44 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Januai7 15, 1867. 



VINES AND VINE BORDERS. 



I THINK Mr. Wills has entirely misuinlerstooj my motive in 

 asking for further details respecting tbo Vine borders at Huut- 

 royde. It is not often that any gardener has the opportunity 

 of doing what Mr. Wills proposes to do, and h.aving begun the 

 culture of the Vine on a large scale without any practical 

 knowledge of the subject, I thought Mr. Wills would be able to 

 say whether I ought to be satisfied with the growths my Vines 

 have made, or whether I could have doubled their growth if I 

 had gone to greater expense in forming my borders. 



In the account I gave of my Vines (page 421), I omitted to 

 say that I allowed many of them to bear fiom one to three 

 bunches each. Where three were left two were on side shoots, 

 and the other on the main shoot. These bunches were well 

 coloured and ripe in the early part of September, four months 

 from the date of planting. 



If Mr. Wills had followed my example, and given a fair 

 statement of the cost of the proposed Vine borders, including 

 brickwork. Hags, hot water, air-shafts, &c., I should have been 

 much obliged to him ; and I can see no reason why my desire 

 to know more about these Huntroyde Vine borders, which, 

 when completed, will contain nearly 3000 cubic yards of com- 

 post, should induce him to regard me as a foe or a grumbler. 



That the compost described by Mr. Wills will grow very 

 good Grapes I have no doubt, from the fact that the Vine 

 grows vigorously in all soils and in all countries, from the 

 shores of the Baltic to the Peak of Teneriffe ; in the strongest 

 clay, as well as the poorest of sandy and gravelly soils. 

 The finest young Vines I ever saw were growing in or- 

 dinary garden soil a few miles from Tirlemout in Belgium. 

 The valley of the Garonne has no advantage in soil over the 

 valley of the Medwny. Will Mr. Wills say why Maidstone has 

 not its vineyards as well as Bordeaux ? If luxuriance of vege- 

 tation depends more on soil than climate, why should not the 

 Castor-oil Plant be grown in England as well as in Italy, or 

 the Sweet Chestnut ripen its fruit in our woods as well as it 

 does in the south of France. 



I assure Mr. Wilis that having made a section of his borders 

 in accordance with the description given in his article of the 

 16th of Oclober, I am not likely to forget anything about 

 them, and I am only waiting for the particulars as to cost which 

 I have asked for to complete my notes for future reference. 



Notwithstanding Mr. Wills's explanation about the nine-inch 

 layers of his border, I am still unable to see what benefit 

 336 pecks of soil will derive from 1 peck of bones. " The ex- 

 pense is not so great to gentlemen." I am surprised that a 

 writer of the Journal should forget that many hundreds of its 

 readers are gentlemen without " a piece of land from which the 

 sods can be cut," and whose purses are unequal to the demand 

 of " ten guineas a-ton " for bones. I shall always be ready to 

 exchange information with Mr. Wills, either about Vines or 

 the soil and climate proper to grow them in, but only so long 

 as he is disposed to discuss the matter in friendliness and 

 candour. 



AVould Mr. Wills really be so very much astonished to see 

 an "article by Mr. Thomson, or any other gardener endowed 

 with a moderate share of common sense, advocating such a 

 barbarous system of Vine culture " as that mentioned by your 

 correspondent " Vitis? " If so, why has he not already given 

 utterance to his indignation at the barbarity of shutting up 

 a Vine in the mid-season of its growth in a mean tempera- 

 ture of sr for Hftmburghs. and 85° for Muscats? Mr. Wills 

 must surely know that this temperature, in which the " pro- 

 prietors of villa residences who are not supposed to employ 

 scientific gardeners" are recommended to grow them, is wholly 

 unnecessary. Is Mr. Wills's silence to be attributed to the 

 benefit he has received from the application of the author's 

 styptic to the bottoms of his Pelargonium cuttings ? 



