Jurip  23,  189^^. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
527" 
Dead  ripe  fruits  are  somewhat  insipid.  This  can  be  prevented  by 
gathering  as  soon  as  they  part  freely  from  the  trees.  Allowing  the  fruit 
to  fall  is  a  bad  practice,  but  it  is  a  good  plan  to  fix  some  netting  a  short 
distance  from  the  trees  and  loop  it  to  form  pockets,  so  preventing  the 
fruits  that  do  fall  damaging  each  other  by  contact.  Morning  is  the  best 
time  to  gather  the  fruit,  and  it  should  be  placed  in  a  room  to  cool  and 
mature  before  being  sent  to  table.  In  bright  weather  the  trees  should  be 
looked  over  in  the  evening  as  well  as  in  the  morning  for  the  removal  of 
the  ripe  fruit. 
Late  Bouses. — The  fruit  where  crowded  must  be  thinned  to  the  number 
required  for  the  crop,  or  a  few  more  may  be  left  than  will  be  needed  to 
allow  for  casualties  in  stoning.  Syringe  morning  and  afternoon  in  fine 
weather,  but  avo;d  syringing  on  dull  days,  and  on  mornings  when 
moisture  has  been  condensed  and  hangs  on  the  leaf  margins  of  vigorous 
trees.  Admit  air  early  and  freely. 
Mulch  inside  and  outside  borders  with  short  manure,  and  supply 
water  abundantly.  Shoots  not  required  for  next  year’s  crop,  and  those 
not  needed  for  furnishing  the  trees,  should  be  removed.  Keep  all  laterals 
closely  pinched,  and  cut  away  gross  shoots.  The  shoots  on  young  trees 
should  be  left  about  15  inches  apart  for  bearing  next  year,  and  if  they  are 
disposed  to  elongate  bey  md  18  inches  they  may  be  pinched  to  12  or 
1.5  inches,  stopping  the  laterals  at  the  first  leaf,  but  extensions  or  main 
shoots  should  be  allowed  to  grow  their  full  length,  provided  they  are 
evenly  balanced  and  there  is  room.  Avoid  laying  in  the  growths  too 
closely.  The  branches  should  be  a  foot  apart,  and  as  evenly  balanced  as 
possible. 
THE  KITCHEN  GARDEN. 
Asparagus. — Not  much  Asparagus  should  be  cut  after  the  middle  of 
.Tune,  and  cutting  ought  to  be  wholly  discontinued  directly  Teas  become 
plentiful.  Unless  strong  top  growth  is  formed  and  taken  good  care  of 
this  summer,  abundance  of  stout,  succulent  shoots  will  not  be  forthcoming 
next  spring.  If  mulched  during  the  winter  with  manure,  and  this  allowed 
to  remain  on  the  beds,  the  soil  ought  to  keep  sufficiently  moist  all  through 
the  summer.  Where  the  beds  were  not  so  mulched,  they  are  liable  to 
become  injuriously  dry,  also  heavier  soils  to  crack.  This  should  be 
prevented  by  mulching  with  strawy  manure  before  top  growth  is  too  far 
advanced.  A  watering  with  liquid  manure  or  a  surfacing  of  salt  washed 
in  by  water  would  be  of  great  assistance  now  to  exhausted  beds.  Keep 
down  weeds,  and  thin  out  freely  any  small  clustering  shoots  of  Asparagus, 
as  these  give  rise  to  straw-like  produce  for  cutting  next  season. 
Young  Asparagus  Plants. — In  good,  well-established  beds  the  growths 
support  and  screen  each  other  ;  but  where  they  are  thin,  as  on  new  beds, 
they  are  liable  to  be  broken  down  by  wind  and  rain  directly  they  become 
top-heavy.  Preserve  them  witn  the  aid  of  branching  Pea  sticks,  or  in  a 
neater  manner  by  means  of  stakes  and  strips  of  raffia.  They  pay  well  for 
this  treatment.  Hoe  among  the  rows  occasionally,  and  mulch  with 
littery  manure,  where  it  can  be  afforded.  Seedlings,  when  large  enough 
to  handle,  should  be  thinned  out  rather  freely,  and  they  will  then  attain 
to  a  good  size  this  season.  The  thinnings,  if  wanted,  may  be  pricked 
out  in  fresh  lines  during  a  showery  time.  During  wet  weather  slugs  do 
much  harm  to  Asparagus,  skinning  the  stems.  They  may  be  checked  by 
frequent  applications  of  soot  and  lime. 
