March 9, 1895. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
439 
to the bunch. The night temperature in such houses 
should stand at about 68° Fahr. In the succession 
houses the syringe must be kept at work until the 
vibes are in rough leaf. 
Peaches and Nectarines. —The earliest house 
should nowb.e swelling its fruit nicely, and care must 
be taken to avoid anything like a check. A regular, 
even, and fairly moist atmosphere should be main¬ 
tained, but too hard forcing is neither a safe nor an 
advisable plan. A night temperature of about 58° 
Fahr. will be plenty high enough for the present. 
Keep the syringe at work according to former in¬ 
structions, and thus ensure against bad attacks of 
insect pests. Later houses, in which the flowers are 
just expanding, must be kept somewhat drier, and 
attention paid as in the case of the earlier subjects 
to the work of pollination, as the stigmas of the 
flowers become receptive. Choose a light and soft 
material as a medium of conveyance for the pollen, 
and studiously avoid being too heavy handed. 
Cherries. —Although the Cheriy finds consider¬ 
able favour as a hardy fruit, it is not extensively 
grown under glass, although fine crops may be thus 
obtained. The great point in the cultivation of the 
Cherry is not to force too hard, and to avoid cold 
draughts; for of these latter it is exceedingly im¬ 
patient. In many cases it is the best plan to allow 
the plants to come on naturally, only excluding the 
frost during the winter months, but giving a slightly 
increased temperature as the buds show signs of 
swelling. When in flower a dryish atmosphere must 
be maintained. A little assistance must also be 
given the blossoms to obtain a good “ set.” A 
rabbit’s tail fastened upon the end of a bamboo 
rod will be found a handy tool with which to work. 
Strawberries.— As soon as the fruit commences 
to colour upon the earlier batches of plants, the 
application of manure water must cease entirely, and 
indeed the supply of clear water may be restricted 
considerably, only sufficient being given to prevent 
the plants from flagging. By this means the fruit 
will ripen sooner, and will be of very much better 
flavour than it would were the plants kept in too wet 
a condition. As soon as the fruit is picked the 
plants should be removed to a cold frame and kept 
supplied with water, for they will come in handy for 
making good any vacancies that may occur in the 
outside plantations. 
Melons and Cucumbers. —The plants in the 
earliest house having got into full swing, no time 
should be lost in getting ready a succession house 
This should be prepared in the same way as the 
first one has been, of course making sure that the 
house in clean and free from the eggs of insects in 
the first instance. The fermenting material must be 
well turned twice or thrice before using, so as to 
get rid of some of the more noxious gases generated 
during decomposition. The bed should be made up 
several days before planting is thought about, so as 
to allow the soil to become thoroughly warmed 
through. Make the soil nicely firm about the roots 
of the plants, and shade them during bright days 
for a few hours in the middle of the day until they 
have got established in their new quarters. A few 
pieces of newspaper fastened to sticks will be quite 
sufficient to intercept the direct rays of the sun, and 
are far preferable to heavier shading materials, which 
greatly reduce the light that is of so much importance 
to the plants.— A. S. G. 
- 
We often find that people in early life are not always 
frugal; if such were the case there would not be so 
much want when old age comes creeping along. It 
is the same in the vegetable garden, for during the 
summer months there is a plethora of vegetables 
which often decay by the bushel, when if such could 
be saved for winter use there would not be so much 
waste. Most gardeners know this, yet how is it to 
be overcome. They make provision for the family 
as far as they are able; it sometimes, however, hap¬ 
pens that they go away for a few weeks just at the 
time there is plenty of choice vegetables spoiling, 
hence the waste. Now if the ground on which 
these were grown could have been turned to account 
to produce a winter crop, there is little doubt that 
instead of a dearth during a severe winter there would 
enough and to spare. 
