812 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
October 21, 1905 
Fruit Garden. 
Indoors. 
Early Forced Peaches that ripen towards 
the end of April and early in May will be 
leafless by now, and may receive the necessary 
pruning, which will not be a long job, provided 
the fruiting wood of the past season was cut 
out as soon as the crop was cleared, as 
advised in the writer’s calendar for July 22ncl. 
Where it is necessary to shorten any shoots, 
cut if possible at a sharp pointed bud. or 
where thpre are triple buds with the hope 
of a wood bud. Should scale abound on the 
wood, and it is usually on that made the past 
season, go over the trees carefully with a small 
label, dislodging all that can be seen, and in 
bad cases follow with a sponge, using soapy 
water, nice and warm, drawing the hand 
towards the extremity of the shoot, so as not 
to cut off any buds. Trees that are free of 
this insect only require to be painted with 
a mixture of flowers of sulphur and soft soap, 
merely col rured with a little soot to tone it 
down. The old wood may have a stronger 
mixture where red spider has been a trouble, 
and those washed for scale should also be 
painted as above stated. Thoroughly wash 
glass and woodwork where no painting has 
been done, and limewash the walls so that all 
will be ready for retraining the trees, a subject 
we hope to treat on next week. 
Figs .—Pot trees that have been forced for 
an early crop some few years, and are at present 
standing outdoors, are ready to be cleaned, and 
useless or dead pieces of wood cut away, but 
those that crop freely seldom require much 
knife. Wash the wood and paint as for Peaches, 
and in case no re-potting was necessary remove 
with a pointed stick a couple of inches of the 
surface soil and roots, and top-dress with loam, 
adding a little fine mortar rubble, bone meal, 
and wood ashes, firming the same with the 
rammer, and see that a free passage is provided 
at the bottom for water, of which the Fig re¬ 
quires a great quantity. Cleanse the house or 
pit, and where the bottom is mainly supplied 
from fresh leaves and a little strawy manure, 
get this into a big heap, turning it back a few 
times during the next two or three weeks, so 
that all will be in readiness for closing the 
house in the second week in November, when 
ripe fruit ought to be ready early next April. 
Outloors. 
Late Apples and Pears. —The time is with 
Us for the final ingathering of these fruits, frost 
having made its appearance some fortnight 
since even in genial Devon ; not that a few 
degrees is going to harm the fruit, but it is 
always easier blown down after a few frosts. 
We were compelled to gather all our Apples 
ten days ago. The birds were pecking most of 
the fruits, and as our stock is below that of 
last season we could not afford to lose many. 
The removal of the crop, too, will give the root 
pruner a chance to continue his work where 
necessary, and the sooner such work is brought 
to a close the better the chance of a crop next 
year, as mentioned a fortnight since. Medlars 
should also be got under cover, placing them 
on airy shelves to ripen, these to be fairly soft 
before ready for jelly making. To revert to root 
pruning, the soil in many places was too dry 
and required watering before taking out a 
trench, especially trees growing against walls 
or on dry banks in the open where the soil was 
light and porous. 
Routine Work consists in cutting away the 
latest strings on established Strawberry plants, 
and the hoe freely worked between the same. 
Young plantations have had to be again 
watered, the rainfall here during the past 
month being very light. All nets have been 
carefully done up while dry and placed under 
cover, discarding any that are not likely to be 
of much service another season, and I find 
these soon wear out, as they are in use several 
months of the year. All Figs remaining on the 
trees should be pulled off as soon as the leaves 
are fallen, as these are of no service for next 
year. _ Clean up all falling foliage from fruit 
trees in general, as nothing looks more untidy 
than decaying leaves on the ground, especially 
those from the Fig and Vine. Most of the 
latest Peaches will have been gathered ere this, 
and should have been of good flavour, as the 
weather has been grand up to the end of the 
first week in October. Take note what fruit 
trees _ are required for this season’s planting, 
and, if possible, go to the nursery and choose 
out your own during the next few weeks. 
James Mayne. 
Bicton Gardens, Devonshire. 
The Flower Garden. 
Dahlias.—Though still blooming bravely in 
many gardens, yet in some parts “Jack 
Frost” has already been “nipping,” and 
ere many weeks are gone we shall see 
but blackened leaves and shrinking flowers, 
telling of winter come again. In the soil, 
however, the new tubers have been forming 
all the summer, and are now plump and 
strong, giving promise of abundant cuttings 
next spring, if properly stored for the winter. 