Beans. — Where  the  more  delicately  flavoured  Kidney  Beans  are 
preferred  to  Scarlet  Runners,  seed  of  the  Canadian  Wonder,  Negro  Long- 
pod,  or  other  favoured  variety  should  be  sown  every  fortnight  or  three 
weeks,  as  the  plants  are  not  continuous  bearing,  and  the  pods  soon 
become  tough.  The  climbing  Kidney  Beans  are  more  continuous,  and 
another  sowing  of  these,  affording  the  plants  ample  room  to  develop, 
may  suffice.  Runner  Beans  are  also  liable  to  fail  early  in  hot  and  dry 
positions.  This  difficulty  is  partly  met  by  watering  heavily,  also  mulching, 
and  by  sowing  more  seed  now. 
Thinning. — Crowded  rows  of  either  dwarf  or  running  Beans  are  the 
least  profitable,  and  the  first  to  fail.  Thin  out  freely  the  early  dwarf 
varieties  to  6  inches  apart,  and  the  stronger,  later  varieties  to  8  or 
10  inches  in  the  row.  If  extra  fine  pods  are  required,  thin  to  12  inches 
apart,  and  support  the  plants  with  a  stake  to  each.  Runner  Beans  may 
well  be  thinned  to  12  inches  apart.  One  strong  plant  to  each  stake  will 
produce  more  pods  than  two  or  three  plants  which  crowd  and  weaken 
each  other.  Brace  the  tall  stakes  together  near  the  top,  the  wind  doing 
the  least  injury  to  rows  thus  strengthened. 
Topping. — Stakes  may  be  of  any  desired  length.  If  not  more  than 
4  feet  out  of  the  ground  top  the  running  growths  at  that  height.  Runner 
Beans  to  be  grown  without  stakes  must  not  be  permitted  to  form  any 
running  growth.  They  should  be  kept  closely  topped,  and  abundance  of 
strong  flower  spikes  will  then  be  produced  from  the  thickened  stocky 
stems.  Mulch  the  rows  with  litter,  this  answering  the  double  purpose  of 
conserving  moisture  in  the  ground  and  keeping  the  pods  clean. 
Borecole,  Broccoli,  Brussels  Sprouts,  etc. — Dry  weather  ought  not  to 
greatly  interfere  with  the  work  of  cropping  the  ground  with  green  winter 
vegetables.  Left  standing  in  the  seed  bed  or  nursery  bed  the  plants  are 
liable  to  spoil  each  other  before  rain  comes.  On  heavy  soils,  or  where 
slugs  abound,  the  planting  is  best  done  in  dry  weather.  Well  moisten 
both  the  seed  or  nursery  beds  and  planting  sites  an  hour  or  two  before 
moving  the  plants,  and  the  work  can  then  be  carried  out  without  a  severe 
check  being  given.  Eix  the  plants  firmly,  water  copiously,  and  apply 
more  as  olten  as  is  required.  Plants  drawn  from  seed  beds  may  have 
their  roots  well  covered  with  a  puddle  of  clay,  lime,  soot,  and  water,  with 
advantage.  Thus  treated  they  do  not  flag  so  much  after  planting,  and 
are  less  liable  to  clubbing  at  the  roots. 
Peas. — Late  and  much  appreciated  dishes  of  tender  Reas  aie  more 
surely  produced  by  tall  or  vigorous  growing  varieties  ot  the  Ne  Plus 
ultra  type,  sown  about  the  middle  of  June,  than  by  either  second  early 
or  other  weakly  growers,  which  are  sometimes  recommended  to  be 
sown  now.  Mildew  is  the  greatest  enemy  to  late  Peas,  and  Ne  Plus 
Ultra  resists  this  disease  remarkably  well.  Sow  on  deeply  dug,  welT 
manured  ground,  thinly,  in  wide  drills,  and  cover  with  not  less  than 
.8  inches  of  soil.  The  seed  would  germinate  more  strongly  and  evenly  if 
the  drills  were  moistened  before  sowing  the  seed,  covering  with  fine  drier 
soil.  Mulch  the  ground  about  the  rows  early. 
Tomatoes  under  Glass. — Where  only  a  few  plants  are  grown,  disease,, 
notably  Cladosporium,  is  less  likely  to  be  troublesome  than  where  many 
are  cultivated  in  houses  by  themselves.  A  warm  moisture-laden  atmo¬ 
sphere  is  most  favourable  to  the  propagation  of  this  much-to-be-dreaded 
disease.  This  can  only  be  prevented  by  ventilating  early  and  never 
wholly  closing  the  houses,  a  gentle  heat  in  the  hot- water  pipes  further 
aiding  in  maintaining  the  desirable  circulation  of  dry  air.  A  strong 
sulphurous  heat  with  a  dry  atmosphere  will  kill  the  disease  germs. 
Make  the  sulphur-coated  pipes  hot  on  a  bright  sunny  day,  and  admit 
enough  top  air  to  prevent  burning. 
