July  3,  1902. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
19 
Fruit  Forcing. 
CUCUMBERS. — Attention  must  be  given  to  plants  in  full 
bearing  by  way  of  thinning  the  exhausted  growths  and  foliage, 
laying  in  young  bearing  wood,  stopping  one  joint  beyond  the 
fruit,  and  earthing  the  roots  periodically.  Copious  supplies  of 
water  or  liquid  manure  will  be  required  about  twice  a  week, 
or  as  may  be  necessary ;  but  avoid  applying  it  too  strong. 
Syringe  at  closing  time,  and  maintain  a  good  moisture  in  the 
house  all  day  long  by  sprinkling  the  paths  and  walls  as  necessary, 
but  avoid  applying  the  liquid  too  strong.  To  stimulate  plants 
in  full  bearing,  a  top-dressing  of  sweetened  horse  droppings 
sprinkled  on  the  surface  of  the  bed,  and  on  this  about  a  hand¬ 
ful  of  soot  per  square  yard,  will  do  much  to  further  root  action, 
supply  nourishment,  and  put  substance  and  deep  green  colour 
into  the  fruit.  If  more  be  needed,  liquid  manure  in  the  form 
of  phosphate  of  potash  and  nitrate  of  ammonium,  two  parts  the 
former  and  one  part  the  latter  in  mixture,  dissolving  \oz.  of  the 
mixture  per  gallon  of  water,  and  applying  about  once  a  week 
an  amount  equal  to  an  ordinary  watering.  If  there  be  eel- 
worm,  the  liquid  manure  may  be  alternated  with  Little’s  soluble 
phenyle  one  in  1,000,  or  one  fluid  ounce  to  65  gallons  of  water.  Do 
not  overcrop  young  plants,  nor  allow  the  fruit  to  hang  too  long, 
as  upon  attention  to  this  depends  in  a  measure  a  good  and 
continuous  supply.  A  few  seeds  may  now  be  sown  for  a  late 
summer  and  autumn  supply  of  fruit;  they  will  germinate,  and 
the  seedlings  be  fit  to’  plant  out,  in  about  a  month. 
MELONS. — Where  fruit  is  required  late,  a  last  sowing  may 
be  made  for  growing  in  frames  or  pits,  heated  by  fermenting 
materials.  Make  the  bed  up  at  once,  sowing  the  seeds  in  4in 
pots— one  or  two  seeds  in  each — the  pots  being  half  filled  with 
soil,  and  a  supply  of  soil  being  given  as  the  plant  advances,  but 
not  higher  than  half  an  inch  from  the  seed  leaves;  tfiey  can 
be  turned  out  when  the  bed  is  ready,  giving  a  good  water¬ 
ing  at  planting,  and  shading  from  bright  sun  until  established. 
One  plant  in  the  centre  of  each  light  is  sufficient,  its  point  being 
taken  out  at  the  second  rough  leaf,  this  will  result  in  the  pro¬ 
duction  of  side  shoots,  which  reduce  to  four,  taking  two  to 
the  front  and  two  to  the  back  of  the  frame,  rubbing  off  the 
laterals  to  within  6in  of  the  stem,  and  stopping  the  primary 
shoots  a  foot  from  the  sides  of  the  frame  or  pite  The  plants 
will  show  fruit  on  the  laterals,  which,  being  fertilised,  will  set 
early  in  August,  and  ripen  towards  the  close  of  September. 
SETTING  MELONS  IN  FRAMES.— Plants  that  were  raised 
some  time  ago  and  have  been  put  out  will  grow  rampantly, 
and  are  sometimes  difficult  to  set  fruit,  especially  during  moist 
weather.  It  arises  from  the  moist  atmosphere,  crowding,  and 
closeness ;  therefore  thin  the  growths  if  too  crowded,  then  fruit 
will  show  on  the  laterals,  or  if  not,  stop  these  to  two  joints 
and  fruit  will  appear  on  the  sub-laterals.  Water  sparingly, 
Souring  what  is  necessary  to  keep  the  plants  from  flagging 
etween  the  shoots  so  as  to  wet  the  surface  as  little  as  possible. 
Place  hot  manure  against  the  sides  of  frame,  or  grass  mowings 
will  do,  with  a  little  over  the  grass.  This  will  raise  a  gentle 
hqat,  admitting  of  a  little  ventilation  constantly  day  and  night. 
