400 



JOUKNAIi OF HORTIODLTUBB AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ Jtme 18, 1867. 



vorlk. ietrp pjm.lish lake, is, a3 last year, remarkable for ita larpe 

 ftwcis and conspicuous anthers ; Madame Masson, white, with orange 

 ^wte, i» pleasing; and Sir Robert Peel, crimson, is a ver)- briRbt- 

 coloored, freo-Mooming variutv. Duchess of Sutherland, Mrs. titz- 

 COraU, Iiady Alice I'eel, Sidney Herbert, and Warner, maintam their 

 character as tine varieties. Most of the older kinds are well ropre- 

 son tcd-and of these BuUerianum, Bylsianum.Lucifcrnm, Lady tleanor 

 Cthrart, Mrs. John Wateror, Lady Godiva, and John W aterer, are 

 ■fwySn*. 



FRUITITJL VINES BECOMING UNFRUITFUL. 



Ik the autumn of last year I took charge of a large vinery, 

 Mod at that time it was crowded with young wood; hkewise 

 there were, I thought, too many canes, and a very heavy crop, 

 tbs hsii of which ripened ; the remainder shrivelled, llie 

 oveMiowding I remedied by thinning out; and at the Pining 

 seMon, each Vine having two leaders, I cut one o2. Ihe ex- 

 cessive crop I conjectured was too far advanced to do any good 

 by thinning, consequently I allowed the bunches to remain. 

 •nas spriug all the buds readily started and have made strong 

 shoots; but, much to mv surprise, the trees have scarcely 

 shown any fruit. They have had every necessary attendance, 

 di.sbudding being duly practised, as soon as the shoots were 

 ol size to choose from. The Vines are planted m an outside 

 border, and were watered in the first week m May. Can i do 

 ■Djtliing to enable me to have a few bunches this year ? Would 

 cuttiug back this year's wood to the first joint be of any 

 service? — A Scbscrieee. 



fToDis is a puzzUng case. No donht you did right in thin- 

 ninR-out the wood, and lessening the number of canes in 

 ■«rinter, so far as the future welfare of the Vines is concerned ; 

 but yon may have overdone the cutting off of shoots and wood, 

 so far as the first season afterwards was concerned. At any 

 rate, several times in Mr. Fish's practice, when he has lessened 

 the space on the roof occupied by an old Vine, expecting it to 

 come mnch stronger in consequence, he has found there was 

 no impi»vement, perhaps the reverse, the first season after- 

 waxda. tbongh in the second season there was a manifest im- 

 •BroTemcnt. There being less top branches to carry, the roots 

 seemed at first to receive a paralysing influence from the want 

 of the usual correlative action. In one case, some ten years 

 ago, o very fruilf al Vine yielded very little fruit the first season 

 after such a severe lopping, but, as in your case, it made fine 

 ■wood and bore well afterwards. 



We attribute your want of fruit chiefly to two causes, lirst, 

 the excessive crop left on the Vines, which would have a 

 tendency to exhaust them as respects fruit-bearing ; and, 

 secoDdly, the wet and sunless autumn, unless fire was used, 

 would be apt to leave the wood in an immature state, and tins 

 «e are more inclined to beUeve, as the Vines show such vigour 

 of grovih this season. „ . . , 



As to what you propose, we would decidedly advise you to 

 rest satisfied with the good wood the Vines are making, getting 

 it wcU browned and hard by October, and to look for next season 

 to repay von for your attention. We have known several cases 

 of fmit boinq obtained by cutting back the young green wood 

 of this season's growth to the first and second joint ; but we 

 never knew that to be done except under two circumstances. 

 Thecnlting took place at the end of February or the begmmng 

 of March, en Viues that were started early, but did not show 

 frail to please ; and then the pruning-back had to be applied to 

 the whole Vine. If a few shoots were left unpruned they took 

 all the growth ; and the shoots made this year, when cut back, 

 broke very weakly in consequence. Even then the Vines were 

 greatly injured. ' Mr. Fish savs that when a young man he 

 helped to conduct a large experiment. Vines in a Pme-stove 

 broke well and showed fairly, but the bunches almost wholly 

 nm to tendrils instead of flowers. The roots were all out- 

 side. He attributed the evil less to a deep border than to the 

 border being flat, if anything sloping to the house, to an un- 

 ngaaUy wet cold autumn, aud to a severe frost, when the Vines 

 had broken and the shoots were some 2 inches in length, there 

 bring nothing to protect the border. He always thought the 

 chin and the want of action at the roots caused what would have 

 b'eT bunches to lengthen out into something like tendrils, on 

 which the flower-buds that showed all shrivelled up or dropped 

 €iH The gardeurr, after much consultation and self-commun- 

 ing' pmm-a t'je Vines back in JIarch just as proposed, and 

 thon'-'h fruit was obtained, it was neither abundant nor fine, 

 and the wood was much weaker than usual. In fact, the sight 

 of the Vines was quite sufficient to show that such pruning 

 dtonld sot be done. 