If we were to follow the -l.'jth degree of south latitude from 

 the coast of the Bay of Biscay, making little excursions for a 

 few degrees north and south of that lino till we come to Astra- 

 chan or the Caspian Sea, we should pass through countries 

 possessing great diversity of soil, but almost eijual summer 

 temperatures, and nearly the same annual rainfall. In these 

 countries, with 23 to 27 inches of rain annually, and a mean 

 summer temperature of 70° to 73° Fahrenheit, the Vine grows 

 and fruits well even without cultiv.ation. In Mr. TLomson's 

 tre.<itise it is recommended, "By the time the bunches are in 

 bloom " to "let the night heat be 70°," to allow a rise by sun 

 heat to 80°, and to shut the lights early enough to raise the 

 thermometer to 90°. In growing Muscats it will be right to 



increase these temperatures 5°. Does Mr. Wills know of any 

 country where Vines have to endure a like heat at the period 

 of their bloom ? Is he aware of the rainfall necessary to 

 countries having so high a temperature? The lower valley of 

 the Niger has a temperature in the beginning of the rainy 

 season of 74° to 80°, rising in the month of September, as 

 the rains decrease, to from 70° to 84°. The annual rainfall is from 

 G to 7 feet, and this is more than doubled by the river, which 

 in its rise of 28 feet in perpendicular height brings down an 

 immense volume of water at a temperature of 80°, producing a 

 luxuriance of vegetation never seen in the home of the Vine, 

 but which delighted the sight of your correspondent " A 

 Surgeon " in his visit to the home of the Oil Palm. The Vine 

 seems to be veiy much at home in the lower valley of the 

 Volga. The rainfall and the temperature during the summer 

 months are about the same as in the south of France, the heat 

 perhaps a little higher, and the Grapes as fine as any in the 

 world. The mean summer temperature is 72°. 



I do not say that Mr. Wills will not do yery well with his 

 borders. I believe Mr. Thomson has grown good Grapes in 

 the heat he recommends ; but I do say the heat of the one 

 and the soil or compost of the other are wholly unnecessary for 

 the growth of Vines. I hope in time to be able to prove they 

 are equally unnecessary for the growth of Grapes. — H. S. 



PSIDIUMS. 



In answer to your correspondent " G. S.," Psidium Kaddii 

 requires a stove to bring it to perfection, it is th^u superior to 

 P. Cattleyanum. I am under an impression that " G. S." has 

 not P. Kaddii, as I am not aware any nurseryman has it true 

 in this country. " G. S." states, " There are two varieties of 

 P. Cattleyanum, the fruit of one being spherical, and the other 

 somewhat Pear-shaped." This assertion shows how careful 

 people should be before they make a positive statement ; for 

 the one is P. Cattleyanum, which attains a height of from 

 15 to 20 feet; the other, P. chiuense, which averages from 

 6 to 8 feet. They are equally hardy, and great bearers. 



Psidiums as yet have not had that attention paid them they 

 deserve, as they are equally useful at the dessert and for jelly ; 

 and it must be borne in mind that those which appear least 

 grateful to the palate make the best jelly. 



The Psidiums which I cultivate are — 1, P. chinense ; 2, P. di- 

 chotoma ; 3, P. aromaticum ; 4, P. acre; 5, P. pomiferum ; 

 6, P. Kaddii ; 7, P. pyriferum ; 8, P. Cattleyanum ; 0. P. mon- 

 tanum ; 10, P. cuneatum ; 11, P. arai^a; 12, P. araracja^ean ; 

 13, P. sp., a large purple kind. Nos. 11 and 12 are Por- 

 tuguese names, and very distinct. I consider the best four 

 of the above to be — 1st, P. ara(,'ai;ai,'ean ; 2nd, P. Kaddii ; 

 3rd, P. pyriferum; 4th, P. aromaticum ; but all are useful, 

 as they come in at various times. 



I imported the above, as no depeudance is to be placed on 

 purchasing ihem true, even if they can be obtained at all. 



Casimiroa EiiULis. — I See the above-named plant advertised 

 by a London nurserym.in, giving a flaming account of its capa- 

 bilities of adapting itself to various situations. It may exist 

 in the west of England in a sheltered situation, but it requires 

 a stove to grow it in perfection, when it becomes a large bush, 

 having numerous Apple-shaped fruit. The fruit are very pala- 

 table, and liked by some, but must be used with caution, as 

 they are liable to produce lethargy, which lasts some time, and 

 is difficult to shake ofi.— Raedii, FcteTborough. 



THE CH.\NNEL ISLANDS' FIG. 



I AM obliged to " G. S." for recalling this matter to my mind. 

 There is no doubt whatever that he is right in stating that the 

 common Channel Islands' Fig, so largely exported of late years, 

 is not identical with the Brown Turkey Fig. I consider our 

 Fig by far the finer, and the more valuable of the two, and it 

 might be worth while for English market-growers and others 

 to cultivate tliis sort more extensively. It has been known in 

 these Islands for a very long period, and I should like to know 

 when it was first introduced at Tarring, as it is cultivated there 

 at present, and under what form of training and pruning it 

 thrives at that place. 



For my own part I believe that if the Fig tree be not closely 

 summer-stopped, it would be best to leave it unpruned alto- 

 gether, cutting clean out any useless shoots. Here the growers 

 spread it out over a low platform of poles, and thus expose a 

 large surface to the vertical rays of the sun. Many young 



