Beeton's gardening book : containing full and practical instructions concerning general garden operations, the flower garden, the fruit garden, the kitchen garden, pests of the month, with a monthly calendar of work to be done in the garden throughout the year.

  • Beeton, Samuel Orchart, 1831-1877
Date:
[between 1870 and 1879?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Beeton's gardening book : containing full and practical instructions concerning general garden operations, the flower garden, the fruit garden, the kitchen garden, pests of the month, with a monthly calendar of work to be done in the garden throughout the year. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    larger than the other. Two melons on a plant are as ranch as can be expected to do wcdl; but never more than three should be allowed to remain: pinch off all the rest, and every other unnecessary growth. It is important that the plants be not allowed to ramble after the fruit has begun to swell; for this will require the whole strength of the plant. The fruit takes some four or five weeks, occasionally more, from the time of setting to the time of ripening, which is indicated by the stalk appearing to separate from the fruit. They should be cut and used on the day this takes place, or very soon after. Both cucumbers and melons, it is known, are sometimes grown in pits heated with hot water. The superiority of this plan is so fully established, that none would be troubled with dung-beds after having tried it. The diminution of labour, tho cleanliness and comfort, and last, but not least, the ornamental appearance of the suspended fruit, have a decided advantage over the many inconveniences attached to the management of hotbeds. 255.—BUSH FRUIT. Under this title are included gooseberries, the different kinds of currants— red, white, and black,—and raspberries; fruits so extremely useful that they are to be found in every garden, and are grown extensively for markets in the neighbourhood of every large town. It too frequently happens that bush fruit, from the readiness with which it yields a crop, is left to take care of itself ; but the quantity and quality of the fruit produced will be found to depend very materially upon the good management of the bushes. We shall give general directions for the different sorts, but further information will be found under the different heads. 256.—GOOSEBERRY. Though the gooseberry will grow on the poorest soil, it will not produce fine fruit unless planted in a deep, rich soil, and treated generously. Though hardy, it requires moderate shelter, and though rejoicing in moisture, it will not flourish in undrained land. Cuttings should be planted any time from October to March. Select for the purpose shoots of a medium size, not root-suckers, about afoot or more in length. Cut the base of the shoot square; no fruit canes should ever be planted with slanting heels; after this, remove with a knife every bud from the base to within two inches of the top. If the cuttings are fifteen inches long, and four heads are left at the top, the future stem will be a foot high, which will be ample for a useful tree. The lower buds are removed in order to secure a clean stem and prevent the formation of suckers. Plant the cuttings in the shade four inches deep, and fix the earth firmly about them. During summer, young growing shoots strike readily under a hand- glass on a shady border, and a season may frequently be saved in this way. The first season’s growth of cuttings put in in autumn should bo very little interfered with. If any pruning is requisite, it is best done by rubbing off buds and by pinching in shoots which would interfere with the proper shape of the bush. At tho end of the season, cut back all leading shoots to two-thirds oj