212 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEB. 



[ September 19, 1B67. 



vonieusis, MaJame Willermoz, Souvenir d'un Ami, and 

 Souvenir d'Elise. 



In furtlier reply, for his cold land, guano is better than 

 ground bones ; for hot burning soils bones are very good. 

 Superphosphate and nitropbosphate are good for Koses put on 

 at any time. Fresh cow manure is the best of all. — W. F. 

 Radclyffe. 



VINES AND VINE BORDERS— NATURAL 

 TEMPERATURES. 



So near to us as eastern France, a basin of the pulp of the 

 Grape and a slice of brown bread is often a most acceptable 

 meal to the weary pedestrian. Not only in France, but in 

 Spain and Portugal, wherever the soil is too strong or gravelly, 

 too poor or too steep for ordinary cultivation, the Vine becomes 

 the chief support of the husbandman, and the juice of the 

 Grape is as much a necessary of life to the Vine-dresser as 

 milk is to an EngUsh peasant iu a dairy district. If a tropical 

 heat and a rich soil were so necessary to the Vine, Palestine 

 would not have been so celebrated for its vineyards. Its rocky 

 hills and stony valleys were covered with the Vine, the Fig, 

 and the Olive ; its plains with Wheat and with Barley. It was 

 a land flowing with milk and honey because of its teeming 

 population and the peculiarity of its climate. 



I have given some idea what this climate is from March to 

 September, let us now see what effect it has upon the Vine 

 when the work of the wine-press is over. The hills and valleys 

 of Canaan remain the same in their physical condition as when 

 Joshua and his companions rested in the valley of Eshcol on 

 their return to the camp at Kadesh. The rains are still as 

 abundant as when the swollen river of Kishon swept away the 

 host of Sisera. It is these rains that, falling in tke autumn 

 upon a soil warmed by three months of a rainless summer, pro- 

 duce such an astonishing growth iu the vineyards. The bark 

 of the spring shoots splits open to make room for the layers of 

 new wood, which continue to be deposited till the buds, which 

 were bare and iiiromiuent in September, become nearly fiat, 

 owing to the increase in the circumference of the shoot, when 

 the gradually decreasing temperature causes the leaves to fall 

 in December. 



A continuous growth of nine months, year after j'ear, soon 

 makes the Vine assume the proportions of a timber tree. 

 Chardin mentions some with trunks almost too large for a man 

 to encompass with his arms. One month after losing their 

 leaves the Vines of Palestine, growing within five hundred 

 miles of the tropics, begin to feel the power of the ascending 

 sun ; and although their advance is but slow, still there is an 

 advance similar to that which may be observed iu the Honey- 

 suckle in the months of January and February iu our own 

 country. During seven months of the year the hills of Judaea 

 are subject to heavy rains. For three months more they are 

 refreshed by dews so copious, that Mauudrell says, " We were 

 instructed by experience what the holy psalmist means by the 

 ' dew of Hermon,' our tents being as wet with it as if it had 

 rained all night." In this climate the Apricot, the Peach, and 

 the Plum grow with as much vigour as the Vine, and the latter 

 may be seen side by side v;ith the Hawthorn and the Laurel. 



I have said that the Vine iu the valley of Eshcol begins its 

 growth iu March. The amateur Vine-grower adopting Mr. 

 Thomson's treatise for a guide will start his Tines about the 

 same time. As soon as the shoots are half an inch long he 

 will withhold all moisture, except in the form of vapour. 

 When the bunches are in tlower (about seven weeks after the 

 bursting of the buds), the temperature will have to be main- 

 tained at from 70° to 9.5°. After the ripening of the Grapes 

 all second growths are to be removed, and the Vines allowed to 

 go to rest. Under this treatment the Vine ripens its fruit iu 

 seventeen weeks, during ten of which it is subject to the ex- 

 citing temperatures of the tropics, supplemented by an addi- 

 tional daily excitement of six hours more daylight than tropical 

 plants can possibly receive. In seven months the Vines would 

 be at rest, and from October to March — a period of five months, 

 they would remain iu an iuactive, torpid, and injurious condi- 

 tion. If planted in a well-drained inside border they would 

 receive three waterings. If the roots were in an outside border 

 aslight mulching would keep them sufficiently moist. 



