270 



THE FLOEAL WORLD AXD GARDEN GUIDE. 



Shakspere, bright red ; St. Margaret, 

 orange-anemone ; Lord Brougham, 

 rosy -purple, flue ; Florence Night- 



ingale, rosy-blush ; Stonewall Jack- 

 sou, red; Margaret Vatcher, lively 

 chestnut. 



THE GREAT MYSTERY OE A'INE CULTURE. 



The grapes shank — what shall we 

 do with tliem ? The mildew icill rage 

 in spite of Gishurst, Parmentier, and 

 every other nostrum ; can an honest 

 gardener sleep at night after a day's 

 worry with tlie mildew ? If he does 

 sleep, it will be to dream of mildew, 

 and feel it adhering to the tips of his 

 fingers, and covering his eyes with a 

 morbific film. Then the vines refuse 

 to grow, or grow at such a rate that 

 there is no chance of the wood ripen- 

 ing; or they die suddenly, as if se- 

 cretly severed ;it the root; or the 

 bunches drop prematurely, or they 

 are deficient in flavour when ripened 

 as far as they will ripen. Surely the 

 gods ought to be invoked to aid the 

 man whose duty it is to grow grapes 

 in the midst of all these difficulties. 

 There must be a great mystery in it ; 

 for, look you, at such a place not far 

 oif, the vines grow as if by magic, 

 they make immense leaves, plump 

 wood, large bunches, the bunches 

 ripen, have a delectable flavour; the 

 wood ripens as hard as flint, and 

 beautifully brown, as if stained by 

 some trickery. Yet there is nothing 

 apparently different in the circum- 

 stances of the two houses : tliey both 

 get enough sun ; they both contain 

 good sorts — perhaps tue same sorts — 

 but somehow they grow in one and 

 perish in the other. There must be 

 a mystery. Of course there is a very 

 great mystery, mystery of mysteries ; 

 and who can fathom it ? Suppose 

 we lay in wait, and secretly watch 

 our rival, who seems to be on such 

 excellent terms with the gods who 

 help him. We shall see nothing in 

 particular. To be sure, he gives 

 plenty of air : he never syringes the 

 bunches : he allows the leaves of his 

 vines to shade the fruit ; he stops 

 and trains regularly ; and in these 

 points there may be much to cause 

 the difference, because we syringe 

 the bunches, in the fond hope of 



swelling them; we are afraid to give 

 air, for fear of reducing the tempera- 

 ture and risking the ripening ; we let 

 the long rods hang about, so as to 

 make one job of the tying, instead 

 of niggling at it perpetually. And 

 yet these little attentions give our 

 favoured rival very little trouble ; he 

 appears almost to let the grapes grow 

 as they like ; he is never in a fluster 

 with them, never engaged in tanker- 

 ing with strong manures, or fingering 

 the bunches to detect the first traces 

 of blight and shanking. Yet there 

 is evidentlj'^ a mystery, because though 

 air, and shade, and careful use of the 

 syringe may be of importance, our 

 vines refuse to grow properly, refuse 

 to fruit, refuse to ripen their wood. 

 These minor attentions cannot make 

 all the difference. Let us see — the 

 vine is a gross feeder, all the world 

 knows that ; so we gave ours lots of 

 dung to grow in. contrived the border 

 should always be moist, and we did 

 — yes, we did use a few carcases 

 chopped up in the border. I^ow, just 

 for the sake of gaining knowledge, 

 we will get our friend Mr. Successful 

 to lift a vine, that we may see what 

 sort of fat stuft" his are gi'owing in — 

 fatter it must surely be than the 

 border that refuses to comply with 

 our wishes. Well, there is a mys- 

 tery certainly : those fruitful vines 

 have nothing at all to grow in ; this 

 certainly is an example of the inter- 

 vention of the gods ; no use now to 

 talk about horticulture ; let us go to 

 oracles and divinatons, and expend 

 a trifle on the arts of magic. When 

 we say they have nothing at all to 

 grow in, we mean, of course, nothing 

 comparatively ; the border lies high 

 and dry. What a violation of our 

 well-established postulate of the vine 

 being a gross feeder and a lover of 

 moisture ! The materials of the bor- 

 der are mostly hard and tough, such 

 as we should use for the bottom of a 



