lis 



TdtJBNAL OF HOETICDLTUJlB AN6 ^dfOSTSoB GABDBNEB. 



[ February 14, 1867. 



to the cost ineunc'tl; and hs I am of tlieir way of thinking I 

 do with jileasuie join iu this discussion, which I hope may 

 end in adding to our iuformatiou, notwithstanding that we 

 may each he of the same opinion still. " 



1 do not wish from these remarks that Mr. Wills frtibuld 

 think that, in clashing him with those who advocate what I call 

 "the show Bysteui " of Vine-j^vowing, I intend to say thnt he 

 for his own selfish reasons would put his employer to a greater 

 expense than is required to supply his table with Grapes ; 

 but I am of opinion that the majority of the gardeners who 

 lay-out gentlemen's goi'dens do not study this part of the 

 qnestiou, but tliiuk it would be beneath them to produce a 

 bnnch that was not extra first-class, and they go to greater 

 expense than is required in the hope that they can realise this. 

 Now, I think the point iu discussion is what part of such out- 

 lay is warranted, that extra care on the gardener's part will not 

 replace : and I think thp.t Mr. AVills, judging by what he says, 

 would rather not run risks for the sake of saving the cost. 



Having read Mr. Wills's paper, I turned to my geological 

 map for the explanation of what he says of Bishop Stortford, 

 that "there was no merit due to Mr. Nash or his gardener; 

 the soil was there ready, and they could not help growing good 

 Grapes." I find that that place is on the border land between 

 ehalk and London clay; will he explain at length what he means? 

 Does London clay only want chalk added to make it so fertile ? 

 I simply do not think that the soil Vines are planted in is of 

 sneh paramount importance, and that it could not under any 

 eii'enmstanees reduce the gardener's care to a minor considera- 

 tion. Of borders inside vcrstta borders inside and out, I think 

 the mere fact of there being an outside border attached to a 

 •Tinery in which first-class Grapes have been grown should not 

 J)e accepted as a proof of the advantages of outside borders ; 

 and I am sorry, as Mr. Wills was at Garston during the growing 

 season, that he does not tell us that he examined these borders 

 both in and out over their whole surface, and found everywhere 

 •Jeeding roots, as this could have been done without cansing the 

 Vines any injury. Mr. Wills complains of the Lincashire 

 •limafe, yet he also tells us that Mr. Meredith does not protect 

 these borders, but leaves them exposed to this adverse inftueiieB, 

 notwithstanding that they are so important to his success. 

 I must, therefore, retain my opinion for the present, that as 

 th« number of roots a Vine can support depends on the quan- 

 tity of foliage that Vine has, any one who, after completing his 

 inside border and getliug it filled with good healthy roots, 

 t»"aightway proceeds by putting an outside border to his Vines, 

 to encourage them to send out roots into this outside border, 

 kills the roots that are in the inside border in direct proportion 

 to his success in inducing them to go into the outside border ; 

 and that the only good reason for doing so in ordinary situa- 

 tions is to provide a means of supporting the A'ines while he 

 ehanges the soil in the inside border, that this, at times, im- 

 portant operation may be done at the least possible risk to the 

 Tines. It is now some years since I visited the Garston Vine- 

 yard, and I have no recollection of these outside borders, nor 

 do I see that Mr. Wills gives us their width and depth. 



Mr. Wills speaks of obtaining 5«. a-pound for his Grapes, 

 but I think he will not find iu his climate that an outside 

 border will assist him iu the two periods when this price can 

 be obtained, either very early or very late. He has hardly yet 

 arrived at the full knowledge of how long-drawn-out a spring 

 can be, and I hope when he sighs in your pages for sunny 

 Cheshire he may be spared the taunts I once received ; he is 

 not now near Delnrnero Forest, or that cream of all Cheshire 

 land, the valley of the Dee, but on the cold side of Pendle Hill, 

 and I should think on the clays of the coal measures. The full 

 extent of what this means cannot be told. 



Let me now turn to the account of Vine-growing in the open 

 air at Bury St. Edmunds that has lately been published eke- 

 where, as it leads me on to the last part"of the remarks I wish 

 to make on this subject, of which "H. S." speaks. Mr. Thomson 

 ean treat of the temperature required far better than I can, and 

 as " H. S." has called upon him by name, I shall confine myself 

 io the question of what is a "mean temperature," and try to 

 arrive at the answer by induction. We gardeners should be 

 yery thankful to the kind meteorologists who compile the 

 Jahles, and confer upon them what they for the most part look 

 lor as a reward for their trouble — the satisfaction of doing 

 something useful. I can only impute to this desire the trouble 

 they take in calculating out "mean temperatures ;" and, while 

 1 acknowledge their claim as public benefactors, I cannot help 

 thinking that when these alone are given, anything more likely 

 io mislead could not he invented. " H. S." gives us as his idea 



6t Vlne-tfltapcratnre the 4.5th degree of north latitude, with a 

 meah temperature of from 70° to 7o°. Let me, then, take France 

 with these conditions. As far as I am informed the island of 

 Madeira forms the only exception of a wine-producing country 

 that is not in some sort limestone ; in Prance the vineyards are 

 either upon the chalk, greeusand, or oolite, as that at Bury St. 

