506 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTITKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ December 29, 1863. 



Vines which have been allowed to grow very much as they 

 pleased, with the view of making roots, to within 3 feet of 

 the front sash, and shorten those which are intended to 

 fruit next season to about 4 feet from the top of the house. 

 Thus there is a vinery furnished with Vines in a condition 

 to yield, if not quite so many bunches as the original occu- 

 pants did, still finer Grajies by far. 



In the year 1S59 I cut a crop of Grapes from a house, and 

 planted it in the end of June with Vines struck from eyes 

 that same spring, and had a good crop in the house in 

 1860. The Vines were planted outside, and introduced 

 through ojienings in the front wall. I would in that case 

 have much preferred a set of plants prepared and jjlanted 

 as above dii'ected ; but when to be planted inside I would 

 just as soon have Vines struck ft-om eyes, although in 

 all cases one-year-old Vines ai'e safest in the hands of the 

 inexperienced. Perhaps some are rea<ly to say that by this 

 system you greatly damage one-half of your Vines by crop- 

 ping them heavily the fii'St year after planting. Any injury 

 they may sustain must, however, be borne with when an 

 exceptional case or want is to be met. But in my own expe- 

 rience 1 have found that by cropping lightly in the second 

 and thii'd years the Vines become vigorous enough when in 

 a good border. Sometimes j'oung Vines which are cropped 

 so heavily the first year are then cut back to the bottom of 

 the rafter to give them a fresh start. This is a practice I 

 do not approve of, for the sooner I can get established spurs 

 and close pruning, the more certain is the production of com- 

 pact serviceable bunches. In some cases I have planted tliree 

 Vines to a light, and cropped one heavily, and then cut it 

 entirely out. But I prefer the system of two Vines to a light 

 of 4 feet wide ; three in so limited a space crowd one another 

 too much. With the five and six-feet lights to be met with 

 now in new erections, three would be the best an-angement ; 

 the two to be retained would then have sufficient room, and 

 aU the fruit could be allowed on the third and temporary 

 one that it could bring to perfection. 



Another arrangement that I have had recourse to, is to 

 cut out the old Vines in autumn, make the border in the 

 ■course of the winter, or early in spring, and liaving prepared 

 two fruiting pot Vines for every light, to place one at the 

 bottom, and one at the toi> to be trained down, at the same 

 time planting the permanent Vines, and as soon as the fruit 

 is cut from the pots, to remove them out of the way. 

 This is the best method in the case of late-ripening vineries 

 from which the crop cannot be cleared soon enough in the 

 season to let the young Vines establish themselves and 

 ripen before winter. By adopting the system of fruiting in 

 pots the jjermanent Vines can, of course, be planted at the 

 Ijroper time, and have all the season before them to make 

 finer canes. It entails, however, more labour, and in the 

 case of many who have not means to prepare beforehand 

 the required number of pot fruiting Vines, it might be con- 

 sidered expensive to purchase them. 



There is another way which is adopted with success wliere 

 there is a border both outside and inside the vinery. A tem- 

 porary border of light, rich soil is made on the surface of the 

 old outside border, very much in the same way as Mr. Lane, 

 according to Mr. Fish's description, has formed his Vino- 

 border on the surface of the natural level. A few of the 

 most worthless of the rods are cut out of the vinery, ami 

 those left are trained wider apart, so as to admit of the 

 young ones planted in the temporary-border manner being 

 trained up between them. Should these young stop-gaps 

 not make strong growths in the fii-st season, they must be 

 cut down, and they will do so the next. Young Vines never 

 run up so vigorously among old plants as when a wholly 

 new lot are planted together. In the second year the old 

 A''ines are cut out, and the young are in thefr place to give 

 Grapes. In the same season in which the old Vines ai-e done 

 away with, the inside border is cleared out, the arches built 

 up, and a set of permanent Vines planted inside. The 

 arches are built up to keep the roots iirom running out into 

 the bad border, which they are ever prone to do, for Vines 

 always send three-fourths of thefr roots outside when they 

 are planted inside. As soon as fruit can be had from the 

 permanent Vines the stop-gaps are done away with, the 

 outside border made, and the arches opened, and so in the 

 course of three years there is a new and good foundation to 

 go on with. This is a tediovxs way of accomplishing the 



object, but probably some may prefer it to the entire want 

 of Grapes for even one year. 



