February 10, 1870. J 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



109 



17 lbs. ; but can hardly believe it. Am I right in placing these in the 

 Muscat house ? 



TThis will be improved by the addition of Madresfield Court, and for 

 the " largest black " you cannot do better than choose Irros Guillaume 

 I Barbarossa) ; there is no larger white than Muscat of Alexandria, 

 but if you do not want it a Muscat, the Alexandian Ciotat or Svrian 

 will do.— Eds.] 



yo. 4 Vinery, Lady Dowiic't Souse. — House exactly the same as 

 No. 3 ; say four 1-inch pipes; three Black Alicante, two Lady Downe's, 

 two White Lady Downe's, three other kinds suitable for this house. 



[ You may have either Gros Colman, as previously recommended, 

 or West's St. Peter's.— Eds. J 



No. 5, Orchard House [no heat).— This is a very fine house, 100 feet 

 long, by 30 feet wide, span roof, built by Cranston ; very light and 

 airy. I have forty-two Vines planted in it ; twenty-six up the rafters, 

 eight in the centre bed, to bo trained along the apex of the roof, and 

 eight over two wire arches inside each entrance door. Varieties — 

 Black Hamburgh, White Sweetwater, Trentham Black, Royal Musca- 

 dine, and I hope to add two Esperian. Of course, the question I 

 really ask you is how best to establish a complete set of vineries. I 

 t h ink the answer will be interesting. — J. D. 



[The common mode of having a succession of Grapes eco- 

 nomically, is to begin forcing — say in November, and then 

 have a house in which late kinds shall hang until March and 

 even April, but even then leaving a month or sis weeks in 

 which Grapes will be scarce. Even with the very earliest 

 forcing when new Grapes can be had from the beginning to 

 the end of January, there will be a time when there will be 

 both old Grapes and new Grapes at command, but the new 

 Grapes will keep up a succession until the second house comes 

 in, in May or earlier. As you are not yet in a position to have 

 a tegular succession owing to the condition of your houses, we 

 would pave the way for your object by forcing your first vinery, 

 if you have not commenced, at once, and by having the wood 

 ripened early, and starting it next year in December or at the 

 end of November. Then in the third season as your other 

 houses would be getting filled, you would be in a position to 

 obtain Grapes early and in regular succession. 



The chief difficulty will be with this earliest crop of the 

 year. You are quite right in having all the Vines planted in 

 an inside border, but it would also be well to have the power, 

 by pipes or a tank, to give a moist heat in the soil of that 

 border when necessary. Managed as suggested, you will be 

 able to start your Vines nest season— say in December, the 

 fruit may be cut in Jane, and the wood well-ripened by the 

 end of the month. As soon as the fruit is cut and the wood 

 well-hardened, keep the house as cool as possible, and allow the 

 soil to become somewhat dry without cracking so as to en- 

 courage a sort of rest period in the Vines. At first laterals 

 may be allowed to grow to promote root action. These should 

 be shortened and thinned-out gradually, and finally removed 

 by the end of July. In the first or second week of August the 

 Vines should be pruned and dressed, and in about a week 

 afterwards the borders Bhould be watered, and the atmosphere | 

 of the house kept rather moist. This will encourage the Vines I 

 to break kindly, and the Grapes will pass their initiatory stages | 

 without much help from artificial heat, though on ccld days 

 and nights it must not be withheld. By the above mode the 

 Vines make progress in the fine months of autumn, instead 

 of having so much to contend with in forcing early in winter. | 

 There would be heat enough in the soil when the house was 

 shut up, and if bottom heat was at command it would scarcely ' 

 be needed before the middle of October. By something of 

 this mode Mr. W. Thomson and ethers have cut new Grapes 

 on the 1st of January. If the Vines are properly attended to, 

 the wood ripened early, and rested in summer, they may be 

 pruned early in autumn for some time ; in fact, when gradually 

 inured to the system it will become like a natural habit to 

 break thus early. The matter is of so much importance that 

 we shall be glad to receive more detailed and particular in- 

 formation from those who have adopted the above system, or 

 cne analogous, and successfully. We do not see anything else 

 worthy of especial remark except this, that instead of five 

 Buckland Sweetwater, we would have one or two of the old 

 Dutch Sweetwater, and one of tLe White Frontignan, as it 

 ripens early and is fine-flavoured, and we would not object to 

 one Royal Muscadine. The heating would be ample for top 

 heat. 



