3G6 



JOTTENAL OF HOETICULTTTRE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ Noveiober 10, 1863. 



roots ; for success depends in no small degree on the care- 

 ful iireservatjon of as many of the young roots as possible, 

 and in deep damp borders they are, alas ! scarce enough. 



I have ripened a crop of Grapes in the end of June where 

 the Vines had been entirely lifted the previous autumn, 

 and I have removed Vines after they had shed all their 

 leaves fi-om one vinei-y to another in which forcing had just 

 commenced, and cut a fair crop from them as early as May. 

 And plenty of gardeners there are who have done the same, 

 and who would also recommend the lifting of Vines to be 

 done either early in autumn or to leave them till forcing 

 or gi'owth was about to commence. On the other hand, 

 some have ruthlessly sawn the roots entirely, or nearly so, 

 from theii- Vines, and matm-ed a crop fi-om them the same 

 year ; others have Hfted them in June with Grapes ready to 

 thin on them, and yet brought the crop to maturity. But 

 except in special cases such high-skilled and daring strokes 

 are not to be recommended. In fact, where the Vine roots 

 have the run of borders, both inside and outside the vineries, 

 the safest practice is to lift the inside roots one year, and 

 those outside another. When this can be done there need 

 be no fear, all other things being favoiurable, of obtaining 

 Grapes in the following season. When speaking thus of a 

 crop in the following season it must be borne in mind by the 

 inexperienced that the foundation for a crop lies in the 

 proper maturation or ripening of the wood in the previous 

 year ; and this is just what is so fi-equently wanting in 

 Vines that require lifting, and what should be aimed at 

 as much as possible the autumn in which they are to be 

 lifted. 



It has been remarked that there is another way of bring- 

 ing or enticing Vine roots to the surface besides that of lift- 

 ing the roots and entii-ely removing the border ; and which 

 is more commendable under certain circumstances than par- 

 tially or entirely lifting the roots — in the case, for instance, 

 of borders which lie comparatively dry on a subsoil of gravel 

 or sand, to which no great objections can be m-ged, and 

 when the roots have got down and established themselves 

 in the bottom pai't of the border, leaving a mass of inert 

 soil on the surface without a single root. This is a very 

 common occurrence, and in the successful cultivation of the 

 Vine it is considered of great moment that this state should 

 be just reversed, and that a mass of active roots should be 

 brought to the surface and encouraged to establish them- 

 selves there. Those who h.ave only one vinery, with all the 

 roots in an outside border, and who, consequently, cannot 

 lift one h;Uf the roots one year and the other half the next, 

 and who at the same time do not care to incur the least 

 risk of losing a year's crop by cai-rying out the radical means 

 recommended for Vines that have their roots in thoroughly 

 wet sod, can do much towards accomplishing the end in 

 view by removing all the soil from the surface of the border 

 down to the roots. 1'hen dig out a drain 18 inches wide 

 and sufficiently deep to be below the principal roots and 

 made-border, and till it up with what is called a " rumbling 

 di-ain " of brickbats or stones. If a tUe drain be placed at 

 the bottom aU the better — not, however, on the top of the 

 stones, as one of our tenants here told me he found, to his 

 gi'cat amusement, an Essex notable doing in what he called 

 imitation of the Scotch system of diaining. Then cover the 

 roots with a six-incli clnssing of well-pulverised lime cK-bi-is, 

 thoroughly-rotted niauure, and tm-fy loam in equal propor- 

 tions, and well mixi ■! together in a dry state. Just as the 

 Vines are to be start . d. a bed of leaves, sufficient to generate 

 heat enough to waim .;t least the six inches of top-di-essing, 

 should be placed on ilie border, and over all something, such 

 as a thatching of wl.i;i t straw, to throw off rains ; the whole 

 to remain till mi('sui'im(;r. The stone drain in ft-ont cuts 

 off aU suiTounding t. ■■{. ajid in itself that is no small benefit 

 to a Vine-border win I'e the roots are deep and wet. When 

 the border is uucovi^red it will soon be discovered that the 

 open rich soil on tlu' top, with its temperatui-e raised above 

 the lower strata of ti)i; border, is sufficient to entice upwards 

 a lot of roots of a vii y difi'erent order to those found at the 

 bottoms of bort' i>'. iiy midsummer I have sometimes found 

 young roots u; ,h, .:^_r\\ the top-dressing into the leaves 

 themselves. Ke.xt ;Mison let the same process of adding a 

 few inches of rich tiip-dressing and the bed of leaves be 

 repeated, and in the course of two or three years it wiU be 

 seen that the surface of the border has the lion's shai-e of 



active well-ripened roots, and that the Vines will be corre- 

 sjjondingly improved. 



