Jnnnary 7, IBfO. ] 



JODBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



the tiso of Wllcil seed for mixin;?. No Act, indeed, that conid lie ex- 

 pected to pass would directly reach the nae of old naturally dead 

 seed for this pnrvos-e, Imt it misht iudirectlv ; for if the use of killed 

 were prevented, the actual Bupply of old dead seed would not bo sutU- 

 cient to d^ mucli harm ; and even if it were used, its appearance 

 would betray its presence, and put the purchaser on his (>uard. 



Th(n-e are other points which can only be reached by introducing 

 more generally a systimr of actual trials previous to purcliases ; and to 

 this yonr Coumtittec think every effort should be directed. In some 

 districts it appears that farmers and growers are now Rotting into the 

 way of tailing their half-dried grass seed to the hilu to bo dried. 

 Whether it gets a roasting or a gentle heating merely sufficient for the 

 purpose is, as business is now conducted, a matter of no great import- 

 ance either to the kiln owner or his customer. It may be sold as 

 good seed, or, if found out, will at least, do for " trio." But if 

 "trio" were abolished, and trials were general, the farmer would 

 soon find his roasted seed left on his hands ; if this happened onco or 

 twice, the process would either bo made safe or abandoned. 



It is not easy to understand how any one who Jias to use considerable 

 quantities of seed should ever dispense with this precaution. It may 

 bo that they suppose that the trouble of testing is greater than it 

 really is, or that experience has shown the experiment to be useless, 

 as, from the general adoption of the same average, no better quality is 

 to he had in one shop than another. If the latter be the cause of the 

 neglect of this self-evident precaution, it must soon ceaso to be a 

 reason ; for, as soon as the public know that the quality of the seed 

 sold has hitherto been matter of regulation, they will evince a prefer- 

 ence for those tradesmen who do not adopt that practice — and, of 

 course, the demand for such will produce its natural consequence, — 

 a supply. It will then become essential for the public to know 

 whether those who profess to have abandoned the old system have 

 really done so or not ; and the only effectual way of ascertaining this 

 is to test their seeds. 



Your Committee have nnder their consideration the varicus modes 

 of testing seeds whioh are known to them ; and that which they feel 

 inclined to recommend as on the whole the easiest, cleanliest, least 

 ti-oublesome, and most likely to be acceptable to the general public, 

 is the placing of the seeds between folds of moist flannel and keeping 

 them in the temperature of a sitting-room or kitchen for a few days. 

 This, of course, is not equal to Nature's own test — actual growth iu the 

 en,rth. It may not answer for all seeds ; hnt it answers perfectly for 

 most kinds ; and any seed that gives a good return under it may be 

 depended on as certain not to give a worse result when actually sown. 

 An idea of its efficieucy may bo gathered from a trial of it made by 

 ©ne of your Committee upon 100 seeds of one of the sorts whose avei-- 

 age of good seed had in previous trials been found to be 75. The 

 simple method recommended gave i.T seeds germinating on the thud 

 day, "23 on the fourth, IG on the fifth, 9 on the sixth, and 'd on the 

 seventh — total 70 : but whatever plan the Council think most suitable 

 for general use, your Committee recommend that that plan should be 

 made as widely known audits practice be as strongly inculcated as 

 possible. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S MEETING. 



The December meeting of this Society was held at Burlington 

 House, the President, Mr. W. H. Bates, being iu the chair. Amongst 

 the donations to the Society's library received since the lost meeting 

 ■were the publications of various continental and American Societies, 

 including the first number of a new American periodical, " The Ame- 

 rican Entomologist," the current number of the American " Bee- 

 Journal," and a work just published at Madras by Lieut. -Col. Taylor, 

 on the history of the White Borer, a species of Longicorn Beetle, with 

 au account of the extensive attempts which have been made to arrest 

 its ravages. 



The deaths of Professor Bohemann, a distinguished Swedish ento- 

 mologist (one of the honorary members of the Society), and of Mr. 