For the second vinery, which is so much wider and loftier 

 in the glas3 roof, six pipes at least will be necessary, as these 

 Vines will need the most heat when we may expect the weather 

 to be coldest. The woo-J eUould be early ripened, and pruned 



in November, and forcing may commence at the end of Novem- 

 ber or the beginning of December, with no underneath heating 

 of the borders, the outside border should be protected from 

 cold and wet by the middle of October. To give the Vines rest 

 they would be better if the roota were kept rather dry after 

 August. 



As regards Nc. 3, the Muscat house, if you set this going 

 about the end of February, or middle of March, then four pipes 

 would do; but if you commenced earlier — aay on the 1st of 

 January, or earlier, then six pipes will be required. In resting 

 and starting there will be no difficulty: The outside border 

 should be protected. For a heavy-bunched black and white 

 Grape, yon. cannot well do better than have the Barbarossa and 

 the Syrian. Speechley cut a bunch of the latter 20 lbs. in 

 weight, so it is reported. The White Nice has been cut above 

 15 lbs. in weight. The qualities of the Barbarossa, and the 

 Syrian, are greatly improved in the temperature of a Muscat 

 house. 



No. 4, Lady Downe's, or late house. This we should keep 

 cool, and even shaded a little in spring, to prevent the Vines 

 from breaking until as late as possible. If we had fruit hanging 

 very late, we would at the beginning of March, or earlier, dis- 

 bud all the wood not wanted, and which owing to the Grapes 

 could not be cut, and then the long hanging of the Grapes will 

 make little difference to the breaking. The budless shoots may 

 be removed when the Vine is in leaf. Of course, but for the 

 fruit hanging late, it would be better to prune in the regular way 

 some time before the buds began to swell. This vinery will re- 

 quire but little artificial heat to ripen the Grapes, but it will 

 need a little fire all the winter to exclude frost and damp, and 

 great care will have to be taken to prevent dust on the bunches. 

 We presume you mean Kempsey's Alicante. — R. F.] 



HOTBEDS. 



I have several time3 alluded to a simple mode of making 

 hotbeds with little cr no previous preparation of the fresh 

 dung, provided there are heated tree leaves for mixing and sur- 

 facing, and not quite half-decayed old hotbed dung for surfac- 

 ing. It requires a little experience and art to make a lasting 

 l»ed out cf such materials, but there is a good heat still in 

 some of the beds made up last February and March, and a 

 quantity of material to set aside for fresh surfacing and mixing. 



What rather surprised and a little disappointed me was this, 

 that beds made up in April, and some in May in a similar way, 

 were more decayed, and had less heat remaining in them, con- 

 sequently less material fit for future use in mixing, than those 

 beds which were much older. I think I can tell the reason, 

 and if right, then this simple matter becomes of importance, 

 so far as keeping up a continuous heat from fermenting 

 materials is concerned. The continuous heat will much 

 depend on the size of the bed, and still more on the condition 

 of a good part of the materials requiring a long time to de- 

 compose them, and until then always giving oft heat, as the 

 result of a 3low fermentation. These beds were all for frames, 

 and therefore in this respect were treated exactly alike, with 

 the exception that the earlier beds had each a rough spout in 

 front of the frames to take away the water that fell on the 

 sashes, and the later ones had no such advantage. The rains 

 dropping down on the front of the beds soaked into the beds 

 themselves, and hastened decomposition too much. The 

 simplest spout we have had is made of two slips of wood, say 

 half an inch thick, and from 2i to 3 inches wide, bevelled, and 

 joined with small nails at the sides, so as to resemble the 

 letter V. A little pitch, tar, or thick paint run along the angle, 

 makes them waterproof. I have often been satisfied with run- 

 ning 3ome clay and water along before the boards swelled 

 sufficiently to carry off the water well. Something similar is 

 required to take the drip from such a spout fully a yard 

 from the bed. By such simple means amateurs may keep a 

 more lasting regular heat in their beds, and will find that the 

 front c£ the bed will have as regular a heat as the back of the 

 bed. 



As corroborative of the above I may mention that wishing 

 lately to clear out a deep earth pit, which, after yielding a 

 crop of early Potatoes, had had the earth removed, the bed 

 turned over, and fresh dung mingled with it, and covered with 

 soil again fcr other crops last May, I found the dung and leaves 

 beneath the soil quite unfit to be taken out as manure, and 

 only requiring to be turned, shaken. — thus having air admitted 

 tc it — and a little fresh litter and a few leaves added, to heat 

 again and be as serviceable as ever. In this case the old 



