488 



JOURNAL 0^ HOKTIGULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEB. 



[ December l8, 18W. 



common practice of ventilating freely on damp foggy days is a 

 great mistake. This is simply drawing a volume of air sur- 

 charged with moisture thi-ough the vinery, to be condensed on 

 the hunches and Vines. Fire heat in conjunction with venti- 

 lation on such days does not mend the matter ; it rather in- 

 creases it, by causing a more rapid current of damp air to pass 

 through the -s-inery. The thing to do is to keep the house 

 close, especially at the front, during foggy damp weather ; to 

 keep the temperature about 45", and just a chink of air at the 

 top, bat, if possible, in such a manner that damp does not fall 

 into the house : hence the value of wet-weather ventilation, as 

 it is called. The time to fire and ventilate Vines freely is on 

 bright dry days, when it is certain that in the circulation more 

 damp can be expelled than there is admitted, and always 

 dropping the heat to the minimum of 4.5' to 50" before night. 

 All inside surfaces should be dry after the 1st of October, and 

 never moistened, and a low stagnant temperature should be 

 avoided. The result of having the air and Grapes inside the 

 vinery as cold as the external atmosphere, or nearly so, is, 

 that the moisture that is admitted with the air from the out- 

 side condenses immediately on the surface of the berries ; 

 whereas, when they are warmer than the external air, they do 

 not act as condensers. This law of heat and moisture is very 

 strikingly exemplified by walking into a moist stove with a 

 piece of smooth cold wood or slate, or, in fact, any cold, hard, 

 smooth substance. The result is, that it is immediately 

 covered with dewdrops. The cold substance has condensed 

 the particles of moisture in the warm ah- — and just so the 

 Grapes act to their own destruction. The temperature should 

 therefore be kept steadily above that of the external air, to 

 prevent this destructive result. We know of a whole vinery 

 full of Grapes being lost last year by an amateur, simply by 

 his keeping the front and top ventilation always open in the 

 dampest weather, and so subjecting the Grapes to a cold 

 vapour bath. 



There is one particularly ticklish time or stage when 

 Grapes are the most difficult to keep, and that is, just as the 

 foliage begins to change to the " sere and yellow leaf." Some 

 varieties of Crrapes are then very subject to go wrong under 

 the best treatment. Small white stars of decay, cutting into 

 the skins and radiating from a centre Uke a star, first appear, 

 and soon the whole berry goes wrong. The first signs of this 

 should incite to more vigilance. The affected berries should 

 be at once removed, and all the laterals where there are any ; 

 and where there are not, a portion of the foliage should be 

 removed, so as to let light and air play more freely about the 

 bunches. Wo have known the progress of decay arrested by 

 removing part of the leaves while they were comparatively 

 fresh. No doubt the removal of part of the foliage helps to 

 paralyse the roots, and prevent their pumping up a super- 

 abundant supply of sap to the Ih'apes in a crude state ; at all 

 events, it admits a freer circulation of air, and a stagnant 

 atmosphere is an evil. We have kept Grapes this season till 

 very lately in a low sunk pit under obscured glass, and, we 

 may say, under a constant downpour of rain, by simply keep- 

 ing the pipes constantly warm, and surfaces perfectly dry, so 

 that the Grapes were always too warm to condense moisture. 

 Out of three hundred bunches under such conditions, not 2 lb. 

 were lost by decay ; while if the fire heat had not been con- 

 stant, and a cold stagnant air allowed, we are certain the result 

 would have been the very reverse. — {The Gardener.) 



SOWING. 



We certainly were surprised to receive a letter from " A. F., 

 So}}icrset," asking " whether seed might not be sown very deep 

 so as to avoid the need for earthing-up :'" In reply we will 

 quote what we wrote " long, long ago." " Every kind of seed 

 has a particular depth below the surface at which it germinates 

 most vigorously, as securing to it the most appropriate degree 

 of moisture, of oxygen gas, and of warmth. From a quai'ter 

 of an inch to 2 inches beneath the surface, appear to be the 

 limits for the seeds of plants usually the objects of cultivation ; 