It is in contemplation to rebuild two very old vineries 

 here next autumn after the crop has been all cut, and as the 

 reconstruction of both from the very foundation is necessary, 

 the Vines will have to be done away with. The Grapes in 

 the eai-lier of the two will be cut in May ; and with the view 

 of having Grapes in these in 1865, the plan proposed is to 

 bring on a lot of young Vines to be ready to shift into 

 16-inch pots as soon as the Grapes are all cut, and to grow 

 enough of 10 or 12-feet rods to give a Vine for each rafter in 

 both houses, and, as soon as the fruit is cut from them, to 

 remove the pot Vines out of the way. Thus different cir- 

 cumstances requfre different modes of procedure to meet 

 the end in view. In the latter case the lights will be 55 feet 

 wide, so that there is plenty of room to plant the two per- 

 manent Vines, and fiaiit the Vines in \mts in the same light 

 without injury from crowding to either. 



I am not, however, an advocate for planting or fruiting 

 any Vines besides those that are to be permanent in the 

 renewal of vineries, and the practice is not to be recom- 

 mended unless in such cases as are being dealt with, where 

 the entire loss of a crojj for one year is an inconvenience. 

 Where there is anything besides the permanent Vines, it 

 cannot be said that they get every justice the first two 

 years when any of the ari'angements proposed are carried 

 out. But, on the other hand, there is no permanent injury 

 arising from any of the modes referred to, and it is mucli 

 more easy to become reconciled to any little disadvantage 

 to which the permanent Vines are subjected for a couple of 

 years than to the entire want of Grapes for the season. 



There is another matter which often frightens owners of 

 small gardens from renewing their Vine-borders, whether 

 they retain their old Vines or not — namely, the idea that 

 good Grapes are not to be produced except in such soils as 

 are described as fine, calcareous, fibry loam, &c. No doubt 

 such a staple is the best for Grapes, but it is not by any 

 means indispensable, and no one need be deteiTed from culti- 

 vating the Vine with success who can command any common 

 garden soil that is not very clayey in its nature. Common 

 loamy soil from a garden quarter, with old mortar rubbish, 

 bones, and a little well-rotted maniu-e, will, with attention 

 to other points of good management, produce excellent 

 Grapes — fixr better than will the sloughs of despond which 

 were not long ago compounded by certain growers, and by 

 some very jjroperly termed " witches' caldrons," composed of 

 tm-f and loads of muck, with carrion, and every other gross 

 item that could be thought of. Such masses of corruption 

 might give stronger growths, but not fruitful ones, for a year 

 or two ; and the ultimate decline of the Vines is certain in 

 such borders, entirely opposite as they are to the nature and 

 requirements of the Vine. The natui'al soil laid on a dry 

 bottom would, in many cases, be much more satisfactory than 

 a good deal of the border-making that is carried out ; and it 

 may safely be said to any one who is desirous either to im- 

 prove his old Vines or to plant new ones, that turfy loam is 

 not indispensable to very healthy Vines and good crops of 

 Grapes. D. Thomson. 



EXHIBITING EOSES. 



I AM glad to find that one Eose-grower at any rate has 

 expressed his opinion on tliis subject, and that on some 

 points he seems to agree with me ; and I hope that many 

 more may be induced to give their views on the points 

 mooted, as we may thereby benefit the whole Kose-growing 

 community. As I write this away fi'om home, and have not 

 my former paper to refer to, I must trust to a not-very- 

 retentive memory in replying to your correspondent, " P.," 

 who talks about logic, but whose opening pai'agraph exhibits 

 a sad deficiency of that sometimes-useful article ; for he 

 fu-st finds fault with me for not entering into the question 

 whether Eoses ought to be exhibited as single blooms or 

 trusses, and then declares that I said they ought to be 

 shown in trusses. If I wore guilty of the fu'st charge I 

 could not clearly be of the second ; but in truth I did not enter 

 into the question of single blooms, but into the definition of 

 a truss. Many Eoses, such as Louise Peyronny, rai'ely have 

 anything but single blooms, yet I should call that a truss. 

 No : the question in my mind, and which I thought I had 