Fertilise  the  flowers  when  fully  expanded,  stopping  the  shoots 
at  the  same  time  time  one  joint  beyond  the  fruit.  Admit  air 
freely  if  the  weather  permits,  increase  the  ventilation  at  70deg, 
allowing  it  to  rise  to'  80deg  or  8odeg  or  90deg,  at  which  keep 
through  the  day,  closing  at  80deg,  except  the  small  portion 
before  alluded  to.  When  the  fruit  is  set,  reduce  to  three  or 
four  on  a  plant,  according  to  vigour,  and  encourage  growth  by 
watering  as  required,  and  sprinkling  the  foliage  at  closing  time. 
Commence  ventilating  from  75deg,  allow  the  heat  to  rise  to 
85deg  or  90deg.  Close  before  the  temperature  recedes  to  80deg, 
or  between  4  and  5  p.m.  Growers  who  have  well-heated,  light 
houses  will  have  no  difficulty  in  maintaining  a  supply  of  fruit 
through  October  or  November  from  sowings  made  up  to  the 
third  or  fourth  week  in  July. 
PEACHES  AND  NECTARINES.  —  EARLY  FORCED 
TREES. — Continuous  forcing  to  have  the  fruit  ripe  in  May  and 
early  in  June  taxes  the  energies  of  the  trees,  as  they  have  to 
make  the  growths  during  the  early  months  of  the  year  and 
mature  them  in  early  summer.  After  the  fruit  is  all  gathered, 
ventilate  to  the  fullest  extent,  if  possible  removing  the  roof 
lights  by  the  middle  of  July,  or  sooner  in  the  case  of  very  early 
forced  houses  if  the  weather  is  hot  and  the  growth  sufficiently 
matured.  If  the  roof  lights  are  not  moveable,  in  addition  to 
ventilating  to  the  fullest  extent,  the  borders  should  be  duly 
damped  and  properly  watered,  so  as  to  keep  the  foliage  fresh, 
and  no  check  given  likely  to  induce  the  premature  ripening  of 
the  young  wood  and  leaves.  Keep  the  foliage  free  from  red 
spider  by  syringing  occasionally,  applying  an  insecticide,  sparing 
no  pains  to  keep  the  foliage  clean  and  healthy,  thus  enabling 
it  to  mature  naturally.  Stop  laterals  likely  to  interfere  with 
the  principal  growths,  but  moderate  lateral  extension  will 
promote  root  action  and  appropriate  an  excess  of  nutriment 
which,  forced  into  the  buds,  may  result  in  an  undue  develop¬ 
ment.  All  shoots  that  have  supported  fruit  and  are  no  longer 
-required,  should  be  removed  to  let  air  and  light  freely  to  the 
growths,  and  if  there  is  too  much  crowding  of  the  shoots  for 
next  year’s  bearing,  thin  them  well  to  admit  sun  for  solidifying 
those  left. 
HOUSES  WITH  FRUIT  RIPENING.— A  temperature  of 
60deg  to  65deg  at  night  and  on  dull  days,  with  70deg  to  7odeg 
from  gleams  of  sun,  and  lOdeg  to  15deg  advance  from  bright 
sunshine  is  essential  to  the  swelling  and  securing  quality  in  the 
fruit.  Except  on  cold  nights  and  in  dull  weather,  little  fire 
heat  will  be  required,  but  changes  come  suddenly,  and  attention 
must  be  given  to  circumstances,  so  as  to  maintain  steady  progress, 
and  admit  of  a  little  air  constantly  for  securing  flower  and  good 
finish.  Afford  moderate  air  moisture,  but  withhold  water  from 
the  fruit  after  it  commences  to  soften,  damping  the  floors  and 
borders  whenever  they  become  dry,  supplying  water  as  required, 
and  a  mulching  of  spent,  rather  lumpy  manure  will  keep  the 
surface  in  a  moist  condition  and  favourable  to  the  activity  of 
the  roots,  and  that  without  overdue  atmospheric  moisture.  If 
the  weather  be  bright,  some  netting  spread  over  the  roof  lights 
will  be  an  advantage  in  preserving  the  delicate  skinned  varieties, 
such  as  Noblesse,  from  unduly  heating  by  the  sun’s  rays,  causing 
the  fruit  to  ripen  at  the  apex  greatly  in  advance  of  those  on 
the  lower  parts,  and  the  fruit  not  infrequently  decays  there 
through  over-ripeness,  whilst  the  lower  part  is  quite  hard. 
