187.3.] LEUCOCARPUS ALATUS.' — BARKING AND DRESSING VINES. 29 



if driven for shelter from the noonday heat or a passing shoTver, the eye may be 

 pleased, and the nose regaled, whilst kept -vraiting upon the weather. Of the 

 many structures of this kind which I have met with, both in esse and in posse, 

 I have seen few which contain the desirable attributes of suitability and moderate 

 cost better than that given at the opening of these remarks, and which is designed 

 and can be supplied by Mr. Eendle, of Victoria Street, London, S.W. — "Wii. 

 Paul, Waltham Cross, Herts. 



LEUCOCAEPUS ALATUS FOR IN-DOOR DECORATION. 



KNOW not whether your readers generally may be aware that this plant 

 produces its snowy white berries much more profusely from cuttings than 

 when grown from seed. Early in the spring of last year I put in a batch 

 of cuttings, and grew them on all the summer in a cold frame, and since 

 November they have been covered with berries. These with the hybrid 

 Solanums are very showy either for in-door decoration or the conservatory. 

 With a little care the Leucocarpus forms nice pyramids, while the Solanums 

 form either bushes or low standards, and when well grown they are all really 

 pretty objects. — John Claek, Studley Royal. 



ON BARKING AND DRESSING VINE STEMS. 



AM of opinion that the system of annually peeling the bark off the Grape 



ij;^ Vine after pruning is not a necessity ; and, indeed, if it were a necessity, 

 '^ the operation is frequently performed in such an injudicious or improper 

 ^ manner as to be positively injurious to the health of the Vines. If 

 gardeners and others are to be guided in their operations by the natural course 

 of things, and this I do not doubt, it will not be denied that it is a most un- 

 natural process to set about peeling the bark from the vine stem so closely that 

 nearly all but the inner bark is taken away, and the Vine does not look like a 

 Vine at all ; but many do it. I have heard arguments in favour of the practice, 

 but they have not contained sufficient proof of its merits to make me a convert to 

 the system. If I judge correctly, the functions of the bark are of a very delicate 

 nature — particularly so those of the inner bark or liber, as it is called, through 

 which the returning sap is almost exclusively conveyed. Therefore I hold that 

 the outer bark must have some relative influence on the inner one, and is at any 

 rate a great protection to it during the performance of its important functions. 

 My idea is, and always has been, that to peel so much of the old bark off as to 

 lay bare the inner layers or tenderest portions, is doing the Vine material damage, 

 and increasing its tendency to be injured by atmospheric influences. 



Doubtless it will be said that hothouse Vines being under protection by the 

 glass, are not likely to receive injury from the latter source, but this I very much 

 doubt, as the conditions make them tender. I recollect that a few years ago, in a 

 house of young Vines planted so thickly that two of their number could be dispensed 

 with in course of time, I determined upon trying the experiment of peeling the 



