58 

 THE GAEDEN ORACLE EOE 1867. 



HIS, the ninth issue of the " Garden Oracle," will, I trust, be found as 

 useful and original as any of its predecessors. I have bestowed the 

 usual pains on the descriptions of new plants, new flowers, and new 

 fruits. The descriptions of plants are taken from the accepted authori- 

 ties, the descriptions of flowers and fruits are, with very few exceptions, 

 the result of personal observation and comparison. This is the only garden almanack 

 which gives iudependent descriptions and criticisms ; in other works such (so-called) 

 descriptions are merely professional pufl^s. The " selections for 1867 " have cost me 

 an immensity of labour, for I have not only gone through all the classes carefully, 

 but have distinguished in each the best 100, best 50, best 12, best 6, etc., as ap- 

 peared most likely to meet the wants of amateurs whose desire it is to grow the best 

 varieties only, and who have neither the means nor the time to buy at random and 

 discover tor tiiemselves which are the best. Persons in need of a J'eic camellias, or 

 auriculas, or roses, or others in need of a large collection of any particular class of 

 flowers, will be equally assisted by reference to the Oracle, to the saving of their 

 pockets, and perhaps also of their time, their temper, and their available space 

 of ground and glass. The principal feature of the new issue of the Oracle is 

 the list of fruits. On this I have bestowed great pains. It has. in fact, been in 

 hand some months, and I preferred to publish late and risk the loss of some part of 

 the sale rather than a single page should pass without thoughtful revision. It must 

 be remembered that the 500 (or thereabout) varieties enumerated in the list were 

 selected from some 5000 or more, the object bemg to place before the reader the 

 best 6, 12, 20, 50, etc., in anj' particular class, and thus make the selection at once 

 adapted for the possessor of a few rods of ground, and needing only half a dozen 

 fruit-trees, and the manager of extensive vineries, graperies, peacheries, and 

 orchards. All I claim for my work is, that it is original, independent, and consci- 

 entious ; and I feel compelled by these tokens to dibiinguish it from other works to 

 which it might happen to be compared. As to its merits or demerits in other 

 respects, I leave the public to judge, and I am not in the least nervous as to the 

 ultimate decision. S. H. 



RAISING AND FRUITING POT VINES AS PRACTISED IN 



ENGLAND. 



BY M. A. PAVARD, 



(Member of the Imperial and Central Horticultural Society of Paris). 



SOURING- the course of ISTovember, when the wood of the vines from which 

 cuttings are to be taken is sufficiently ripe, they are cut so that each 

 shall contain an eye. They are planted in pots of about two inches in 

 diameter, care being taken that the pots are well drained, and filled with 

 good field earth rather light tljan strong. These slips are planted at 

 such a depth that the top of the eye or knot is almost level with the earth in the pot. 

 Some persons proceed as for ordinary slips — that is to say, they plant slips that are 

 furnished with two buds. After this the pots are buried in a tan-bed formed in a 

 greenhouse, heated little by little up to 70' or 75^ Fahrenheit. The humidity of the 

 atmosphere is maintained by frequently watering the flues, the walls, and the paths. 

 As soon as the young plants begin to develope themselves, air is admitted on fine 

 days ; the humid heat is at the same time kept up, that they may receive no check. 



When the roots touch the sides of the pots, the slips are placed in new ones 

 about nine inches in diameter, care being taken, as in the first instance, that the 

 pots are well drained. In the repotting, a more substantial soil is employed than 

 before ; this is often mixed with fine sand of a white pulverized kind, which, by faci- 

 litating the passage of the water, prevents its remaining to stagnate about the roots. 

 After the repotting, the pots are buried in a bed of tan placed in a greenhouse of 

 sufficient height to prevent jts being necessary to bend the young stems, which must 

 be allowed to grow up without the least obstacle to their straightness. To avoid 



