November 3, 1S63. ] 



JOUKNAL OB' HOETICtTLTHEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



351 



in such a hoiisa. Four pipes connected with the flow would 

 be needed for top heat round the south and west ends, and 

 .jne or two as returns, and .joining the main return, could go 

 round the division between the houses. 



To make the most as to appeai-anco, the beds should be 

 arranged as iu the conservatory, a pipe taken round beneath 

 the warm borders, three beneath the central bed, and the 

 plants planted-out, or seeming to be so from plunging the 

 pots. That such attention to elegance is not often met with 

 is just a reas'in why a man of taste should set the example. 

 Then, likewise, the pipes for du-ect top heat would go 

 beneath the pathway. One advantage this mode would 

 have is, that no shelves or stages would be wanted. As in 

 the conservatoiy, basket Orchids, trailing stove plants, and 

 the climbers, would do all the work above head. Who will 

 break in on the dismal monotony of shelves, and all the rest 

 ofity— R. F.] 



VINES IN POTS. 



A FKiEND sent me packed three weH-ripened Black Hanr- 

 burgh Vines, seemingly only a year or two old (judging 

 from the size of the wood), but as I have not much room, I 

 would prefer them in pots. A line from you will meet my 

 difficulties, which are — 1st, Size of pot they will fruit in ; 

 lind. Soil ; 3rd, When to prune. — A. G. 3. 



[If our con-espondent had infoi-med us whether he has re- 

 ceived the Vines in the pots in which they have been grown 

 and established themselves, or whether they are Vines that 

 have been planted-out in a border for a time and then lifted, 

 we would have had no difficulty in giving directions which 

 would have met his case precisely. But as the Vines may 

 have been received in either of the two conditions named, it 

 will, therefore, be necessary to give directions bearing on 

 both cases, in order that what shall be said in answer to the 

 first question will meet the case. It would save a deal of 

 perplexity and waste of words, if in such special cases more 

 minute and explicit information were given as to the state 

 of various plants and fruits about which information is 

 required. 



1st. If the Vines are in the pots in which they have been 

 grown, it wiU not be necessary to repot them into pots 

 of lai-ger size, if those they are in are not less than 16's, or 

 10-inch pots. In the size named they wiU ripen a heavy 

 orop of fruit, all other things being equal, with proper 

 attention to watering and feeding with manui-e water. Pre- 

 suming that they are now in pots not larger than the size 

 named, they should not be shifted into larger pots at all, 

 unless the Vines are wanted to fruit for several years in 

 pots. In that case it will best to shift them into pots a size 

 or two larger. And were it not from the danger of breaking 

 their tender shoots, we woiUd not shift them till they had 

 developed a good many leaves, and had begun to make fresh 

 roots, which, unless plunged in an unnaturally and injuriously 

 strong bottom heat, they never do till they have made con- 

 siderable growth. 



In the hands of a novice it wUl, therefore, be safer to shift 

 them just as the buds are beginning to swell in spring. 

 The pots shoixld be well drained ; the soil used shovdd consist 

 of three parts turfy loam, and one part well-rotted manure, 

 with a sprinkling of bone dust. The balls should be mode- 

 rately damp when shifted, and the fresh soil should be 

 rammed firmly round the ball in potting. A 12-inch or 

 14-inch pot will keejj a Vine 6 or 8 feet long in a fiTiiting 

 state for a good many years with proper feeding and rich 

 top-dressings. 



2nd. If the Vines have been received without pots or ball, 

 as is just possible, the size of pot must be regulated by the 

 object in view. If it be intended to keep them in pots for 

 years, and the Vines are strong and well rooted, then put 

 them into 14-inch pots at once. Drain the pots well, and use 

 the same sod as already named. Distribute the roots nicely 

 among the sod, and pot firmly. In this case there must not 

 be so sanguine a hope of a crop next summer, unless the 

 Vines are thoroughly well ripened, and a little bottom heat 

 can be supplied when they begin to move in the spring. 