Now, the rainfall in countries having the same temperatures 

 as those recommended by Mr. Thomson varies from 6 to 

 12 feet ; and the temperature of the earth at 1 foot from the 

 surface is equal to the mean temperature of the air. — {Botissiii- 

 .gault in the "Annates de Ghemie et df Physiqac") Von 



Humboldt has given the mean temperature of the earth at 

 Guayaquil at 78.80° Fah., and that of the air at 78 08° Fah. 

 At Zupia the temperatures are 70-70° Fah. and 7l)-70° Fah. 

 respectively. A Vine iu Guayaquil and another grown accord- 

 ing to the recommendations of Mr. Thomson, would ha.Te 

 equal advantages in regard to atmospheric heat ; but there 

 would be a ditlerence iu the temperatures of the soils surround- 

 ing their roots of nearly 20° Fah. 



I hope Mr. Thomson will not think I oppose his book from 

 any prejudice against what he has written. I am anxious to 

 obtaiu all the information I can about the cultivation of the 

 Vine, but I am utterly unable to understand Mr. Thomson's 

 treatise. But I can assure Mr. Thomson that if I believed 

 rest would restore to the Vine its exhausted energies — if I be- 

 lieved iu Btored-up sap available for the support of the Vine 

 before root-action commences, I should be perfectly prepared 

 to defend my own statements. — H. S. 



STORING POTATOES. 



What is the best treatment after a severe attack of disease ? 

 Divers and contradictory are the recommendations one gets 

 here, and all based on the most conclusive experience ! More 

 especially are the opinions opposed as to the time store Pota- 

 toes should remain in the ground before they are taken up, 

 say such sorts as Kegents, Flukes, Eocks, &c. — Coenubh. 



[Long experience and inquiry justify us iu recommending 

 that Potatoes are best preserved if placed in alternate layers 

 with dry sand in a cold dry cellar or outhouse. On similar 

 grounds we recommend Potatoes to be taken up for storing 

 during dry weather' immediately the leaves have died to a con- 

 siderable extent. Leaving the ripe tubers in the soil, exposed 

 to vicissitudes of temperature and wet, is the most effective 

 mode of inducing disease.] 



HOTBEDS. 



A COKEESPONUEXT of the Times, who has lately visited France, 

 strongly recommends our imitating the French practice of 

 placing frames on the ground and surrounding them with 

 dung, instead of placing them as we now do upon the dung. 

 Now, in the French system, the upper surface of the dung is 

 used as a path between the rows of frames, and is about a 

 yard wide. It will, probably, be somewhat under a yard deep. 

 So where the frames are few, and these well covered-in on 

 four sides, there cannot be much saving in the article of dimg ; 

 and as to heat, the system proceeds on the supposition that 

 heat does not exert its chief force vertically, but laterally, 

 which is contrary to ordinary experience. The upper side of 

 the French beds must be perpetually cooled by raius and 

 evaporation, while ours are under glass. Moreover, our elevated 

 sides, like the sub-tropical mounds, receive the rays of the 

 sun. The only fact adduced in proof of the superiority of the 

 French system is, that they ripen Melons freely, although the 

 glass is removed during the last process of ripening ; but this 

 may be attributed rather to the French sun, for according to 

 Loudon, the Melon succeeds in the open air in latitude 43°, 

 and, therefore, Paris is only 5° .50' north of the point where 

 artificial aid maj' be dispensed with altogether. — G. S. 



WHITE MARSEILLES AND DE LA MADELEINE 

 FIGS. 



The Fruit Committee of the Horticultural Society, 3rd of 

 September, tasted the White Marseilles and the De la Made- 

 leine together. The latter is described, but the description 

 would suit the White Marseilles exactly. It has hitherto been 

 considered that the two names were synonymes of the same 

 variety, and it would be satisfactory to learn whether such be 

 not the case. The general descriptions of White Genoa and 

 Bourjassotte Blanche are so similar, that when the Committee 

 pass in review these fruits, it is hoped that they will come to 

 some ditermination of this point also. — G. S. 



[White Marseilles and De la JIadeleine are quite distinct, 

 the latter being synonymous with Angelique. The difference 

 between the two is in the fruit of the former being rather above 

 medium size, rounded, skiu pale green, flesh greenish white; 

 while that of the latter is smaller, flattened like an Onion, 

 skin clear yellow or straw-eoloured, flesh pale under the skin, 



