150 



JOOENAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 29, 1867. 



signs himself " Vitis Vinipera," goea to the other extreme, and 

 sayB, " My delight is to store up quality for appreciative and 

 gratified palates ; but these exhibitors won't let me. One says 

 you must produce a bunch weighing a stone. Another says 

 that each berry must become a black Plum. Another that I 

 must wear a black coat like a rook. A fourth, that I must have 

 a dasty mouldy surface — bloom they call it — like a Sloe. The 

 eye, the fancy, the whim must be satisfied, whatever may be- 

 come of quality. And for what purpose ? The eye cannot eat 

 Grapes, the mouth cannot crunch a huge bunch at a snap, and 

 bloom is rather a nuisance than not, having something a little 

 fungus-like about it. Quality is the one thing needful ; that 

 appeals to the palate — the only sense or organ concerned." This 

 writer admits that the standard I proposed is good, but suggests 

 as better one which I here quote. Flavour, 6 points ; quality 

 of flesh and fineness of texture, 2 points; colour, 2 points; size 

 of bunch, 1 point; shape of bunch, 1 point; in all 12 points, 

 half of which this writer gives to flavour, while others I have 

 quoted take no cognizance of it at all. Here, then, is diversity 

 of opinion on the very important subject of judging Grapes 

 with a vengeance. 



To conclude, and take leave of this subject at its present 

 stage, I have to remark that, in full view of the various opinions 

 of the writers I have quoted, I still adhere to the standard I 

 suggested. It ignores no recognised quahty in a bunch of 

 Grapes. Bloom and colour, so much insisted on by some of 

 the writers, are fully recognised. The only point of excellence 

 put before them is what I still hold to be the one of primary 

 importance in all subjects whose final destiny is to be eaten. 

 If this principle is to be set ajide in the case of Grapes, why 

 not do the same with Melons, Apples, and Pears? Some of the 

 finest of our Apples have the ugliest skins, the same may be 

 said of Melons and Pears ; while varieties of the same fruits 

 that are the most beautiful to look upon are worthless when 

 submitted to the palate. So palpable is this, that, in judging 

 the fruits just named, they are always cut and tasted. Compare 

 the mutilation of a Melon having three slices cut out of it with 

 a bunch of Grapes that has merely had three berries carefully 

 picked from one of its back shoulders, and mark the difference ; 

 yet one writer makes a bugbear of this. 



In judging Grapes according to the standard I have suggested, 

 there being three separate bunches say of Black Hamburghs in 

 the class, I would first taste them, and give the highest flavoured 

 3 marks, the next highest 2, and the third 1 ; unless it should 

 happen that any one of them was unripe and sour, though black, 

 when I would disqualify it. Then if No. 1 was not so well coloured 

 as No. 2, I would only give it 1 mark for colour, while I would 

 give No. 2 2 marks, thus the equilibrium would be restored, 

 and so on with all the other points. When the shades of dif- 

 ference in any one point proved very small, I would resort to 

 fractions, giving one bunch 1 mark as the case might be, and 

 the other IJ mark. 



In this way something like justice could be done. Absolute 

 justice when any other quality except weight is involved is 

 unattainable, but it may be more closely approximated than is 

 sometimes the case in the present state of matters. 



In the case of the Muscat of Alexandria I consider a golden 

 yellow colour always a sure test of high flavour, and the same 

 may be said of the golden-coloured Grapes generally ; but not 

 of the black varieties do I consider colour a sure test. — 

 W. Thomson, Dalkeith Park. 



ADIANTUMS for DINNER- TABLE DECORATION. 



At this season, when, owing to the abundance of flowers out 

 of doors, floral decorations are less appreciated than at other 

 times, the Adiantums, from their cool green hue and sym- 

 metrical habit of growth, are specially qualified to take their 

 place on the dinner-table, and have long stood high in the 

 estimation of those who have to provide plants for that purpose. 



In whatever numbers they are grown it is very desirable 

 they should be in pairs, both as regards size of plants and 

 pots, as then they are most easily adapted to the various 

 forms of arrangement rendered necessary by different sizes 

 and .styles of tables ; for when corresponding plants on a table 

 are not uniform in height and general appearance, to those 

 possessed of refined tastes, am! especially ladies, the effect can- 

 not fail to be disagreeable, let the individual beauty of the 

 plant be what it may. 



