124 THE FLORIST. 



most profuse bearer he had ever met with. I may mention that he 

 was a great collector of grapes, and had a great number of varieties. 

 I received some cuttings from the vine in question, and have since 

 cultivated it extensively. It has amply borne out all that Mr. Scott 

 reported of it : its berries are of a very light purple, in size a little 

 larger than the Burgundy, and round ; its bunches are also clustered 

 like it, but they are larger; its young shoots and leaves are very 

 thickly covered with down; it is very hardy, and its fruit ripens 

 freely in any aspect to the s.e., s., or s.w., in those parts of England 

 where grapes ripen in the open air ; but its most extraordinary feature 

 is its wonderful fertility, every bud producing from two to three 

 bunches. Every one having a nook with a suitable aspect ought to 

 plant a vine of this sort, and every cottager might make it a source 

 of profit. One of my young vines trained to a stake, and only six 

 feet high, bore last season — 1850 — fifty bunches. 



Finding no Muscat flavour in it (it has a brisk sweet flavour), I 

 have ventured to change its name, and to call it as above. 



T. R. 



CULTURE OF THE CINERARIA. 



There is scarcely a more useful or beautiful plant for the general 

 purposes of greenhouse decoration, or for furnishing a supply of cut 

 flowers, than the Cineraria ; and as I have paid much attention to its 

 cultivation, perhaps a few words on the subject may not be uninte- 

 resting. 



As soon as the plants are out of flower, and seed saved from the 

 best sorts, I cut them down close to their bottoms, turn them out of 

 their pots, and plunge them in leaf-mould, or in any other compost 

 not required for use. I find that they succeed best in the former, 

 under a west wall, where they require only the attention of a few 

 waterings with a fine rose-pot, to prevent them from becoming too 

 dry. About the middle of August the old stools ^\dll be growing 

 vigorously. I then separate and select as many of the strongest off- 

 sets as I consider will form a nice specimen. I cut their roots close 

 in, and increase such sorts as are good. I then pot them into 6- 

 inch pots, in a compost of turfy loam, peat, and well -decomposed cow- 

 dung, with a portion of silver-sand in it, the whole being used in a 

 rough state. They are afterwards transferred to a close frame, shaded 

 from the rays of the sun, and kept well sprinkled with the watering- 

 pot or syringe; for the Cineraria delights in a moist, cool, shaded 

 atmosphere. When the plants have become established, the lights 

 are drawn off them every night in fine weather — for they are greatly 

 strengthened by receiving the dew of the morning — shading them 

 lightly when the sun is powerful, and tilting the lights nine or ten 

 inches at the back to admit plenty of air. When the pots have 

 become filled with roots, I transfer the plants to a 9-inch pot, in 

 which they are flowered, I then remove them to their former situa- 

 tion, where they remain under the above treatment until the end of 



