1873.] MADRESFIELD COURT GRAPE. 39 



wreck, unpresentable at a table of the meanest character. I can safely say, had 

 these bunches been shown in August, they might have been considered very fine. 

 As regards the spotty character that it assumes in its unripe state, it was worse 

 with me than any other Grape grown here. These houses were started in the 

 early part of February. Exjjecting the Vines to grow grossly and strong as they 

 indicated the previous year, and with the intention of having the wood well 

 ripened, they were watered sparingly. As soon as the Grapes were thinned, a 

 little front air was given during mild nights, which was increased until the 

 first sign of colour was perceptible, when full air was put on the house night 

 and day, and moisture withheld. Under the same treatment all the other var- 

 ieties are keeping well. 



Golden Champion with me is growing in a Hamburg house, with a mixed 

 lot of Vines at one end, that require heat longer in the season to finish them as 

 well as they should be. To modify this I start soon, and leave a little front 

 air on during the night at the end where the Hamburgs and Golden Champions 

 are growing. I have it worked on the Hamburg and also on its own roots. It 

 was ripe in July, and some of the bunches were cut in October slightly shrivel- 

 led, of excellent flavour and without a spot. J, Hunter. 



Lameton Castle. 



I was glad to see in the ' Gardener ' for last month that jVIr Hutchinson and 

 his friends had been successful in fruiting the two new Grapes — Madresfield 

 Court and Golden Champion. The former I have fruited here this season, early 

 in pots, and also inarched on the Black Alicant (one of its parents), and in 

 neither case did it prove worthy of cultivation. When under pot-culture the 

 berries began to crack with the first signs of colouring. Subsequently a great 

 many of the berries were attacked with a spotty gangrene which made sad work 

 with the biinches. The inarched Vine showed some nice bunches of fruit, with 

 good-sized berries, very promising indeed until about ripe, when the shrivelled 

 spot made its appearance on the berries, and, on slight pressure with the 

 finger, the skin would burst, in fact sloughing away. Golden Champion I 

 have fruited in pots only. Nice bunches were produced which set well, but some 

 of the berries when about changing colour showed the spot, and were cut away, 

 and the bunches afterwards finished a fine sulphur-yellow, with the flavour all 

 that could be desired. I have a fine cane of this Vine on the Muscat Hamburg, 

 and next spring I intend to inarch it on the Duchess of Buccleuch, which I 

 believe will prove the best of all stocks for it. My opinion with regard to this 

 fine Grape is, that we ought not to thin the bunches too much, so that, should 

 any of the berries become diseased, they might be cut away without materially 

 disfiguring the bunches. Isaac Watson. 



NuNEHAM Park Gardens, Abingdon, Berks. 



Mr Hutchinson's assertion is correct. I did assist to judge last August at the 

 Cardifi" show ; and we did agree to give it the prize in preference to the Ham- 

 burg, solely on the condition that the bunches were larger and better coloured — 

 not, certainly, owing to superiority of flavour. The Madresfield possesses the 

 property of producing a high colour for a month or more before it reaches 

 maturity. This was a vigorous attempt to gain a prize, as the two bunches of 

 the Hamburg and Madresfield Court were the produce of the same garden. I can- 

 not help noticing that it is unjust on the part of the managing committee to allow 

 a competitor to stage two varieties of Grapes, or any other kind of fruit, for the 



