Febraary 1, 1872. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



WHY DO GEAPES PAIL? 



t'li^s© E agi-ee witli the epigi'ammatie remark of 

 ,_ „' -M fl Mr. Pearson (page 17) that " a man may 

 miss his way in the cultivation of a new 

 kind of fruit without being exactly a fool." 

 There are cu'cumstances connected with 

 the cultivation of the Vine which even the 

 best gardeners do not think of or cannot 

 conti'ol, and therefore it becomes eveiy- 

 one to speak with some degi-ee of diffidence 

 and modesty in condemning new kinds of 

 Grapes till they have had a fau' trial, and the gi-eatest 

 skill has been exhausted upon them unsuccessfully. 



To the uninitiated it seems veiy bewildering that at 

 one place Mrs. Pince's Muscat, for instance, is gi-own in 

 the greatest perfection, while at another place only a few 

 miles distant it proves a complete faUui'e, after having 

 tested the best exertions of its owner in its favour ; and 

 such is the case. Instances of this not only in regard to 

 this Grape but to many others may be fiu-nished ; but it 

 is rash in those who fad, to condemn in uumeasm-ed terms, 

 as has been too frequently the case lately, those varieties 

 which, from whatever caiise, they cannot gi'ow. 



It would be well worth while, and much advantage 

 might result fi-om the mquu-y, to ascertain where certain 

 kinds of Grapes succeed and where they fail ; then to set 

 an investigation on foot as to the soils of the districts 

 whert they are gi-own. A gi-eat deal has been said about 

 the fonnation ot Vine borders ; much has been written 

 about them, and some shai^p controversies have taken 

 place on the subject. In almost aU, if not aU, the in- 

 structions as to how a Vine border is to be made, we are 

 told to " take the top spit of an old pasture." Now, in 

 this top spit of an old pastm'e resides many a success and 

 many a failm'e. Have those who so uni'eser\-edly ad\ise 

 taking the top spit of an old pasture ever reflected what 

 that really means, and to what results theh advice must 

 unfaihngly lead ? Let us take a few spits fi'oin the sm'- 

 face of old pastures — one from Hampstead Heath, and 

 another from Bagshot ; one at Oxfoi'd, another at Cam- 

 bridge ; from the Weald of Sussex, and from the Forest 

 of Exmoor ; fi-om a valley in the Cheviots, and fi-om the 

 banks of the Tyue ; fi-om Ipswich, fi-om Jlatlock, and 

 fi-om Abei-j-stwith. Analyse these separately, and we 

 shaU find in them substances as various in then- mechanical 

 and chemical composition as it is possible for them to be. 

 Now, while thex-e ai-e varieties of the Vine that wdl 

 grow more or less successftilly in aU these kinds of soO, 

 there are others much more capricious, and wliich requu-e 

 to be studied in this particular if then- gi-eatest merits are 

 to be brought out. The vhincrona of Europe liave long 

 ago discovered that to get tlae greatest good fi-om certam 

 varieties they must be grown on certain soils. The plants 

 that produce the finest gi-owths of Champagne are not 

 grown on the rocky steeps and vaUey slopes of the Ehine ; 

 and those which supply the vaunted Johaunisbergs and 

 Eiidesheimers are very different fi-om those yielding the 

 Monti-achet of Bm-gundy and the Yquene of the Gironde ; 

 No. K6,— Vol. SXIL, New Semes. 



while the Cai-menet, the Malbeo, and the Verdot, to which 

 we are indebted for the famed Margaux, La Eose, and 

 Lafitte, are entu-ely ignored in Burgundy, where they 

 would fail to yield the equaUy famed Eomanee Conti, 

 Chambertin, and Clos Vaugeot fiu-nished by the httle 

 Noii-ien and Pineau. It is, therefore, evident that to 

 insure success in the cultivation of the Vine, om- growers 

 must give more heed to the composition of the soils of 

 which their borders are made ; and also to leai-n the kind 

 of soil in which the different varieties are found to suc- 

 ceed best. One of the Grapes, respecting wliich regrets 

 are fi-equent because it is so difficult to .grow, is the Mus- 

 cat Hambm-gh, one of the most exceUeut varieties known 

 in regard of flavom-. This has the reputation of being in 

 some places a bad grower, in others a bad setter, and 

 not unft-equentlybad to colour. A few years ago we sent 

 it with others, then new here, to the south of France, 

 where it is now being largely grown in %Tiieyards on the 

 scloistoze spm-s of the Pyrenees, and where neither in 

 point of gi-owth, fertUity, colom-, nor flavoiu- does it leave 

 anything to be desired. There, then, is a proof that the 

 Muscat Hamburgh dehghts in a sod. foi-med of the rocks 

 of the primai-y fonnation. No doubt many other Grapes 

 requh-e special soils and treatment, and it is to attain a 

 knowledge of these that gardeners ought to direct their 

 attention. 



We have been led to make these observations in con- 

 sequence of a tendency exhibited by some wiiters lately 

 to run down and disparage some of the new Grapes 

 recently introduced, merely because of then- own or of 

 others' failm-es to grow them. Not content with depre- 

 ciating the Grapes, they even point inuendoes at the 

 raisers and introducers of them ; inuendoes that cause 

 honourable traders to shi-ink and reproach themselves . 

 that they have been the means of (hsseminatiug such 

 worthless commothties. Nothing can be more unfau- and 

 unguarded. Such conduct acts as a check to enterprise, 

 anil a discouragement to experiment. It is hasty, thought- 

 less, and misoliievous. If gi'owers would content them- 

 selves with simply giving then- experience, and stating 

 all the cu-cimistances under winch the fi-uit was produced, 

 others might leai-n what to do and what to avoid ; but 

 an unqualffied condemnation merely on the ground of 

 indi-vidual fadm-e, though it may not bring the wiiter 

 under the charge of what Mr. Pearson calls being " a 

 fool," lays him open to be considered extremely foohsh. 



AMARYLLIS AND HIPPEASTEUM CULTURE. 

 The plants to winch I woiUd now caU the attention of 

 amateurs are usually to be found in gardens rmder the 

 name of Anaarylhs, although it would, perhaps, be more 

 con-ect to place them in the genus Hippeasti-um. The 

 ti-ue members of the former genus are mostly natives of 

 the Cape of Good Hope, and have but few representatives 

 in the gardens of Em-ope, whilst the latter, although 

 nearly allied and almost similar in appearance, are mostly 

 found in tropical America and the various West Indian 

 islands, and, together with the hybrid foi-ms to which they 

 No. 121S.— Vol. XLVn., Old Seeies. 