Not having time at present to detail the process of lifting 

 the roots and forming new borders, &c., I will conclude by 

 advising our correspondents to delay the process now tiU 

 spring, and in the meantime to keep their borders as dry 

 as possible, and next week I wiU return to the subject. 



D. Thomson. 



THE PAMPAS GEASS— TUEKEY MILL 



GARDENS. 



Since the remai-kable winter of 1860-61, which kUled 

 so many fine plants of the Pampas Grass in various parts 

 of the country, we have not heard so much of it as before ; 

 and though now and then reports are made of some 

 favoured plant flowering with an extraordinary number of 

 sjjikes, the cultivation of the plant in stations suited to its 

 flowering has been much circumscribed. In fact, so much 

 so, that it is a question at the present time if there be as 

 many plants in cultivation as there were three years ago, 

 the more especially since its flowering in cold and late 

 situations is a hopeless affair, excepting in vei-y dry and hot 

 seasons, which only occur once or twice in a dozen yeai's or so. 

 However, when a fine plant does flower, it is a noble object. 

 No other herbaceous plant that I am acquainted with can 

 equal it, and flowering, too, at a time when the gaiety of sum- 

 mer-flowering plants is on the wane, it is highly acceptable. 

 The present season has not passed over without affording 

 a due proportion of blooms on this highly graceful plant. 

 I noticed some very good blooms on plants in a nm-sery 

 at Bagshot, about the middle of October, the soil being of 

 that black peaty kind so favom'able to the growth of the 

 Ehododendi-on, and such-like shrubs. Amongst a number 

 of plants all flowering at the time, three or four forms of 

 gi'owth or characters of flower might be made out amongst 

 them, and aU beautiful. Some of the plants evidently 

 had a great many spikes of bloom on them, and the foliage 

 exhibited a more than usual tmt of bright green. Some 

 other places I have seen this autumn also possess flne ex- 

 amples of this highly ornamental Grass ; but by far the 

 noblest jjlant of the kind I have seen in bloom is in the 

 garden of the Messrs. HoUingworth, of Tiu-key Mill, near 

 Maidstone, where a plant had 130 spikes of bloom on it, 

 being, in fact, literally covered with it. The numerous 

 stems supporting the fine feather-looking plumes rose in 

 regular order, so as to form a most symmetrical head, which 

 the most expert plant-dresser for a flower show could not have 

 improved, even in his own idea of forming a sort of balloot- 

 shaped plant. The dense forest of flower-spikes rising so 

 regidarly on all sides, as well as in the centre of the plant, 

 left nothing to be wished for on the score of symmetry, and 

 certainly stdl less on that of profuseness, for the whole of 

 the upper su.rface was covered with gi\aceful feathery plume? . 

 The situation of this fine jdaut was on the sloping banks 

 of a piece of ornamental water, and about a dozen yards 

 or so from it ; but I do not think the spot was at aU a 

 moist one, but the plant might benefit by the vapour from 

 the water. Some other plants growing closer to the edge, 

 and with their di-ooping- foUage lapping in the water, were 

 equally healthy, although none of them possessed so attrac- 

 tive a head of bloom as the specimen previously described ; 

 but they seemed younger plants, and in due time I have no 

 doubt but that they vnH be equally profuse in blooming. 



Besides the plants of Pampas Grass jvist described, the 

 grounds contained some excellent specimens of Conifers. A 

 WeUingtonia gigantea, some 14 or 15 feet high, was a perfect 

 model. Some specimens of Thujopsis dolabrata, gigantea, 

 and Lobbi, were also good and promising, and that really 

 distinct but somehow neglected Cupressus, C. Uhdeana, with 

 its silvery foHage, promised to become a fine specimen. This 

 Cupressus is not so much planted as it ought to be, con- 

 sidering- how mdely it differs from the kinds often met with. 

 C. Lambertiana, and C. macrocarpa were, I believe, also 

 both well represented at this place, as well as some other 

 favoiu-ite shr-ubs and trees. But the principal feature of 

 the place to the frequenter of flower shows was the exten- 

 sive collection of Eoses, numbering upwards of five hvmdi-ed 

 varieties, I was told, which were here giown in excellent 

 condition, as the fact of Mr. HoUingworth and his gardener. 