As soon as frost has put an end to all hope of 
more flowers, the stems should be cut half-way 
down, and the rubers dug up. It is best to 
stand the latter in a cool place under cover for 
a day or two till adherent soil dries and is 
easily shaken off ; by that time the stems may 
be cut down to within six inches of the tuber, 
and thus they may be stored away. 
The danger to guard against through winter 
is undue shrivelling, and this is best effected 
by placing the tubers in a cool cellar or under 
the stages in a cool house where frost is ex¬ 
cluded but the temperature never high. Old 
dry potting soil is excellent to cover the 
tubers, as in this there is enough natural 
moisture to maintain the tubers plump, but 
not enough to cause decay. Sifted ashes have 
been used as a covering, but they are so 
excessively dry as to cause shrivelling. As 
with other tuberous things stored away for 
winter, it is well to examine a few of the 
tubers at intervals, just to make sure all are 
keeping sound. 
In certain districts where the soil is light 
and warm, Dahlias can be left in the ground 
and will come up strong and vigorous in 
spring, but this cannot be done universally. 
Some. people, however, may like to try the 
experiment, and in this case ashes may be 
used with advantage. "When the stems have 
been cleared away, spread a layer of ashes 
four to six inches thick over the spot where 
the tubers are located, and see that the cover¬ 
ing extends a foot all around : in this way 
many tubers may come through the winter. 
Successional Planting or Sowing of 
Sweet Peas. —Close by the writer is a lovely 
bouquet of Sweet Peas culled this morning, 
near the middle of October, from plants put 
out at the end of June. Should severe weather 
be absent for a week or two many more flowers 
will be gathered, and, though lacking in size, 
the colour and fragrance are as good as thr 
flowers of July. Autumn sowing is a good 
plan where the soil is not of a clayey nature, as 
by so doing an earlier display is obtained ; but 
to get a supply of late autumn flowers it is a 
good plan to make a sowing in the beginning 
of June, and as the flowers are produced and 
fade remove them before seeds form, and so 
keep up the strength of the plants. 
B. W. J. 
The Kitchen Garden. 
Every means should now be taken to com' 
plete the placing of all such things as need 
protection in a place of safety. As I have 
often before pointed out cold frames are sim¬ 
ply invaluable for wintering late sowings of 
the more tender subjects, and there is no site 
better or more convenient than that which has 
been doing duty on raised hot-beds during the 
past spring and summer, as being thus elevated 
the growth made is much more satisfactory, 
and the protection needed less. Seedling- 
Lettuce, Endive, Cauliflowers, Parsley, and 
the like should all find a home in these. ■ The 
compost used should not be too rich, and use 
that, as far as possible, which is free from 
wireworm, and this should be raised to within 
six inches of the glass. Make firm, and plant 
moderately thick, and place a small ridge of 
finely-sifted cinder ashes all round the inside 
of the frames. Thoroughly water in and admit 
abundance of air night and day on all favour¬ 
able occasions. 
Much also may be done even without the aid 
of glass by making rough wooden shelters or 
turf pits. These should always, as far as pos¬ 
sible, face south ; battens should be placed 
across them, when suitable covering may lie 
applied as required. The dress covers which 
are now specially made for horticultural t pur-i 
poses are better than anything I know for the 
purpose, and not only do these ward off a large 
amount of frost but, being waterproof, rain 
also ; and fortunately these do not require 
drying the same as mats and other material to 
preserve them. Preparations should now be 
made for forwarding work which has to be 
completed by early spring as soon as possible. 
Every particle of ground should be cleared of 
weeds, rubbish, and, exhausted crops, and where 
possible to do so, should be burnt on the ground, 
because not only does this save a vast amount 
of labour in wheeling and carting away but 
the ashes form a valuable material for the 
ground. 
Horseradish.—This, like every other vege¬ 
table, pays for being properly done. Half the 
bed should be trenched over and replantec 
annually, and by working in a fair amount o 
manure each time the same. plot of grounc 
may be used for an indefinite period. The 
whole of the produce fit for use should be w r el 
laid in in some out of the wary place, a northen 
aspect for choice, w’here it can be easily takei 
out as required for twelve months’ supply. 
E. Beckett. 
Altlenham House Gardens, Elstree. 
