330 
Jan. 24th, 1885. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
Fruit Culture under Glass.— Vines in the early 
house should have all the bunches but one to each 
shoot removed as soon as they appear; and after 
those left have set their fruit, the number should 
be reduced to seven or eight bunches on each rod, 
leaving more or less according to the length and 
strength of the individual lines. Of course the 
largest and best shaped bunches should be left, and 
these as equally distributed over the rods as possible. 
The shoots should be stopped a couple of joints 
beyond the bunches, and all sub-laterals be removed 
at the first joint. Those which may afterwards be 
produced should be pinched close back. The bunches 
should be thinned as soon as the berries are set, so 
that there may be no needless exhaustion of the vine’s 
energies in swelling berries and bunches too, which 
have to be removed a few weeks later, as is the cause 
when the operation of thinning is deferred to a more 
convenient time. In thinning the bunches, the 
crown berries should be left, and at rather more than 
1 in. apart, care being taken not to injure those 
left by touching them with the hand or scissors- 
Maintain a night temperature of from 60 degs. to 
65 degs., as .the weather is cold or mild; 70 degs. by 
day, running the temperature up to 85 degs., with sun 
heat and plenty of atmospheric moisture, at closing 
time. 
Strawberries. —If the most forward plants of 
Yicomtesse Hericart de Thury Strawberry were 
treated during the interval from the 13th of December 
last as recommended in your columns of that date, 
the fruits of the earliest started batch will new be 
swelling fast (our own, started somewhat earlier, are 
now nearly ripe), and in order to secure good large 
fruit, the plants should have liberal supplies of tepid 
liquid manure at the roots until the fruit begins to 
colour, when its use should be discontinued. Failing 
liquid manure, Beeson’s manure, at the rate of 3 lbs. 
to 10 gals, of water, should be given—poured in at the 
side of the pot so as not to wet the fruits or crowns 
of the plants, in which case they would be liable to 
sustain injury. As suceessional plants come into 
flower the blossoms should have a camel’s-hair brush 
passed over them about midday when dry to assist 
the work of fructification, repeating the operation 
daily until a fair crop of fruit is set, when ten or 
twelve of the best (crown) berries of uniform size 
should be selected so that they may swell and ripen 
together. All flower-spikes that show between this 
and the ripening of the crop should be pinched out, 
so as to concentrate all the strength of the individual 
plants to the swelling and ripening of fine large fruits. 
— II. IT. Ward, Longford Castle Gardens. 
->*->- 
Hardy Fruit Cultivation.—In populous districts 
there is invariably a convenient market as well as a 
ready sale for the smaller fruits, such as Strawberries, 
Raspberries, Currants, and Gooseberries, and although 
the first outlay in the purchase of trees is necessarily 
greater than when the orchard is under-cropped with 
vegetables, and although three years must elapse 
before much return is made from them, still the 
profits which then accrue are usually such as to 
counterbalance the extra outlay. The treatment 
which they require also better accords with the health 
and fertility of the orchard trees than when the 
ground is cropped with vegetables. The plan generally 
practised by the best fruit growers is to plant the 
bushes about 6 ft. apart each way, thus about 1,000 
trees would be required to plant an acre, as the spaces 
near the orchard trees must of necessity be left some¬ 
what wider. The cost of the trees would be about 
10s. or 12s. per 100 for the most dependable and best 
market varieties, so that the first cost would be about 
£5 or £6 per acre. 
Currants. —The most valuable sorts of Red Currants 
are La Fertile, La Versaillaise, Raby Castle or Victoria. 
Of Black Currants, for which there appears to be a 
rapidly increasing demand, the best varieties are Black 
Champion, Black Naples and Common Black. As this 
tree is much less liable to be broken by winds and is 
also more fertile when the branches are allowed to grow 
from the stool instead of from one stem, such only 
should be chosen for planting. They also require 
comparatively little pruning, and succeed best on a 
strong soil in a somewhat damp position. 
Gooseberries. —The varieties of Gooseberries most 
in demand and such as crop well and bear carriage 
with the least injury are Monarch, Crown Bob, Rifle¬ 
man, Lancashire Lad, Whitesmith, and Warrington. 
The constant working of the hoe amongst these trees 
in order to eradicate weeds has a very beneficial effect 
in respect to growth and fertility, and the weight 
obtained in the most favourable districts in good 
seasons is almost incredible, over 100 bushels of 
Black Currants per acre have been picked from trees 
only three years old, realizing £60, and on older trees 
£100 per acre has been obtained. Gooseberries also 
pay well if the varieties are well chosen and the trees 
are skilfully pruned and cultivated, between £30 and 
£40 per acre being a common result, while double 
these sums are occasionally realized. Of course it is 
not to be expected that in less favoured localities, 
where the soil and situation is not so favourable, 
where markets are not so convenient and transit 
more difficult and expensive, that like results can be 
obtained, and also, as competition increases, prices 
will naturally decline, unless the demand (which is 
not improbable) increases in the same or even in a 
greater ratio, but there are numerous occupiers of 
land in the more rural districts, whose comparatively 
low rents and less working expenses would admit of 
greatly reduced prices and yet allow of very handsome 
returns on the capital expended. 
Raspberries. —The same remarks equally apply to 
the cultivation of Raspberries, although this is a fruit 
which from its soft nature spoils quickly, and is some¬ 
what more risky when far distant from market than 
those already mentioned, to judge, however, from the 
enormous increase of Raspberry plantations in West 
Kent (where the soil is composed of a mixture of clay, 
chalk, and sandstone shingle) within the last few 
years, the cultivation of this fruit must, after making 
due allowance for the objection mentioned, be found 
very profitable. 