What vegetables shall we grow for winter ? isaques- 
tion easier asked than answered, for in this respect 
the gardener is not his own master. We have often 
known a demand for a particular kind by one cook, 
and should there be a change, as there frequently is, 
the vegetable that has been so much in request will 
not be required at all. This is a source of annoyance 
to the gardener who has to make every inch of the 
garden tell. We will take Salsify as an example. 
Some cooks are particularly anxious after this, yet 
when it is grown there is no call for it. Now we all 
know that Salsify, or Scorzonera, cannot be grown 
without a great deal of trouble; they also take up a good 
piece of ground that would produce a greater bulk of 
something else, which if it could be grown and stored 
away there is but little doubt that it would be 
serviceable. Again, there is often a run on winter 
Spinach. This may be had in abundance during 
mild winters, but how is it to be had during a season 
like the present ? Could we know the kind of winter 
that we were likely to get, provision might be made 
for securing the crops; as it is, I fear great losses 
will always take place. 
There ought to always be a good understanding 
between the gardener and cook, for by so doing, 
many little unpleasantnesses may be avoided. Never 
in my recollection, has Seakale played such an 
important part as it is doing this season, and those 
who are fortunate to possess a good quantity of 
crowns will find them most useful. But how to pro¬ 
long the supply will be a question with a great many. 
Those having cool cellars, or a disused ice house, 
will find such places very convenient, or even a cold 
shed facing north would greatly retard growth. As 
yet, the roots in the open ground have made no pro¬ 
gress, so that if such be lifted as soon as the weather 
becomes mild, and taken to a cool place, nice crisp 
growth may be had till the end oi April, or early in 
May, as it will take at least three weeks to blanch 
after being taken to the cellar. That which was put 
in during December is now turning in splendidly, 
being both crisp and of good colour .—Kitchen Gar¬ 
dener. 
-- t « - - 
The pruning and training of all fruit trees that have 
not yet been operated on must be brought to a con¬ 
clusion as soon as possible, for the swelling buds 
will stand in not a little danger of being knocked off 
during the operation if left for much longer. A 
sharp lookout must also be kept upon the visits of 
bullfinches, who greatly delight in picking out the 
buds in search of the insects which may be con¬ 
cealed around or beneath them. It is not advisable, 
however, to shoot them when they are seen among 
the fruit trees, as this is, to say the least of it, 
augmenting the evil, a fact that will readily be 
understood when we take into consideration the 
amount of damage done by a charge of the small 
shot used for killing such birds. 
The long continuance of the frost has reduced the 
time available for the planting of fruit trees to a 
considerable extent, and therefore all such work 
should be completed within the course of the next 
week or so, at any rate by the end of March. See 
that all necessary support is afforded newly-planted 
trees. This is a very necessary attention, as the 
rough March winds will be likely to do not a little 
damage unless such precautions are taken. The 
stem of the young tree, where it comes in contact 
with the stake, must also be protected, or the friction 
that will ensue between them will result in injury to 
the bark. A neat swathing of hay-bands will answer 
the purpose admirably. 
Apricots. —As soon as the buds of these early 
blooming subjects show signs of expanding, no 
time should be lost in affording them protection 
against frosts and cold-biting winds. If plenty of 
tiffany is available the task is not a very difficult 
one, as this may be put on light rollers, which should 
be fastened to the top of the wall and let down when 
cold weather threatens. The great advantage of 
this system is that the covering can be easily 
removed and the trees exposed to the full light of 
day during mild weather. Where tiffany is not at 
hand, however, branches of Laurels or Cupressus, 
which should be in readiness, will be of great 
service as a screen, although it is not possible to 
remove this until danger of frost is past without a 
deal of labour. 
(hlcaniinis faint fltciPtivlh 
of Srienr^. 
Beauty in the Minute.—Dr. Dallinger, the re¬ 
nowned microscopist, gave a lecture on this subject 
at the London Institution on the 28th ult. He 
strongly insisted upon the aesthetic value of micro¬ 
scopic studies, and said that whatever the essentials 
of beauty might be, size was not one of them. 
