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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTTJEE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEE. 



[ December 1, 1863. 



or eight-inch pots are better than smaller ones, as the plants 

 do not so quickly dry up, and preserve a more reffular 

 moistui'e, and I believe more plants may be kept in a given 

 space than by using smaller pots. 



Even those who possess a frame or small unheated pit 

 will find tlie advantage of keeping tlieir plants in windows, 

 since, besides having them drier and more under the eye, 

 they may sow a crop of Radishes in the fi'ame or pit, and 

 when these are used-up they can pot-off the bedding plants 

 and place them in the frame. It will be found that the 

 contents of a few of these store-pots when potted-otf will 

 fill a two-light frame, and if properly attended to in water- 

 ing, &o., sturdy plants will be secui'cd for planting out after 

 the middle of May. — F. Chitty. 



CLOSE-PEITNING VINES— DAMPERS. 



In your Jom-nal for the 18th of November, 1SG2, you kindly 

 answered my question on the close-pruning of my Vines. 

 I will now give you the result, and have further to trespass 

 on your kindness for an answer to my present inquiry. 



I started my Vines as recommended, or rather I should 

 say tliey went away without me in the end of February, the 

 weather being very mild. 



The Sweetwater had three old rods. Two of these broke 

 so very irregularly, that I had to bring a young cane from 

 the bottom and cut these away. The third rod liad a few 

 bunches of Grapes, so was allowed to remain, though very 

 scant of shoots. 



The Black Hamburghs had five rods, two of them, only, 

 two or three years old. The three older rods had to be 

 treated in the same way as the Sweetwater, for they broke 

 in patches and bore no fruit. So these rods were cut away, 

 and a very vigorous young cane brought up from the bottom 

 with leaves at least 1 foot in diameter. The other two rods 

 gave me fourteen or sixteen bunches between them. 



The Muscadine, which had for two years been very 

 shy, broke at every joint, and had two or three bunches 

 ahnost on every shoot. The foliage and fruit were very 

 small to what they formerly had been. 



The Golden Hamburgh broke pretty well ; but did not 

 fruit nearly so well, nor were the bunches so fine as in the 

 year before. 



The Black Champion next to it, first time of fruiting, had 

 eight enormous bunches, which were the admiration and 

 envy of all my gardening friends. 



After reading your answer last November, liaving plenty 

 of room between the Vines, I iJanted a Bowood Muscat at 

 the warmest end of the house, a Lady Downes', and two 

 Black HamViurghs, in order to gain a year should these old 

 Vines have to come away. I shall, however, have to cut 

 away one Black Hamburgh ni«t the Muscadine, seeing it 

 did somewhat better than usual ; but will you tell me if I 

 am to close-prune these Vines again this season or leave a 

 short spur 1 inch long with two buds as I used to do ? The 

 wood seeins wcU ripened. — T. T. T. 



P.S. — In your last week's Number you gave some impor- 

 tant information respecting the iise of dampers to flues. 

 Do these remarks apply to the use of a damper with a 

 saddle boiler or only to flues ? 



[There is no doubt that you have carried the close-pruning 

 or spuiTing system to an extreme, and have cut away every 

 bud from -.vhich fi-uit could be expected, leaving nothing but 

 latent or imperfectly developed buds, and hence the u-regular 

 crop which your Vines have borne. The Royal Muscadine, 

 which is a very fi-ee fruiter under any system of pruning, 

 and generally makes a more numerous cluster of eyes at the 

 base of the s]nu's, has, therefore, stood tlie severity to which 

 you have carried this system of pruning in this case. From 

 the success of the young rod of the Champion, and what you 

 say of the Vines generally in former years, we cannot 

 suggest any other cause of your failure. The close system 

 of pruning, like every other, can be carried to excess, and 

 had you followed a course between that which lias caused 

 your faUure and your previous system yon would have no 

 doubc secured a crop. We always leave the bud at the 

 base of last season's growth, and in very few cases do we 

 ever prune closer, and such is generally termed the close 

 system. When the Vines are well ripened there is no fear 



of a failure, and the bunches, though shorter than when an 

 eye or two more are left, are generally much more compact 

 and serviceable, and the ben-ies are larger. 