Strawberries may also be grown with advantage 
between the trees for several years, and where the soil 
is found suitable to their growth they give a good 
result in almost any district, and as they bear well the 
first year after planting, a quicker return is made than 
with bush fruits. They should, however, have a 
change of ground every third or fourth year, else they 
deteriorate considerably both in quantity and quality. 
As good croppers there are three varieties which 
appear to hold their own against all others for market 
purposes, they also possess the double advantage of 
bearing carriage well and being fairly good in quality. 
They are Sir Joseph Paxton, Sir Charles Napier, 
President, and Elton Pine, to these varieties may be 
added, where the land is of a clayey or marly nature, 
but not otherwise, a small proportion of British Queen, 
which, although not so good a cropper, is very valuable 
for late use, also for its superior flavour. 
Nuts also pay well where the soil is suitable, that on 
which they succeed best being the loose disintegrated 
limestone or ragstone. They, however, are better 
grown separately and quite apart from other trees, 
and should be planted about 15 ft. or 16 ft. apart 
each way. Their yield in good seasons is very great, 
and it is questionable whether any other crop planted 
on the naturally poor land, which they succeed best 
in, would make anything approaching the profit they 
give. They do not, however, bear so soon after 
planting as the other bush fruits, and they also 
require more skilful pruning to keep them in perfect 
order and ensure fertility. The large Cob is the most 
profitable kind to grow, not only because it is large 
and prolific, but it has also the valuable property of 
bearing in a much younger state than most others. 
Filberts are also in great request, on account of 
their flavour. I have seen trees growing on the sunny 
banks in the West of England, in the loose sandstone 
shale, where scarcely anything else appeared to thrive, 
bearing nearly half a hundredweight to a tree,. and in 
West Kent £90 per acre is frequently realized from 
trees planted in similar soils.— Scribo. 
— g_- •s — 
Mr. James E. Bagnall, one of the vice-presidents 
of the Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical 
Society, and author of the best “ Flora of Warwick¬ 
shire ” that has been published, was last week elected 
an Associate of the Linnean Society. 
Seasonable "Work in the Plant-houses.— 
Plants suitable for window-boxes, vases, &c., are 
required to be of rather larger size than those for 
ordinary bedding, and therefore require .early atten. 
tion. Among the most useful plants for this purpose 
are the Marguerites, both yellow and white varieties, 
which thrive so well and continue in flower for such 
a long period, besides having a very light and graceful 
appearance, that we consider them indispensable 
either for window-boxes or vases. Cuttings put in 
at once will make good plants if grown on in an 
intermediate temperature until they are well estab¬ 
lished. Pelargoniums, Calceolarias, Lobelias, Tropseo- 
lums, or any other plants required for the same 
purpose, should be potted now, as plants grown on 
early and well hardened off not only give a better 
effect when first put out, but generally succeed better 
throughout the season. 
In the Propagating department everything should 
now be proceeded with as opportunity occurs. It 
is better to be a little in advance than behindhand, 
especially in any case where the stock is scarce, as 
the early struck cuttings will give another batch 
later on. In spring propagating, the chief points to 
be considered in order to ensure success are the 
following :—A good brisk bottom heat, fresh clean 
material for plunging in, careful attention to opening 
the cases every morning and closing them again before 
the cuttings begin to flag, and a close watch for 
damping, which is generally caused by a fine thread¬ 
like fungus spreading over the surface of the pots 
and if this is not cheeked on its first appearance, 
it will spread very rapidly and destroy everything 
that it comes in contact with. The best way to check 
this destructive enemy is to stir some hot cinder ashes 
into the plunging material and shake a little hot dry 
sand over the pots in any place where the fungus 
has made its appearance. Care should also be taken 
that the cuttings are quite free from insects, and that 
they are never allowed to flag after being taken off. 
Failure is so often caused by some trivial neglect, 
such as leaving the cases open too long, keeping them 
too much closed, allowing the pots to become too 
dry, or perforce using too much water; or again, by 
neglecting to shade at the proper time, or shading 
too much. It is such an easy matter to succeed if 
all these several points are duly considered, while if 
one point is once neglected, it often happens that ail 
previous labour is thrown away. 
Pentas camea and rosea. —These are both 
useful subjects to grow for cut-flowers. They are 
indeed so floriferous in habit, that if a few plants are 
grown, there will be no difficulty in obtaining flowers 
throughout the year, as when the truss of flowers at the 
point of each shoot is cut, they at once produce other 
shoots, which quickly furnish more material for the 
decoration of the house, or for making bouquets, for 
both of which purposes the flowers are equally 
available and effective. They should be propagated 
as early in the season as circumstances will permit; 
and the cuttings will quickly root if a suitable place is 
at liberty in which to put them, failing which they 
will root without the aid of bottom heat, but, of course, 
not in so short a time; in any case there is no 
difficulty whatever in then- propagation, or, indeed, in 
them after management. As soon as rooted, if in a 
propagating-case, the cuttings should be gradually 
inured to air, and when sufficiently hardened, will 
require to be potted off singly into small pots, using a 
compost of two parts of peat to one of loam, with 
sufficient sand to keep the whole porous. They will 
thrive best if grown near the light, either on a shelf 
in the stove, or in some other suitable structure; and 
the young plants will require frequent stopping to 
induce them to form nice dwarf bushy specimens. As 
soon as the pots are fairly well filled with roots, they 
will require to be moved into others of a larger size, 
but as they are not large rooters, it is better to err in 
growing them in small rather than in large pots. I 
have found them very serviceable when grown in 6-in. 
pots, and that size will sure to give good results; 
moreover, in that size the plants can be conveniently 
