420 



JOOBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



[ December 5, 1867. 



(10 feet), is a drawback to it, especially in places exposed to 

 vind ; but I am of opinion that any amount of labour bestowed 

 ou it ^YiIi be well repaid by its productiveness. 



Yeitch's Perfection, sown May ytb ; in bloom July 27th ; 

 gathered August 19th. Remarks as above. 



Ne Plus Ultra, sown May 'iTth ; in bloom July 30th ; gathered 

 August "iSth. Remarks as above. 



Fortyfold, sown June 6th ; in bloom -July 30th ; gathered 

 August 30th. Sown June Itith; iu bloom AuRiist 11th ; gathered 

 September stb. A tall-growing Pea of very good quality and 

 very productive, having large, well-filled pods, but not equal to 

 Veitch's Perfection or Ne Plus Ultra. . Height 10 feet.— M. U., 

 Acklam Hall, Middlcuhorovij'n-on-Tccs. 



OENERAL ILVNAGEMENT OF A GROUND 

 \aNERY. 



The great advantage of the ground vinery as first introduced 

 Tiy Mr. Rivers is, that besides planting, pruning, training, and 

 thinning, the vinery may almost be left to itself, requiring no 

 air-giving, syringing, watering inside, &e., which occupy so 

 much time, and require such constant watchfulness in common 

 houses. On the whole, I look ou these vineries as chiefly 

 useful for amateurs and tenants who do not want and cannot 

 afford much outlay, and who yet wish to have a few Grapes for 

 themselves and friends, but could not put up a house. 



I am aware of several disappointments caused by expecting 

 too much from a Vine during the first or second season after 

 planting ; but continued success will greatly depend on cutting 

 the Vine, when planted, well back, say a six-foot rod to 2 feet, 

 and taking only a bunch or two the first season. Cut back to 

 4 or 5 feet next year, and take half a dozen bunches or so. 

 This will lay the foundation for continued fruitfulness and 

 good success. Much also will depend on the planting, which 

 is best done at one end. The soil should be good, sweet, and 

 well manured with a peck or two of crushed bones, rich dress- 

 ings on the surface being also given every season, and, above 

 all, dryness at the roots must be secured, so that rains and 

 manure waterings will pass freely without standing about the 

 roots. 



Ground vineries may be made of any size — either like the 

 old curate's vinery, with sides without bars, and all in a piece, 

 they being moved off or tilted up on one side when work has 

 to be done ; or, like those of Mr. Wells, they may be hinged on 

 the sides, so as to permit of work being done in them without 

 moving. It matters little, however, in which form they are if 

 the simple idea is to be maintained, which I take to be allowin" 

 the vinery to look after itself to a considerable extent. I may 

 just add, that of those I have seen the best results seem to 

 attend, not those with a trench below the Vines, but those 

 where the ground inside is covered with slates between the 

 bricks at the sides, and where the Vine stem, instead of lying 

 on the slates, is trained to a neat wire held up by pins 8 or 

 9 inches above the slate. For such a mode of growth the 

 Tinery should be 3 feet wide, and 18 to 20 inches in height at 

 {he ridge. When a single Vine is to be pegged down to the 

 slates the house may be .30 inches wide and 15 inches iu height. 

 Whatever the height, it may easily be added to if more room 

 is necessary, by placing another row, or even two rows, of 

 bricks at the sides. 



As bcaiing on the general management, I may here reiterate 

 what has already been alluded to, that unless to free the Vines 

 from dust, &o., a ridged ground vinery need never be moved 

 for the purpose of syringing, &c. ; as after a hot day, and a 

 clear night especially, the leaves of the Vines will be damp 

 enough in the morning from the vapour that was raised from 

 beneath the slates and having become condensed, which invi- 

 sible vapour would rise all day, and the more iu proportion to 

 the heat of the sun. I had the pleasure of convincing one who 

 would not believe a similar fact, by placing some large bell- 

 glasses on flagstone pavement, making them air tight at the 

 bottom by means of putty ; and though the spaces beneath the 

 glasses were dry enough during the day, they were damp enough 

 the following morning. The moist vapour would ascend much 

 more easily from the earth by the sides of and through the 

 slate, than through flagstone pavement. 



