it upon the pencil. Of course, by this process, the pencil comes as often in contact with the female as with the male part of the flower; consequently, the fecundation is accomplished by the pollen which is already on the pencil adhering to the stigma while more is collected. By the first of these methods I had rather more berries set than I had by the latter; but I had a great many berries to thin out of all the bunches, except the two which I left unassisted, and which set their berries in the usual way, almost all of them about the size of peas, and without seed. I kept as dry an atmosphere as I conveniently could, from 65 to 82 degrees of heat, in order to absorb a superfluous moisture which collected on the stigma. The operation was generally performed about noon, when the bunches were dry. It is necessary that the operation should be performed every day while the trees are in flower (which will be about a week), as some parts of the bunches are only in flower when the others are set.

Howsham, February 10. 1830.

Yours, &c.

J. CRAIG.

ART. XVII. On the Forcing of Cabbage Lettuce in Holland. By M. P. LINDEGAARD. Translated from the Danish by M. JENS PETER PETERSEN, of the Royal Gardens of Rosenburgh, near Copenhagen.

It is well known that every country is possessed of something peculiar in preference to another, with regard to vegetation, or to the bringing of some plants and sorts of fruits to greater maturity and perfection; which is partly effected by, or attributed to, local circumstances, as air, soil, situation, or climate.

On the Continent, the Dutch gardeners are undoubtedly the only ones who produce excellent cabbage lettuce during the whole winter. The nobility and gentry in Holland are remarkably fond of lettuce, having it on their table every day in the year, and consider it very wholesome and purgative to the blood: consequently, this branch of horticulture has attracted the greatest care and attention of the gardeners in that country. The treatment of winter lettuce (coude slaa, Dutch), as I saw it practised forty-four years back, during my stay in Holland, is as follows:

A hot-bed which has done bearing, and is well situated towards the sun, is chosen: the mould is several times stirred VOL. VI.

up or turned over, to make the air impregnate it; and, if too heavy, about half the quantity of mould is taken away, and a similar quantity of good leaf mould put to the remainder, and all well mixed together. Some gardeners take all the mould out of the bed, and loosen the surface of the dung, to make the moisture in winter pass through it freely; and leaf mould only is put on the bed or in the frames and as the leaf mould is much incorporated with sand, particularly all round Haarlem, it is found very suitable to the growth of cabbage lettuce.

The sort of cabbage lettuce in use at that time was termed klein groen, with black seed; but of late years, I am informed, another more palatable sort, klein geel, with white seed, is used for that purpose.

The seed is sown very thin, in the first days of September, on a melon bed which has done bearing; and watering with a fine syringe, if the weather continue dry, must not be neglected. When the plants have produced the fourth leaf they are fit for transplanting; the bed having been previously prepared, by digging and raking, is now marked so that one plant will be placed under every pane or square of glass in the window. To plant a reserve, or superfluous row at top and bottom, is very advisable, lest any of the main plants should be eaten by the wire worm, which is often the case. After planting, the lights are immediately put on, and no air given in the first couple of days: as the plants begin to grow, air is given to the frames, as well at the bottom as at the top (about, three inches), which is best performed by putting two bricks under each corner of every window; and this air may remain day and night for some time. At this period it will be found very necessary to search the beds every morning, if the wire worms have made their appearance; and where a plant is eaten, you will be pretty sure to find a worm under the root or in the surface, sometimes an inch deep or so: this is to be continued early in the morning every day till the insects disappear. In October, when the air begins to grow cold, and the heads of the cabbage lettuce begin to get close or hard, no air is given any more, and the lights are entirely closed; but it must be observed, that the leaves do not at all touch the glass, as, if they do, the least unexpected frost will hurt their edges and the consequence will be that the plants will rot. In this case the frame will have to be lifted every now and then. When the nightly frosts commence, generally in October, great attention must be paid to covering the beds with a single layer of bass mats; yet too much covering is to be avoided before the plants are grown to perfect heads. Water

ing is quite out of the question, and even very hurtful; but care should be taken to prevent moisture as much as possible. Cover more or less according to the severity of the weather; and keep the lights uncovered in the day, whenever and as much as the weather will permit. By this treatment the Dutch gardeners produce cabbage lettuce during the whole winter till the month of April, when they are succeeded by the early forced.

I have followed this method for forty-five successive years in the Royal Gardens at Rosenburgh, but never so successfully as it is done in Holland. It depends greatly on the soil: a light leaf mould is considered the best, and it is not to be had in large towns. I know the Roman lettuce is preferred in England, but I suppose it is scarce in the winter; therefore it might be of advantage to some of your readers to get acquainted with a method of producing salat pommé (cabbage lettuce) in the middle of the winter.

P. LINDEGAARD.

ART. XVIII. Notice of the Culture of Wheat in the Neighbourhood of Ardress, in Ireland. By G. ENSOR, Esq., Author of The Inde pendent Man and other Works.