 these, however, must vary for the same seeds in diiferent 

 grounds and countries. It must be the least in aluminous 

 soils and dry climates. In general, sowing should be performed 

 in dry weather, especially on hea^'y soils, not only because of 

 the greater saving of labour, but because it prevents the seed 

 being enveloped with a coat of earth impermeable by the air, 

 ' which,' says Sir 11. Davy, ' is one cause of the unproductive- 

 ness of cold clayey soils.' Perhaps the time at which any 

 ground may be raked with the greatest facility is as good a 



practical criterion as any to judge when it is most fit for sow- 

 ing. In general, if clay does not predominate in its constitu- 

 tion, a soil rakes best just after it has been turned up with the 

 spade. If clay does predominate, it usually rakes with most 

 facility after it has been dug two or three days, and then im- 

 mediately after a gentle rain. But it is certain that the sooner 

 seed is sown after the soil is dug for its reception, the earlier 

 it germinates. In the droughts of summer water is often 

 required to newly-sown beds. Such appUcation must not be 

 very limited or transitory ; for if the soil is only moistened at 

 the immediate time of sowing it induces the projection of the 

 rootlet, which, in very parching weather and in clayey caking 

 soil, we have known wither away, and the crop consequently 

 lost from the want of a continued supply of moisture." 



But " A. F., Somerset," goes on to observe, " I prefer broad- 

 cast sowing, because I can sow thinly or thickly as I think 

 desirable." To which we reply we always sow in drills, not 

 only because it enables us to sow thickly or thinly, but because 

 it enables the plants to be thinned and kept free from weeds 

 most readily. We were pleased, therefore, to see the following 

 in the Caiiuda Farmer — " The usual method of sowing seeds 

 is to scatter them in shallow drills. We give an engraving 

 showing the most convenient form of an implement for making 

 these marks or drills. There are two sets of teeth, one on 

 each side of the main bar, one set 12 inches apart, the other 

 set inches apart. It is used by first stretching a line tightly 

 across the bed, then set the outer tooth against the line and 



draw the marker steadily along the line. Having drawn it 

 once across the bed, the outside mark will now receive the 

 outer tor)th, and the instrument be drawn back to the opposite 

 side of the bed. It wiU be at once seen that with such an in- 

 strument seeds may be sown in drills either 9, or 12, or IS, or 

 24 inches apart, as cii'cumstances require." 



CHRISTMAS EOSE. 



I ENCLOSE a variety of Christmas Eose which I received some 

 years ago from a nurseryman in Brittany. Its pecuUaiity is 

 having a bud as well as a bloom on each stalk (the common 

 Christmas Eose, Helleborus niger, having only the single 

 bloom), as well as the length of the stalk, and the magnificent 

 leaf, so different also from the common variety. I have several 

 clumps of them in borders round and adjoining tho house, and 

 the effect is most beautiful, the buds all having a rosy tinge 

 outside ; and for ladies' hair they, the large blooms, are 

 exquisite, looking like Water Lilies. — Centurion. 



[It is HeUeborus niger var. major. It is very fine and not 

 common. — Eds.] 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S MEETINGS. 



The first meeting of this Society for the present season was 

 held on the 17th November at Burlington House, Piccadilly, in 

 the new rooms of the Linnean Society, to whom a vote of thanks 

 was proposed by the President, Professor Westwood, for their 

 kind permission to occupy their apartments during the present 

 term. An extensive series of entomological publications received 

 dirring the past vacation were laid upon the table of the meeting- 

 room, and thanks ordered to be given to the various donors, 

 including most of the Natural History Societies of England and 

 abroad. 



Mr. Higgins exhibited some splendid specimens of the Spurge 

 and Pine Hawk Moths, Sphinx Euphorbifp and Pinastri, reared 

 from larva- found near Harwich in June, la72. Mr. Champion 

 exhibited I'achnobia aJpina and species of Anisotoma, Leiosoma, 

 and Harpalus, new to this country, taken near Brtumar. Mr. 

 Boyd exhibited living specimens of the larva> of Brachycentrua 

 subuubilus (a species of Trichoptera), residing in curiously 

 formed quadrangular cases amongst Pondweeds, itc, which had 

 been reared from the egg state. Mr. Albert MiiUer exhibited 