 Edmunds is on the chalk. The Vines are cultivated on hill sides 

 upon terraces, which are formed by bringing down the soil at 

 Intervals, thus exposing the rock, or a rough wall built up to 

 support the next terrace, to the full sun heat. At Bury St. 

 Edmunds we are told the "shelter is perfect," "dry," "the 

 Vines are planted against a wall 22 feet high," and "behind 

 which rises a hill 90 feet high," that, on a November day, with 

 a brisk wind blowing, " the thermometer stood at 76° in the 

 sun," and "that in summer it often reaches from 80° to 90° in 

 the shade and 130° in the sun;" and then the writer finishes 

 by telling us that " the mean temperature is 50°.'' Question, 

 If 50° give 130°, what will 73° give ? No, I will not calculate 

 that out; I will try again, and take the return of the Astrono- 

 mer Royal for the month of June, 1SC6 : mean of the month 

 62.6° ; maximum in rays of sun 131.5°. Now, if 62.6° give 131.5°, 

 •what will 73° give ? Is it 153.3 ? — a fancy calculation if you 

 like, but one that carries with it more than a modicum of truth. 

 I have given the mean as 62.6°, and the ma'ximum in the rays 

 of the sun at 131.5° ; the maximum in the sljade was 80.5°; 

 but I should, to make a true calculation, take the mean of the 

 year, as " H. S." does, and not the mean of the hottest month ; 

 though, till I know what the heat in the sun is in these coun- 

 tries, I hesitate to give it as a fact that they have 153.3° in the 

 sun. The mean temperature for the year in London will be 

 nearly the same as at Burj' St. Edmunds, and may be taken at 

 50°, and we may also accept his estimate of 130° as correct, 

 corroborated, as this shows it to be, by the return of the Astro- 

 nomer Koyal. — G. H. 



CULTIVATION OF THE CAMELLIA. 



The following is a brief outline of my experience in Camellia 

 culture, and it tends to prove that Mr. Pearson's system of 

 cultivating that shrub is the best. 



Having during the last two or three years, at stated times, 

 received from Mr. Pearson about fifty Camellias of varions 

 sizes, I knew that they had been grown in the compost he 

 recommended in your Journal of February 27th, ISCO — namely, 

 turf thinly cut from a sandy loam used when fresh. Several 

 gardeners in my neighbourhood saw these plants on their arrival 

 from Nottingham, all of whom testified to their remarkably 

 healthy appearance. 



FtiUowing up Mr. Pearson's mode of treatment, about the end 

 of February, 18C5, I repotted about twenty young Camellias 

 and a few old ones, that had been out of health, in the com- 

 post above mentioned. The result was, that both young and 

 old plants grew most vigorously. 



In the succeeding February I repotted about twenty-five or 

 thirty Camellias, including lai-ge and small plants, in the same 

 compost, using it rougher for the larger plants. For the latter 

 the turf was pulled by hand into pieces about 1\ inch square, 

 and for the smaller plants pieces about half that size were 

 used. In potting I press the turf well down, and finish off 

 with half an inch of finely sifted loam, which gives an even 

 smface. The turf I employed was cut from a sandy loamy 

 pasture that had not been broken up for a number of year3_ ; 

 it was only 2 inches thick, and was used a few days after it 

 was cut. 



After potting, the plants were placed in a Peach-house from 

 which frost was merely excluded, and where they have re- 

 mained ever since. They were kept clean more by sponging 

 the leaves than by syringing. The progress they made under 

 this treatment was readily perceptible ; they made strong 

 shoots, some of which were 1 foot in length, with magnificent 

 dark foliage such as has astonished both the nm-serymen and 

 gardeners who have seen them, and they have afforded me a 

 succession of splendid blooms since October. Two well-known 

 gardeners in this neighbourhood came here a week ago on 

 purpose to see these plants, and said that they had never seen 

 anything to equal the blooms for size, substance, and brilliancy 

 of colour. 



I may here state, that I have for the last two years been a 

 successful exhibitor of Camellia blooms at the St. George's Hall 

 Shows, Liverpool. 



As an instance of the effect-of Mr. Pearson's compost on 