These,  indeed  all  fruits,  are  better  ripened  gradually  than  by 
being  much  heated,  as  is  sometimes  done  under  the  large  and 
clear  panes  of  glass  rightly  employed  in  modern  glass  structures 
for  growing  fruit.  A  double  thickness  of  herring  net,  or  a  single 
thickness  of  pilchard  net,  drawn  over  the  roof  lights  will  suffi¬ 
ciently  break  the  most  powerful  sunlight,  insuring  the  fruit 
ripening  evenly.  Tlie  shading  may  remain  on  after  the  fruit- 
is  gathered,  and  greatly  conduces  to  the  preservation  of  the 
foliage,  insures  the  perfecting  of  the  buds,  preventing  malforma¬ 
tion  or  premature  maturity,  and  this  signifies  less  danger  of 
the  buds  falling. 
YOUNG  TREES.— Inattention  to  disbudding  these,  or  leaving 
more  growths  than  absolutely  necessary  for  bearing  and  furnish¬ 
ing  the  trellis,  is  a  great  mistake.  The  principal  branches 
or  shoots  to  form  them  should  be  12in  to  15in  distance  apart, 
and  the  shoots  for  next  year’s  bearing,  originated  from  the 
preceding  year’s  shoots,  disposed  about  loin  asundei  along  u.m, 
stopping  if  necessary  at  that  extent  of  growth,  and  the  laterals 
to  one  leaf  as  produced.  The  extension,  or  mam  shoots,  should 
be  trained  in  their  full  length,  provided  they  are  evenly 
balanced.  If  the  shoots  are  stronger  on  one  side  than  the  other, 
depress  the  strong  and  elevate  the  weak,  so  as  to  induce  an 
equal  distribution  of  vigour  throughout  the  tree.  Any  gross 
shoots  may  be  stopped,  but  it  is  better  to  cut  out  excessively 
strong  wood,  as  it  is  difficult  to  restrain,  and  often  succumbs 
to  gumming,  therefore  encourage  sturdy,  short-jointed  growths. 
Ventilate  early  in  the  day,  increase  it  with  the  advancing 
temperature,  avoiding  a  vitiated  atmosphere  by  leaving  on  a 
little  air  constantly.  Essential  growths  must  be  trained  so 
that  sun  and  air  have  access  to  them  freely,  keeping  them  thin 
and  the  foliage  clean. 
Kitchen  Garden. 
BROCCOLI.— Suitably  prepared  plants,  as,  for  instance, 
those  which  have  been  transplanted  several  inches  order 
tn  strengthen  may  now  be  planted  out  finally,  inose  wmcn 
have  been  half-starved  by  crowding  in  seed  beds  are  a  consider¬ 
able  time  recovering  from  the  effects  of  *u(*  A'fwtreated 
never  make  good  plants  in  comparison  with  the  better  treated 
nlants.  All  the  varieties  of  Broccoli  like  good  Am  ground. 
For  autumn  use  plant  Michaelmas  White  and  Veitch  s  Self- 
Protectin?  For  the  winter  and  main  crop  there  are  many 
excellent  kinds,  including  Cooling’s  Matchless,  Frogmore^  and 
KnShUs  Protecting,  Snow’s  Winter  White,  and  Osborn’s  Winter 
White  For  the  late  crop  Cattell’s  Eclipse,  Late  Queen,  Chelsea 
Favourite  and  Veitch’s  Model  are  excellent.  For  the  autumn 
crop  planting  may  be  done  on  loose  but  rich  ground  if  firm  is 
not  avadable  but  for  the  winter  and  spring  crops  very  firm 
grouXs  essential .  In  most  cases  plant  2ft  apart  between  the 
rows,  the  plants  being  18m. 
PEAS _ The  early  varieties  of  Peas  will  now  be  over,  an<  « 
haulm  may  be  removed,  but  the  second  early  varieties  and  main 
crop  sorts  are  developing,  and  should  the  wea  her  be  hot  and 
drv  a  liberal  mulching  down  each  side  of  ron  s  is  very  helpful  not 
only  to  assist  in  retaining  the  moisture  m  the  soil,  but  ta 