Sir,

I AM induced to send you the following remarks, in consequence of seeing some lost crops of wheat this year in the Isle of Wight, from the mode of tillage in that wet land. The practice in my immediate neighbourhood, where the land is strong and retentive clay, is as follows:-Wheat is generally sown after potatoes, sometimes on fallows; in both cases the land is harrowed flat; then the plough superficially marks the ridges, which are sown broad-cast. The ridges vary from 41 ft. to 5 ft.; the furrow 1 ft. wide, which is dug about 14 in. deep in thin spadefuls, and cast on either side on the grain. The furrows are shovelled as they are dug, one shovel to four spades. This practice has various benefits: less seed is required, all being on the same level, no grain being buried, none lost on the surface. It can be executed any day that men can work out; it deepens the land, and keeps land and grain dry during the wettest seasons. Ten men should dig and shovel an acre in a day. Perhaps I should add, that the furrow made by digging should be necked on either side the ridge; and the spade I speak of is the Irish spade. I am, Sir, yours, &c. Ardress, Loughgall, Sept. 19. 1830.

GEORGE ENSOR.

ART. XIX. On a Method of forcing Strawberries. By R. T. Sir,

As I have just been preparing a quantity of strawberries for forcing, and as I have had an opportunity of trying all the dif ferent ways I have read or heard of respecting them, perhaps you will allow me to lay before your readers an account of my mode of culture. During the last few years the forcing of strawberries has very much improved, and a great many methods have been tried in order to find out the best to obtain a good crop. Since it is pretty well known that young plants force best and bear most, and that the stronger the plants are the more fruit they will bear, it is, of course, important to know how they may be obtained. Some people have planted the young runners as soon as they could procure them, in a shady situation, and then potted them in the autumn; others have potted them at once, and shaded them till they had begun to grow, and by this means have had tolerably good crops: but, though in wet summers, like the last three, runners are to be obtained tolerably early, yet in dry summers it is very difficult to have them soon enough to acquire strength before winter. The method I practise, and recommend to others, is this: Some time in March, or in the beginning of April, take up of the last year's runners as many as will fill the requisite number of pots: but instead of planting them in a continued bed, as commonly practised, let them be planted in single rows around the quarters of the garden, and as much exposed as possible; by which means, instead of having weak drawn-up plants, with very small hearts to produce fruits, they will be strong and firm from exposure, and produce abundantly. Any time in September let them be taken up, with as much earth as will adhere to the roots, and potted in good loam; that from the old melon beds will do very 'well, with about one fourth of the old dung mixed with it. It is a common practice to put them three in a pot (size 32); but plants treated in this way will frequently be so strong as to allow of only one: this must, therefore, be regulated by their strength. I have sometimes planted one plant in a pot (size 48), and for early forcing I prefer it; as the fruit will soon reach the rim of the pot, and hang over, instead of lying on the damp mould among the leaves.

I forgot to state that, when the plants are taken up to pot, the leaves ought not to be cut off, except any very straggling

ones.

Sept. 21. 1830.

I am, Sir, yours, &c.

R. T.

ART. XX. Remarks on the Treatment of Fruit Trees.

Sir,

By Mr. ROBERT ERRINGTON.

I HAVE just read with pleasure another soundly practical paper by Mr. Hiver, in your last Magazine, and must say I have for some time been very nearly of the same opinion, especially with regard to the too prevalent error of making deep and highly manured borders, and also of the necessity of a perfect admission of heat and light to the embryo buds to elaborate the sap; and I think it will not be long before these matters are admitted universally but, as I think I can offer a few remarks on fruit trees in general, which have not come within the scope of Mr. Hiver's subjects, and which, nevertheless, I flatter myself may be of some trifling service to the uninitiated, I trust I may venture to do so.

I must first premise, that it frequently happens that a gardener, in changing situations, has to take to a lot of trees troubled with that vegetable plethora long since described by Mr. Hiver. I am one, and of course can speak feelingly. I have a wall of peaches, which produced such wood as Mr. Newington calls basket rods, and which I described to you in a former Number as having been planted in a very porous soil, in a highly manured state. What could I do? I was as sparing of the knife as possible, as far as shortening was concerned, leaving some of the shoots from 4 to 5 ft. in length, knowing they had a superabundance of sap, which would have vent in one shape or other; but this did not sufficiently avail. I therefore threw open a trench before them, and cut with a knife what I considered to be a just proportion of the deepest roots from them. The experiment has answered my best expectations. Now I have a wall of these trees, 240 ft. in length, which I could show against any, and which are that just medium between strength and weakness which is the true criterion of fruitfulness in many trees. I must here observe, that I thought it prudent in cutting to divide them at a tuft of fibres (as I thought it probable they would heal more quickly at such parts), and to spread those in a hori zontal direction; and, I believe, by so doing there will be no danger of suckers: at any rate, I have none; and it is time they showed themselves, if the practice would create them.

I have since served two walls of pear trees in the same way, and some plums also, which used to make breast wood a yard from the wall. The result is, I have little breast wood now, and the buds are forming in an excellent manner for fruit; and I must say, that this method appears preferable to all the