 But even in this case, and with the best management, lifted 

 Vines are apt to do what gardeners call "run," or "wire" 

 — i.e., they show fruit well enough at first, but when the 



stored-up sap is exhausted the bunches run away into 

 claspers instead of being developed into bloom. 



They should be pruned immediately, and kept in the 

 coolest part of your gi-eenhouse for the next three months 

 at least 



The want of room is that which appears to have led to 

 the determination of keeping the Vines in pots. But we 

 would suggest and recommend, if the position of the green- 

 house will admit of it, to make a border and plant one or 

 two of the Vines out. They can be pruned and trained to 

 occupy any desired amount of room, and will give far less 

 trouble, and be much more likely to give better fruit, and 

 more of it, than in pots. — D. T.J 



STYLES OF GARDENING. 



It is but natural that opinions should vary on almost 

 every subject, and it is well that it is so, since without 

 difference of opimon there would be no controversy ; and as 

 it is by controversy that usefid facts are often elicited, I see 

 no reason to fear a' provocation of it, if the question at issue 

 is likely to be of interest to those engaged in gardening 

 pursuits. We have been favoured occasionally with various 

 opinions as to the comparative merits of the old and new 

 style of gardening, as regards the planting of flower-borders ; 

 but mere opinions, unsupported by statistics, do vei-y little 

 towards settling the question either way. What we want 

 is a few old hands to give their experience and thefr views 

 in a plain practical manner, divested of anything Ufce pre- 

 judice, or even sentiment; for it is unquestionable that 

 there is a great deal of the latter quality exhibited in the 

 lucubrations of those who pursue gardening merely as a 

 source of gi-atification and pleasure. The only correct es- 

 timate, I should think, is arrived at by the thoroughly 

 experienced and practised gardener, who has served his 

 time from his youth upwards, passed through every gi-ade 

 of his profession, and performed his fuU share of hard 

 work both of hand and head, so that when a piece of work- 

 manship is set before him, he is able to weigh both cause 

 and consequence, and give an opinion at once both correct 

 and impartial. Whether he would say that the old style is 

 better than the new, or the new better than the old, is 

 doubtftxl; but most probably he would take into consider- 

 ation the progress of the times, and assert that as nothing 

 in na,ture or art is stationai-y, it is little to be regretted that 

 the old style of gardening has followed the natural course of 

 things in general, and has passed, or is passing away ; and if 

 the new style does not possess such varied or agreeable 

 features, it would be better to modify the old style, arid 

 adapt it to the times in which we live, than to indulge in 

 vain regrets that what has passed away apparently possessed 

 greater charms than what we have opportunities of more 

 closely inspecting. 



Having from my earliest boyhood been familiar with some 

 of the old-fashioned border plants, and learned very early 

 to distinguish such ones as the Spiderwort, the Catehfly 

 the Soapwort, the Speedwell, the Livelong, the Bee Lark- 

 spur, the Bachelors Buttons, the Golden Rod, the Starwort, 

 the pretty Sun Rose, the Snapdi-agon, the Willow Herb, 

 and many similar plants with their true English names, it 

 is but natural that I shoidd preserve some little regard for 

 them. Still, viewing them in their true light as subjects 

 for border planting, it is impossible to be blind to the fact, 

 that among all the old border plants there is not one that 

 I could name that gives the brilliancy of colouiing, com- 

 bined with the dwarfr compact habft, and continuous Wood- 

 ing of the ordinary bedding Geranium— that it would be 

 impossible to find among them plants to supersede the 

 common bedding plants of the day, and obtain from them 

 such brilliant masses of colouring for four or five months 

 continuously. 



It is all very well for your sentimentalist to dream ot tne 

 old-fashioned mixed border, where he might cull his Dafi'o- 

 dils in March, his Wallflowers and Cowslips m April and 

 May, his Pinks in June, his Cloves in July, Phloxes m 

 August, perennial Asters in September, and Clirysanthe- 

 mums in October and November. Certainly there is variety, 

 every object has its peculiar interest. Each month also 

 brings its own peculiar flora, and this to some persons 



