,sm 



JOURNAL OP HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. [ November 7, 1867. 



are covered with knots and small roots, and too often anything 

 but straight, although at the best of times scraping Horseradish 

 IS not a pleasant occupation. Then, again, a fine stick of Horse- 

 radish like that sent, and which, when I brought it from Man- 

 chester, weighed little short of 2 lbs., will, if proper care be taken 

 to keep it moist, last a moderate-sized family a fortnight or three 

 weeks. Besides, how much more pleasant it is to see a crop of 

 Horseradish grown on a compact and tidy bed, which can be 

 kept in order, instead of searching nil over a large piece of 

 Horseradish to find a good stick, which sometimes is not found 

 until, perhaps, a dozen or more have been taken up and thrown 

 aside ; whilst with the Kelsall bed vou may begin at one end 

 and clear the bed before you. Again, in winter, if severe frost 

 sets m, a bed, or a portion of one, may be covered with litter 

 or leaves ; yon know where to look for what you want, and can 

 obtain it in five minutes, in.stead of digging and searching for 

 perhaps, an hour ; or if the ground is frozen very hard, it will 

 be almost impossible to take the roots up. Twelve or twenty- 

 four sticks hke that sent would last a large family a long time. 

 At the commencement of winter they might be taken up and 

 stored away m moist sand in the root-shed, and all the ground 

 necessary to grow the twenty-four sticks on would be a bed 

 9 feet long and 2 feet 6 inches wide. 



I think I have shown that it is worth while to grow Horse- 

 radish well, and that it may be grown profitably on Mr. Kel- 

 sall s plan. Since seeing and having this system of cultivating 

 Horseradish explained to me, the idea has suggested itself to 

 my mmd that Sea-kale may be grown with great advantage by 

 planting it in precisely the same way on raised beds • for it is 

 obvious that the Horseradish ma'^es a very stout stem in a 

 very short time, as also a splendid large crown. One of the 

 principal causes of its growing to such an enormous size in so 

 short a time is, in my opinion, that its roots are near the 

 surface, where they are more under the influence of the sun- 

 tiext and air, instead of being down in the cold subsoil. And 

 m the case of the Horseradish, when the set is placed at a 

 great depth below the surface much time is lost during the 

 formation of the crown and in this reaching the surface. I 

 3haU at once have some beds made on Mr. Kelsall's principle, 

 both for Sea-kale and Horseradish, and will give your readers 

 my experience at some future time; still I would recommend 

 3U who have a kitchen garden to try for themselves his mode 

 01 cultivation, and I feel certain they must succeed in both 

 instances In the case of Sea-kale, it offers great facilities for 

 app ymg liquid manure to the root.-. The manure being pl.aced 

 m the centre of the bed, the soil there will be much more open 

 than at the sides ; a small portion of the soil, just enough to 

 form two small ridges, may be drawn from the centre between 

 the rows of plants on each side, leaving above the roots a small 

 channel into which the liquid manure may be poured, and it 

 would £oak down just where it was wanted among the roots. 

 I have no doubt Mr. Kelsall might even increase the size of 

 liis enormous sticks of Horseradish in this way. 



I send with the large stick of Horseradish a small piece of 

 root, (h-essed ready for planting, and one not dressed. The 

 large fully-developed stick wag no larger than the small pieces 

 when it was planted as above described in the May of the pre- 

 sent year. -^ ' 



I shall send you a few other hints on various subjects sug- 

 gested during my recent visit to Manchester.— J. Wills. 



[The specimen sent to us is a handsome, perfectly straight 

 atick 10 inches long and G inches in circumference, ail service- 

 able for kitchen use. — Eds.] 



same house, it was not thought worthy of cultivation ; its juice 

 might be pronounced Sweetwater, and that of Pause Jaune 

 mawkish Sweetwater. Accordiugly my Bicane Vines were 

 thrown on the refuse-heap. 



I have for many years amused my leisure hours in fruit- 

 ing m pots a great number of French Grapes selected from 

 the thousands of varieties grown in France. Sometimes I 

 have felt fatigued at my numerous disappointments, but I 

 have been occasionally rewarded by discovering something 

 good, and especially so by receiving from my friend Monsieur 

 Hardy the Early Smyrna Frontignan (Muscat Prficoce de 

 Smyrue, or Isaker Daisiko). This most deUcious croquant 

 Grape ripens on a wall with our Royal Muscadine, and is a 

 perfect treasure. M. Hardy sent me at the same time Muscat 

 de Smyrne. This is a melting Grape, not quite so early as the 

 preceding, and a most abundant bearer. 



