'412 THE GARDENER. [Sept. 



at Chatsworth are stocked with old Vines, some of them planted, we believe, prior 

 to Sir Joseph Paxton going there. In these, and also in the house to which we 

 have specially referred, there was a confusion of branches; in fact, the leaders were 

 laid in so closely together that it was impossible that the foliage could be properly 

 exposed to the light. These, last winter, were reduced in number, so that now 

 the main branches are 3 to 4 feet apart, giving ample room for lateral extension of 

 the foliage. In the ridge-and-furrow house the inside Vines have been entirely re- 

 moved, and the advantage of giving the foliage ample room for development is now 

 conspicuously manifest. Shanked Vines are things of the past ; each bunch is a com- 

 pact cube of immense berries, finely hammered and coloured, and with the bloom 

 laid on with an unsparing hand. The 264 bunches which form the crop average 

 3 lb. each, and some of them weighing double that weight. The kinds are Black 

 Hamburg and Black Prince, and below we give statistics of the crop : — 



Girth 2 ft. 



The stems, it will be seen, are not remarkably large, but the girth below where 

 they divide would double, perhaps treble, that of the branches. The average 

 number of bunches is thirty-three, and taking the weight at 3 lb. each, or, for the 

 sake of even numbers, at 100 lb. to each Vine, and the value at 5s. per pound, 

 which they would readily bring, the value of the crop would be £200, and that 

 from Vines which two years ago were condemned to the hatchet and the fire-pile. 

 Nothing can be finer than the bunch which we have received ; the berries are in 

 every respect superb, and yet we are assured it was one of the smallest in the 

 house. We regard this as one of the most extraordinary instances of the revivi- 

 fication of plant life which has ever been recorded, and we congratulate Mr Speed 

 upon his well-merited success. Although there are at Chatsworth many houses 

 of young Vines, varying from two to seven years old, not one of them is equal to 

 this house of veterans. The extensionists may well be proud of this success, 

 and those who visit Chatsworth (and we should advise all who have the means to 

 do so) will find that extension is not confined to Vines, but extends to orchard- 

 house trees, upon which may be seen splendid crops of Peaches, Nectarines, 

 Plums, &c, the young shoots free from a single pinch, and many of them 2 to 4 

 feet long. Mr Speed contends that to have weight of fruit it is indispensable to 

 have breadth of foliage. Not a shoot will be stopped before the middle of 

 August, and then, when 'the fruit begins to ripen, it will be necessary to do so to 

 admit light and give full flavour." 