As regards ventilation, that is provided for by the row of 

 bricks placed endwise, with openings between them, on each t 

 side for the little ridged house to stand upon. In cold exposed 

 places from 2j to 3-inoh openings will be enough. In warmer, 

 more sheltered places, but with full exposure to sun, 4 inches 



will be required ; but for a warm exposure 4) inches will not 

 be too much ; and this distance will be important, as then, not 

 for the Vine in summer but for other purposes in winter, it 

 might be necessary to shut off the air altogether. These 

 openings 1 would leave from the budding of the Vine until the 

 cutting of the fruit. In dull weather and cold positions in 

 nutumu it might be advisable to ]jlug up the half of the open- 

 ings in order to obtain more sun heat, but in the generality of 

 seasons that will not be required. Such openings will secure 

 the heat from the brightest sun rising gradually, and the tem- 

 perature will decline gradually after the sun gets low. It is 

 not the high temperature that the Vine suffers from in houses, 

 but it is the heat increasing so fast, and pent-up vapours along 

 with it, when air is not given early. These openings will keep 

 all right without help or care. 



With respect to taking off the glass for the winter, unless 

 particularly wanted for other purposes, I would say, Do not 

 remove them at all. The Vine will be all the better for that 

 protection, though in some parts of the country the Vines 

 might have a little protection iu severe weather, and the glass 

 be used for other purposes ; but many things might be put 

 under the ridges as they stand, and do no harm to the Vine 

 after it was pruned, and then if these subjects would be in- 

 jured by a frosty air, the half bricks I have referred to might 

 go into the openings at night and be removed for ventilation. 

 In cold places in the north I would stop up these holes in 

 severe weather in winter, as the cold, though intense, will do 

 little harm to such plants as the Vine if the air about it is 

 kept dry and still. 



Again, it matters not whether the Vine during the winter 

 should lie on the ground, or rather slates, or be fixed 8 or 

 inches above it. In very cold places, as stated above, I would 

 stop the ventilation in severe weather. In a mild climate I 

 should consider it quite unnecessary, so far as the Vine was 

 concerned. And, once more, with such openings between the 

 bricks I do not consider that any other ventilation will be 

 necessary ; but, if at all doubtful, a small triangular piece might 

 be removable at each end, just under the ridge. — R. Fish. 



PEACH STONES SPLITTING. 



Foe the last two years the stones of most of my Peaches, in 

 pots, in orchard-houses, have split ; though I am not aware 

 that there has been any material difference in their treatment 

 from former years. Some are in an unhealed house, some 

 have a little atmospheric heat, some bottom heat, but they 

 have all suffered more or less. The cracking is usually said to 

 arise from watering with cold water iu the spring. I never use 

 chilled water. The kernels are generally sound. 



Allow me to take this opportunity of recommending that 

 most excellent new Peach, Dr. Hogg, to any amateur who de- 

 sires a really valuable novelty. — G. S. 



[In our in-door treatment of Peach trees we let the soil get 

 tolerably dry in the beginning of winter, but we like to have 

 the soil well moistened just before fresh growth begins to mani- 

 fest itself. That is the only early time when we use common 

 water, say from 40° to 50° ; but even then we would prefer the 

 water to be heated a little, but it would be inconvenient. After 

 that the plants in heated houses receive water iu tempera- 

 ture from 60° to 75°. When in bloom we have the surface dry 

 by raking the ground, water as wanted after that, and the most 

 particular time to insure the stone being all right is to give a 

 good watering as the stoning commences, and not much more 

 until it is finished. In our own practice, the stone-splitting 

 has most troubled us when we gave heavy waterings during the 

 stoning period, and since we avoided that as much as possible 

 we have hardly had a split stone. By that time common 

 Avater will be warm enough when the forcing is not early, but 

 during stoning, and before the hardening is effected, it is not 

 advisable to use too much, hot or cold. This may be prevented 

 by watering well before the fruit's commencing to stone, and 

 after that is finished. Will some of our readers give us their 

 thoughts and experience on the subject ?] 



EED BEET AS AN ORNAMENTAL PLANT. 

 I SENT out some fifteen years since, Henderson's Short-top 

 Garden Beet. It is a short-topped Beet, and the leaves are of 

 a dark colour, and hang down to the ground, so that none of 

 the root is seen. It may be sown as early as the first week in 

 March, and wiU not put up a seed-stem the first season. I 