Now, on the subject of Grapes, I may I trust be permitted to 

 mention a sort at first lauded even to ridicule, and since pro- 

 portionately abused— I mean Ingram's Prolific Muscat. In my 

 " vineyard under glass " I have a Vine of this kind soma 

 8 feet in height, it is annually covered with fruit from top 

 to toe, the bunches resting on the ground, as fine in colour 

 and flavour as those near the glass. The Muscat flavour 

 is rather a myth, but its syruppy richness is most remark- 

 able, and, above all, it ripens freely under glass without fire 

 heat. 



I may, perhaps, be allowed to mention that I have fruited 

 three kinds under the name of Alicante, one from Belgium 

 and two from France, all black Grapes, and all unworthy of 

 cultivation.— T. R. 



THE BICANE, OR CHASSELAS NAPOLEON 

 GRAPE. 



I FEUiTED this sort under the name of Vicane in 1844 and 

 1845. I was struck with it at first on account of its vigorous 

 habit, in that respect rivalling or even exceeding that magni- 

 ficent Grape Trovi^ren Frontignan, and also for the size of its 

 bunches and beauty of its berries, reminding one of the berries 

 of Pause Jaune Grape, which are so tempting and so worth- 

 less. Its defects I found to be— 1st, Shy bearing, my fine canes 

 giving only two or three bunches, while others standing along- 

 side of them gave eight or ten ; and 2ndly, Deficiency of flavour, 

 remarkable in my case because its berries were compared with 

 those delicious kinds the Early Smvrna and Salamon's Fron- 

 tignans, which ripened with the Bicane. After comparing it 

 with these kinds, and also with Black Hamburgh zu the 



VARIEGATION. 



The past season, from whatever cause, seems to have been 

 one more than ordinarily well suited to the production of 

 variegated sports among plants, for though they are far more 

 frequently to be met with at any time than most people who 

 take little interest in the subject imagine, yet it is only when 

 they are developed on cultivated plants that they begin to 

 attract attention. 



This year the instances in which they have occurred among 

 Turnips and other green crops have been so numerous, that 

 even farmers, who in general pay little heed to such profitless 

 phenomena, have been led to take notice of them. In one 

 Turnip field of about ten acres, which I sometimes have oc- 

 casion to go into, there are upwards of twenty, many of them 

 beautiful objects that might hold up their heads in any flower 

 garden for a short time, if the plant were anything else than a 

 Turnip, especially those of the purple-top and white varieties 

 some of which have leaves beautifully and regularly margined 

 with white. In the yellow sorts the variegation oftener assumes 

 the form of sports or sjjlashes of that colour, sometimes one- 

 half of a leaf is entirely yellow, and in one instance about the 

 half of the whole plant was affected as though it had thus 

 far assumed " death's pale uniform." 



In no case does this aberrant tendency seem to exercise any 

 influence over the root, either as regards size or colonr. If 

 any diiJerenee exists the plant may, perhaps, be a little more 

 succulent than its green-leaved neighbours, but it can hardly 

 be said with certainty that such is the case. 



Being somewhat curious on this subject, and having frequent 

 opportunities of noticing variegated specimens of wild plants 

 when they occur, I have made a note of those picked up during 

 the summer, which are as follow : — Lychnis diurna, yellow- 

 striped ; Potentilla anserina, imperfect ; Veronica agrestis, 

 white, very perfect ; Lotus corniculatus ; Senecio vulgaris, five 

 specimens ; Polygonum fagopyrum ; Frs.garia alpiua ; and Tri- 

 folium repens, two specimens. 



With the exception of Lotus corniculatus, all these were 

 found on ground that either was or had been under cultivation ; 

 and this I have taken notice of for some 3'ears, that these 

 sports are almost entirely confined to kitchen gardens and 

 their neighbourhood, compost heaps, fields under green crops, 

 or similar places that have been richly and recently manured; 

 while on upland gronnds and along the seashores, I do not 

 recollect ever having met with a single specimen. This, eoupled 

 with the fact that the green parts of plants only partially 

 variegated grow with as much vigour as those of the same kind 

 similarly situated, but aot so affected, does not tend to confirm 

 the opinion which has been put forth, that in the first instance 

 variegation is caused i>y debility induced lad propagalsd by 