Some of the most minute of Nature’s creations 
almost outrival anything that can be seen by the 
unassisted eye. These beautiful forms are scattered 
everywhere, though they can only be detected by 
the aid of the microscope. He showed his audience 
a section of the ” grubby little star grass ” as it 
appears under the microscope, by means of the 
magic lantern. To the ordinary eye it appeared 
like a piece of white crotchet work, but scientific 
men would describe it as bundles of fibro-vascular 
tissue, fenced round with cambium and parenchyma. 
He either neglected to furnish the scientific name of 
this wonderful grass, or his reporter did him 
injustice. No true grass possesses cambium as 
described, and the "grubby little star grass” is 
equally illusive to those who would like to make 
the acquaintance of an old friend perhaps under a 
pseudonym. A large number of his illustrations 
were taken from the animal world, in which beauty, 
both in form and colour, is very abundant and often 
marvellous in the extreme. Amongst other things 
which he exhibited were scales from the wings of 
butterflies and beetles, also foraminifers and radio- 
larians from the deep sea, and whose dead bodies go 
to build up rocks and geological strata. Referring 
to the inorganic world, he dilated on the exceeding 
beauty and geometrical regularity of snow crystals. 
Diatoms—Turning to the vegetable world, Dr. 
Dallinger described the extreme value of some of 
them to science as achromatic objectives for testing 
the powers of microscopes, and the valuable advances 
that had been made in photo-micrography. The 
silecious skeleton of a diatom is a marvel of com¬ 
plication and exceedingly fine sculpturing of which 
the human mind and eye could never have had any 
conception without the aid of powerful microscopes. 
The startling complexity of the sculptured markings 
on the shell were made apparent to the eyes of the 
audience by being thrown upon a screen, which gave 
it an amplification of 3,000,000 diameters. All this 
beauty of form and complexity of structure the 
lecturer described as all of the strictest utilitarianism 
in enabling the living organism to exist under the 
conditions of the surroundings in which it was 
placed. Nothing was wasted in mere ornament nor 
the production of abstract beauty and Nature in 
fitting the smallest and humblest of her children to 
their needs, amply showed that beauty and utility 
were synonymous terms from her point of view. 
Should any one ask where all this beauty may be 
seen, we reply that specimens may be obtained from 
chalk rocks in various parts of the world, including 
this country, from stagnant pools, ditches, slaw- 
running streams, rivers, ponds, the sea, in abundance 
from the tanks of hot-houses, and even from the 
green or black slime covering the walls, and from the 
surface of flower pots in great variety. 
Method of Organic Evolution.—Mr. A. R. 
Wallace, the veteran in scientific research, and who 
almost forestalled Darwin in promulgating the great 
idea of the Origin of Species, is still upholding and 
labouring away at his favourite themes. By way of 
criticism on Mr. Bateson and Mr. Galton, he con¬ 
cludes his further exposition of " The Method of 
Organic Evolution” in the pages of our contem¬ 
porary, 7 he Fortnightly. Mr. Wallace says that the 
reason why the two writers have failed in dealing 
with the problem of the modification of organic 
forms, has been because they have confined them¬ 
selves to one set of factors, overlooking others of 
more general and fundamental imp >rtance. These 
are the enormous rate at which organisms multiply 
during favourable periods, and the consequent 
severe weeding out to which the individuals of 
stationary populations must be subjected. To these 
must be added the periodical elimination, under 
recurrent unfavourable conditions, of the less fit 
until only the elect of the elect is left to continue the 
race. The tremendous severity of this process of 
selection, as well as its application to every new 
factor in the process of evolution, must ever be kept 
in the mind’s eye in order to be able to deternrne 
the part played by such factors in the production of 
new species. This, the writers criticised by Mr. 
Wallace have ignored, so that they have failed to 
make any real advance in solving the problem of the 
Origin of Species. 