Adiavtuni i:imeatum is for a table plant decidedly the best of 

 thorn all, and of it I grow five pairs of different sizes, with a 



few young plants to succeed those which become too large or 

 old. To obtain these it is necessary to raise them from seed ; 

 for old plants, when divided, never have the green healthy 

 fronds of seedlings. When the spores begin to ripen, which 

 may be known by holding a sheet of clean white paper under a 

 frond, and giving the latter a smart tap with the hand, prepare 

 a shallow propagating-pot by filling it half-full of drainage and 

 the remaining space with a compost of sandy peat and loam, 

 pressed down firmly ; over this sprinkle a thin coat of silver 

 sand with a few lumps of the same material the size of Peas, 

 give a good watering through a very fine rose, and then dust 

 on the minute spores from the sheet of paper. Cover the pot 

 with a bell-glass, or with a squaie of common glass, to prevent 

 evaporation ; place the pot in some part of the stove or vinery 

 where heat, shade, and moisture can be obtained, and in a 

 short time the whole surface will be green with the Lichen-like 

 rudiments of the young Adiantums. 



When the first proper leaves make their appearance thin-oat 

 a large proportion of the plants with the point of a budding- 

 knife, and when two tiny fronds come up pot-off in three-inch 

 pots, placing three in each, by which means good-sized bushy 

 plants are sooner obtained than by potting singly. 



Throughout the winter the plants should be kept rather dry, 

 to prevent damping, and in spring shifted when necessary into 

 pots a very little larger. " Give small shifts, and give them 

 often," was a maxim which an old and successful Fern-grower 

 used to din into my ears, and to Adiantums grown for the 

 table this rule is especially applicable ; indeed, they ought to be 

 kept rather under-potted, otherwise they are apt to outgrow 

 the size requisite for the purpose for which they are intended. 



Adiantum formnstim is a beautiful Fern for the centre of a 

 table, having graceful drooping fronds of the liveliest green. It 

 is propagated by spores, and by separating the underground 

 rhizomes. 



Ailianlum aetulosiim is usually called a stove Fern, but suc- 

 ceeds well in a shady greenhouse, where it forms a low-growing 

 and compact plant. Propagated by division. 



Adiantuni cajyilliix-J'cncrix. — This, from its dwarf and ram- 

 bling habit, is not well suited by itself to form a good table 

 plant, but a circular wire basket, 4 inches deep and about a foot 

 in diameter, filled with it, and having a plant of Pteris serrulata 

 in the centre, forms a very ornamental object for a large table, 

 the sides of the basket being stuffed with Selaginella denticu- 

 lata, completely hiding the wirework. I have had two of these 

 for some time, one of them being nearly always on duty in the 

 dining-room or elsewhere, while the other is recruiting its 

 health in a late vinery. 



For growing Adiantums generally, I find two parts of loam, 

 and one each of sandy peat and well-decayed leaf-mould, with 

 a liberal admixture of silver sand, very suitable. As for cocoa- 

 nut refuse, if not very rotten, its action can only be mechanical, 

 giving a certain degree of porosity to the compost, which con- 

 dition can be as effectually secured by materials more easily 

 obtained, while if thoroughly decayed it supplies no nutriment 

 which is not found in leaf mould. — Ayrshire Gardener. 



MARECHAL NIEL ROSE. 



TuK Gloire de Dijon makes an excellent stock for this Rose, 

 and those who possess the requisites — namely, the plfint of 

 Gloire de Dijon and the buds of Marechal Niel, will, I venture 

 to say, be fully rewarded for the sacrifice of a part of au old 

 fivourite by the superior size, beauty, and the exquisite colour- 

 ing of the new. 



Allow me to suggest the experiment to your readers. The 

 stock in this instance appears to exercise an improving in- 

 fluence, which is very perceptible. The union of the bud and 

 stock is perfect. — T. Fr.vncis Rivers, Saubridrjctvorth. 



Is it possible for an admirer of Roses to be silent, when any 

 attempt is made to slight this glorious Rose ? We will not 

 trouble to mention the Roses which are named as its most 

 effective rivals, but we are sure that the Maroehal slauds far 

 in advance of anything in its class. It seems as if careful 

 of its delicate beauty, by dropping its blooms sufficiently to 

 protect tliem from the scorching sun and rain, and you have to 

 raise them to see their merits. 



Our experience of the Marcohal is as follows :— We planted 

 out in April, on a south border, forty plants of this Rose. In 

 three weeks they began to show flower-buds very freely ; by 

 the middle of Jiine these began to open, and from that time 