In pruning this season you cannot en; if your Vines are 

 well ripened, in pruning liack to the bud at the bottom of 

 the growth, and from which a leaf has been formed. There 

 is no teaclier so thorough as experience ; and if you are 

 afraid to cut back to one bud leave two, as you used to do, 

 on every other spui', and you will have the thing exemplified 

 before your own eyes, and there will then be no anxiety 

 about a crop if all else is right. Whatever an-angement 

 you carry out about leaving your .young and old Vines, do 

 not overcrowd your Vines. They should not be closer than 

 21 feet at least. 



A damper is a very necessary appendage to a boiler. By 

 it the heat can be confined about the boiler, where alone it 

 is wanted. In the case of a flue, if a damper is used at all 

 it should be at tlie furthest point fi'om the furnace, whereas 

 with a boiler and no flue it should be immediately above the 

 boiler, in order in both cases to retain the heat where its 

 foi-ce is wanted. — D. Thomson.] 



CULTUBE OF SPECIMEN MIGNONETTE. 



Reseda odobata or Mignonette is an evergi-een under- 

 shrub, perishing anuuallj', as far as its bloom-stems are con- 

 cerned, in its native country, Egypt. It was introduced 

 into France in 1740, and was brought from the Royal 

 Garden at Paiis to Windsor by Lord Bateman, in 1742. 

 Don, however, and Loudon give 1752 as the date of its in- 

 troduction. There is a prevalent opinion that there are two 

 varieties, the one an annual, and the other a shrubby variety 

 known as the tree Mignonette. In the " Botanical Maga- 

 zine," t. 29, Reseda odorata is described as an annual, and in 

 the "Botanical Register," t. 227, mention is made of a Reseda 

 odorata fi-utescens, or fi'utescent Mignonette, which is said 

 to grovv 2 feet high. I mention this circumstance in order 

 to show that it is possible that there may have been an 

 annual variety in addition to the one we now possess. Mig- 

 nonette, or "Little Darling" of the French, is much cul- 

 tivated on account of its fragrance, and it is rather remark- 

 able that such a "fragi-ant weed" (for its beauty is to me 

 unseen), should remain so long unimproved. Beyond a 

 solitary variety it remains in the same unimproved condition 

 as when first introduced ; and although it may not be pos- 

 sible to make it more ornamental, it certainly is worth an 

 etfort to strive to obtain a hardy variety. There are more 

 than two dozen species, some of which would, no doubt, 

 readily yield to the hybridiser's pencil. Of those most likely 

 to afl'ord the best results seem to bo Reseda fruticulosa, a 

 small slu-ubby species from Spain, and a rather taller variety 

 from the same country, R. bipinnata. I have made several 

 unsuccessful attempts to get the pollen of il. odorata to take 

 on the British species, R. lutea and some others, but only in 

 one instance did the pollen take effect, and the plants raised 

 were more tender than the parent, R. myriophylla. Who will 

 be the fu'st to obtain a hardy sweet-scented perennial Mig- 

 nonette? Growing plants of Mignonette for in-door de- 

 coration is somewhat difficult of attainment, though by no 

 means so difiicvdt as is generally imagined. There are 

 several methods of growing tree Mignonette, but I shall only 

 describe one, and that is as simple as it is satisfactoiy in 

 its residts. Early in June select as many plants from the 

 out-door sowing as are wanted, making choice of those that 

 are stiff, strong, and promise a vigorous growth. Take them 

 up with balls, and place singly in 4S-pots. The plants 

 should not be less than 2 and not more than 3 inches in 

 height. The compost best suited for potting at the early 

 stages of the plant's development, is Ught loam and leaf 

 mould in equal parts, with a free admixture of silver sand. 

 The plants, or rather the pots containing them, should be 

 plunged in coal ashes in a Ught and well-ventilated situa- 

 tion, but shaded from the sun from 10 o'clock in the morn- 

 ing until 4 in the afternoon, and this is the position they 

 should occupy untU the beginning of October. After potting 

 the plants must be gently watered and shaded with mats 

 for a few days until they become established. Water must 

 be given in dry weather, and once or twice a- week they should 

 be watered with liquid manure much diluted with rain water. 



