192 
THE FLOEIST AND PONi OLOGIST. 
And now as to the cultivation. I like to put in the cuttings in the autumn, 
and let them stand in the cutting-pots through the winter ; the top shelf of a 
cool greenhouse is the best place for this. Starting them in a little heat in 
February I shift them into 60-sized pots, finding them by that time nicely 
rooted, and in these they may remain for a few weeks until they have become 
9 or 10 inches high, when they may be stopped. I pinch back also any side 
shoots that have made two joints. When they have started again they may be 
shifted into 48’s or 32’s, and a neat stick placed to each. Early in May, the 
plants having had the necessary pinching carefully attended to, and being now 
from 18 to 20 inches in height, may be shifted into 12’s, their blooming pots, 
and be plunged in ashes or leaf soil in a sheltered situation out of doors, and 
well exposed to the sun. I happen to have a large wooden frame, which I use 
for hardening off Geraniums in spring, and having a floor of ashes ; I stood the 
Fuchsias upon it, giving them ample space, and then filled up the intervals to 
the rims of the pots with ashes. Here they remained until the end of July, 
having in the meantime been evenly staked, occasionally turned round, and 
repeatedly stopped and pinched until they had become neat, short-jointed, 
pyramidal plants just showing signs of bloom. It w r as now time to remove 
them to their blooming quarters—I ought to have said to the conservatory; 
but as I do not happen to have one, I placed them upon a slightly-raised stage 
in a broad recess on the north side of the house. 1 find that the plants seem 
to revel in this shady position and cool temperature, and for developing their 
blooming qualities it seems to suit them admirably. Early in September, 
when our local exhibition is held, I shall exhibit some of the best of them, and 
I shall not be afraid or ashamed to stage my plunged, exposed, out-of-door- 
grown plants against any others which may have had all the assistance that glass 
houses and tender care may have bestowed upon them. 
For soil I use about one half of the best loam I can obtain, and the other 
half leaf mould and rotten dung, with a small proportion of sand. For the 
shift into the blooming pots I place only one large crock over the hole, and 
then a good handful of horse-droppings. This serves the double purpose of 
drainage and food to the roots. 
Maybush. A, D. 
OUR PEAR CROPS. 
We scarcely remember having ever had such a scanty crop as there is here 
this season. With the exception of a few trees all are bearing, comparatively 
speaking, no crop. Is the failure general, or only partial? I hope the latter, 
otherwise Pears will be remarkably scarce. As far as I have seen all growers 
seem to be served alike in this district; none can boast of anything like a crop, 
and what Pears there are upon the trees seem to me as though they will be 
much below the average in size. 
Wrotham Park. John Edlington. 
ON THE CULTIVATION OF WINTER CUCUMBERS. 
This is a subject that has been frequently discussed, but with the views 
held by different writers I have no desire to interfere, my object being to con¬ 
fine my statements to what has occurred during my own practice, and endeavour 
to show the superiority of pot culture as compared with planting in beds of 
soil. Were we to reason theoretically, we should naturally conclude that the 
latter plan offers decided advantages over the former: such is not the case, and 
experience proves it to be so. But however true, I have no intention to invade 