Plants  already  furnished  with  two  or  three  lower  clusters  of  fruit 
are  liable  to  fail  to  set  fruit  on  the  later  bunches  of  flowers  during  hot 
weather,  apparently  owing  to  exhaustion.  They  should  receive  abundance 
of  water  and  liquid  manure,  and  if  this  does  not  have  the  desired  effect 
very  lightly  spraying  the  roof  with  thin  lime  water  will  probably  check 
the  premature  dropping  of  flowers.  Topping  weakly  leaders  will  also  be 
an  aid  to  setting.  Where  young  plants  are  growing  somewhat  close 
together  remove  those  portions  of  the  leaves  which  overhang  or  shade 
the  flowers  or  swelling  fruit,  but  avoid  wholesale  defoliation.  Cutting 
away  the  greater  portion  of  the  leaves  is  a  senseless  hut  too  common 
proceeding.  It  has  a  paralysing  effect  upon  the  root  growth  and  the 
fruit,  with  the  result  that  the  fruit  is  defective  in  size  and  poor  in  quality 
If 
n-i .  ,  j  j  ,.| 
BDE-KEEPER. 
«-A\ 
■ULim  -  UTii.i  .  1  .  ,  ■  1  »  1  .  i  -  I  ,  j  ■  1  .  1  .  1  .  1  «  1  ■  1  .1.  L^J  i  ■  1  -  1  «  1  -L-lA 
Weathek  and  Honey  Production. 
The  sudden  rise  in  the  temperature  on  the  8th  inst.,  when  the 
thermometer  in  the  shade  registered  76°,  was  beneficial  to  the  bees 
and  as  this  warm  wave  of  heat  continued  over  the  three  following  day 
a  great  improvement  was  observed  in  all  the  stocks.  It  is  severa 
years  since  such  perfect  bee  weather  has  been  observed  in  this  distric 
during  the  first  fortnight  of  June,  and  what  a  wealth  of  flowers  there 
are  in  all  directions.  The  honey-producing  flowers,  too,  are  in 
profusion.  The  Hawthorns  were  still  a  mass  of  bloom,  on  which  the 
bees  delight  to  work.  A  quantity  of  honey  obtained  from  this  source 
was  stored  during  that  time.  The  strong  perfume  arising  from  it  was 
perceptible  at  some  distance  from  the  hives.  The  honey  is  not  of  high 
grade,  being  somewhat  strong  in  flavour  and  not  of  good  colour. 
Field  Beans,  of  which  there  are  more  than  usual  being  grown  this 
season,  are  now  in  perfection,  and  it  is  not  often  they  are  seen  of  such 
robust  growth  as  at  the  present  time.  It  is  well  known  to  ail  bee¬ 
keepers  who  study  the  habits  of  their  bees  how  partial  they  are  to  the- 
common  field  Beans,  and  how  they  will  ignore  almost  all  other  flower 
that  may  b*  in  bloom  at  that  time  in  their  favour.  The  honey  too  is- 
of  exquisite  flavour,  preferred  by  some  epicures  to  that  obtained  from- 
White  Clover.  It  has  a  somewhat  strong  aroma,  though  the  honey 
does  not  crystallise  as  quickly  as  that  obtained  from  some  other 
flowers.  It  is  brown  in  colour,  and  for  that  reason  does  not  find  such 
a  ready  sale  amongst  the  general  public  as  do  the  lighter  samples ; 
but  anyone  who  has  once  tested  this  honey  will  not  be  slow  to 
discover  its  good  qualities. 
From  the  above  it  will  be  seen  how  promising  the  honey  prospects 
are,  although  dull  weather  has  again  set  in  ;  the  barometer  is  high, 
but  as  the  wind  is  in  the  east  very  little  honey  will  be  obtained  until 
there  is  another  change  in  the  weather.  Perhaps  before  many  hours 
this  may  take  place,  but  in  the  meantime  there  will  be  an  increase  of 
thousands  of  young  bees  daily,  which  will  in  due  course  be  prepared, 
to  take  their  part  in  storing  a  surplus. 
Prevention  of  Swabmingi 
One  of  the  most  important,  and  to  some  bee-keepers  the  most 
difficult,  part  of  bee-keeping  is  the  prevention  of  swarming.  When, 
bees  are  kept  in  straw  skeps,  and  the  swarms  are  placed  in  the  same 
receptacles,  it  is  usual  for  the  bee-keeper  to  speak  of  his  success  or 
failure  according  to  the  number  of  swarms  he  has  had.  But  with  the 
bees  in  the  modern  frame  hive,  where  -they  are  perfectly  under  control, 
if  managed  on  rational  lines,  they  are  prevented  from  swarming  as 
much  as  possible,  and  thus  a  much  greater  surplus  is  stored  than 
would  be  the  case  if  they  were  allowed  to  swarm  at  will. 
What  is  more  annoying  to  the  bee-keeper  when  a  spell  of  fine- 
weather  sets  in,  and  honey  is  abundant,  to  find  his  bees  will  not 
