesh and juices, that they were scarcely worth 
eating, and this simply through drought at the root whilst 
swelling. 
Plums I have seen cracked and rusty-coated in hot summers ; 
a mere prey to flies and such depredators, generally drought the 
cause. 
Pears.—I have known repeated instances where the application 
of water in a timely way has obviated such evils at once. Last 
summer I had a famous crop of Glov Morceau on a standard 
tree twelve feet high, and which 1 planted twenty-two years 
since. These Pears, the tree having borne heavily for several 
years, had begun to crack, and last July and August I felt 
assured that it was drought through exhaustion of the soil. I 
had the tree flooded, and again about the end of August, and 
this tree was the main stay of our dessert from the end of No¬ 
vember until the end of February, and they were excellent. With 
all our kinds they were always first, after the Marie Louise, &c., 
were over; but, instead of being cracked, they had a fine flat¬ 
looking exterior of the finest texture, and they kept bravely. 
Our Apples, too, on hot or gravelly soils are, in some seasons, 
pitiful. I have experienced much of this during the time I have 
been here, in the farm aud cottage gardens which border the 
forest of Delamcre, and which partake in no small degree of this 
moorland character of soil. I have seen on such trees heavy crops 
of would-be Apples totally unfit for market, or, indeed, for any 
purpose. Generally, only half sized, lean-looking, and the skin 
covered with patches of that peculiar fungus which is apt to 
infest badly-grown Apples. I have tried their keeping properties 
against the same kind grown in these gardens, and no one could 
believo the difference without actual experience. They will not 
keep. 
But I may also at once advert in the lump to the effects of 
drought on other fruits. Apricots suffer least. On Raspberries, 
Gooseberries, Currants, and black Currants, the effect is most 
damaging. 
Now, it is not general droughts ■at any period that I mean, 
nor a wholesale administration of moisture. It is at certain 
periods, and there are two especially, as concerns our present 
argument, that are of more importance than any. 
Fruits taking their first swelling are not in a position to 
succeed with drought, for although the mere woody parts of the 
tree may be rambling, it is not from these that the fruit obtains 
its chief resources. We all know that our Pears, in the main, 
bear on little spurs, and that these spurs have a very moderate 
expansion and exuberance of foliage ns compared with the gross 
young shoots, which are principally employed in extending the 
fabric of the treo ; in other words, trying to regain their native 
liberty as standards. It is these spur-leaves that require steady 
nourishment, aiid which suffer most by drought, there being a 
heavy demand on them. 
One particular period on which I lay much stress as to a free 
texture, is the last swelling, when they are approaching the 
ripening process. This occurs principally through September, 
and with some kinds enters October. At this juncture' Pears 
lay on much flesh rapidly, or they should do, and, indeed, it is 
my firm persuasion that this crisis settles the fate of the Pear 
more than any other. This period, too, is frequently inclined to 
drought. It is of no use with Pears in full bearing minding a 
shower or two, we all know how deceptive they are apt to prove 
—hard soil wet at the surface, and the crusted soil beneath a body 
of dust. Now is the time for a little mulching to conduct the 
water, and as to heat, it will rather arrest the departure of 
summer ground heat than starve the soil. But one caution. 
I would never administer pump or well water, unless some warm 
be added to it. If the water given be 90°, it will do no harm. 
And in some lean and heavy-bearing cases, let me advise my 
friends, that a pinch of the real guano in the water will much 
improve it. 
What I have here said of the Pear will apply in degree to most 
other fruits. The pains taken will no doubt depend on the im¬ 
portance in which the fruit is held. 