Mr. Fish adds, that a considerable amount of care had to be 

 exercised to bring the Vines back to their original condition, 

 and he recollects that in two or three cases the Vines showed 

 scarcely any fruit after this second pruning, and in their case he 

 selected the best shoot that came from near the base, trained it 

 without stopping, and took off all the other shoots as it reached 

 them, until about the middle of July the old stem was cut out 

 altogether, and the one shoot then had all the strength of the 

 Vine, and the following year this shoot showed abundantly, 

 and fine bunches too. 



Mr. Fish knows something of having two crops from the 

 same Vines in the twelvemonth, but no one would think of 

 this as a matter of prudence or economy. He has several times 

 in pits cut back Vines in June that had borne a crop, selected 

 a young shoot, and had it weU ripened in autumn to bear early 

 the following summer; but that is very different from what 

 " A Subscriber" proposes. Had Mr. Fish pruned back such 

 shoots on the Vines that bore fruit in June he would have had 

 a fair chance for a late crop, though most likely he would have 

 been deprived of an early one next summer ; but the cutting 

 of such ripe wood in June is different from cutting green wood 

 that, it is presumed, did not start until March or April. His 

 advice, then, is to make the most of the good wood for next 

 season. Lest, however, " A Subscriber " is resolved to try, 

 or some correspondents may give other advice, a circumstance 

 may be mentioned in connection with the experiment already 

 referred to, and which the gardener could not account for. 

 Before he pruned back these unfortunate Vines the tempe- 

 rature of the house was considerably lowered for eight or ten 

 days, and this was continued for about ten days afterwards, 

 the temperature at night averaging from 50° to 55°, instead 

 of from G0° to 65° and onwards, it being considered that 

 this lower temperature for a time would do no harm to the 

 Pines beneath the Vines. This was done upon the supposi- 

 tion that the Vines would break a second time better if 

 they enjoyed a comparative rest. Afterwards Mr. Fish came 

 to the opinion that it might have been better if the tempe- 

 rature had not been lowered, but kept at the usual rate 

 before and after cutting. He cannot say that up to the present 

 day he has quite decided on that point, but has no hesitation 

 in advising " A Subscriber" to make the most of the present 

 growth.] 



THE CYLINDER OR TOWER '\^NERY. 



This is a new invention by the originator of the ground 

 vinery. The above form of vinery or plant case has been 

 invented, not to supersede the ground vinery, which is a very 

 neat, useful, and, if made after the plan of its originator, a 

 very economical structure, costing as few shillings almost as 

 pounds are being charged for it ; but this I wiU enter further 

 into in a future paper. -,, . , t 



The cylinder vinery has many advantages. It stands erect, 

 and thus all the beauties of the plant are seen. Sorts required 

 to be thinned can be grown in such vineries. The plants be- 

 come covered with dew in warm nights, if the top be left open. 

 The continual circulation of air (resembling ebullition), witfi- 

 out draughts, is an important feature. Light is m every di- 

 rection admitted to the leaf and fruit. The plants are not 

 subject to be infested by vermin of any kind The whole 

 structure is air-tight when closed. Air can be admitted at the 

 bottom of the cylinder, but it has not been found necessary, a 

 constant circulation being sustained by the warm airrismg, 

 and the cold air nassing downwards. The structure is very 

 light and novel ; it can be made of any height, up to 15 fcet.or 

 more ; it is very strong, from the scientific principle on which 

 it has been constructed, and it is the cheapest of glazed strac- 



""wiU now endeavour to describe it. The materials nsed are 

 glass, wood previously boiled in creosote to render it inde- 

 structible, a few slips of iron, and a small quantity of rather 

 stout copper wire, no putty or paint being used. The vmery 

 can be erected in a few hours by any one of common mtelh- 

 gence. I will describe a structure of 10 feet in height and 

 111 feet in circumference, capable of holding three Vnes. For 

 this six wooden bars 2! inches square, and 12 feet long- are 

 required, the glass being 20 inches by 15, 21-07,., fourth 

 quality, costing about £1 2s. Gd. These bars (rendered as hard, 

 ^nd ahnost as heavy as ebony, by be ng foiled m creosote 

 which gives a brownish colour, and if taken ^^ «/ tl^f^f ^/ 

 bet becoming dry in a few minutes, are grooved to the depth of 

 five-eighths of an inch at the two inner angles, the grooves being 