 ■W. E. Shieckard, the author of a work on the British Sand Wasps 

 and other Hymcnoptcra, were announced. 



Mr. F. Bond exhibited a curious variety of the White Admiral But- 

 terfly, Limenitis Sibylla, also a female specimen of the Adonis blue 

 Butterfly having several streaks of the blue colours of the male on the 

 upper side of one of the fore wings ; also a hermaphrodite specimen 

 of the Lasiocampa Quercus. 



Mr. Edward Saunders exhibited a specimen of a new British Moth, 

 Crambus Myelins, allied to the common C. Pinetellus, taken by Mr. 

 D. E. Brown near Aberdeen ; nnd Dr. Dutton, a splendid specimen of 

 Catocala Fraxini, taken at Eastbourne on the '20th of August last. 



The Secretary announced that the Milan Academy had offered a 

 prize for the best essay on the means of taking honey from hives 

 without injuring the bees. Of course the plans would necessarily have 

 reference to the usual form of hives adopted in North Italy, and not 

 to special bee structures. 



Professor Westwood exhibited drawings and read descriptions of 

 various new and curious exotic species of Hymenopterons insects ; and 

 the Secretary read a paper by Mr. W. F. Kirby, " On the Application 

 of the Law of Priority to the Nomenclature of the Genera of Diurnal 

 Lepidoptera." In this memoir the author showed that this law, uni- 

 versally adopted for the names of species, would, if followed out iu 

 generic nomenclature, produce a complete revolution in the names of 

 the groups of Butterflies ; one chief cause of the difficulty arising from 



the want of a fixed principle in tho selection of a typical sjiecics for 

 which tho generic name should be retained when the genus reqnireft, 

 by the addition of new species, to be broken up into other geuciic 

 groups. In such eases, the writer seemed to be of opinion that the 

 species placed by the original founder of tho genus at its head shonhl 

 be retained as its typo, and should consequently hold the old generic 

 name ; but most of tho members present appeared to consider that 

 where no especial spoeies was named as the typo by the original 

 describcr of a genus, a subsequent investigator of the group waa at 

 liberty to select any of the s])ecieB which he considered as most fitly 

 illustrating it, and retain for it the old generic name. The principle 

 is applicable to every branch of natural history, and requires to be 

 authoritatively settled. 



OUT OF-DOOR GRAPES. 



This subject, I am glad to see, is attracting a litlls attention 

 now that it has been introduced. Tbc cultivation of the Vine, 

 with the object of ripening Grapes in the open air, is a subject 

 worthy of much more consideration thau is generally' bestowed 

 upon it. It is a particularly interesting occupation, very plea- 

 sant in itself, and within the reach of everyone with a rod or 

 ground aud living in the humblest dwelling. The past season 

 having been so wa-m and dry, and so particularly well suited 

 for the ripening of Grapes in the open air, we are yery DatnraHy 

 (having found the fruit more palatable than usual), inclined to 

 bestow rather more attention on tho matter than we might 

 have done at the close of a less favourable season. We can 

 scarcely ever expect to endure another jear so tropical in its 

 character as that now closed, or a season in which Grapes in 

 the open air could have been cultivated with so much advantage 

 in this country as 18G8. 



I am very pleased indeed to hear that Mr. Watson (see 

 page 459), is such a successful cultivator of the Vine in the 

 open air. I hope he will, as you have asked him, give jour 

 readers the benefit of his long and great experience ; it would 

 be an interesting and at the same time extremely useful and 

 excellent guide to others. Mr. Watson slightly misunderstands 

 my meaning (see page '116), of " by a little ordinary attention 

 a tolerably decent lot of Grapes may be grown." What I 

 meant was, the ordinary attention bestowed on Vines under 

 glass. If such, I maintain, were bestowed ou out-of-door Vines, 

 a tolerably decent lot of Grapes would be grown, but not equal 

 to those under glass. It is astonidhing how good the cnt-of- 

 door Grapes are sometimes, where attention is besto-wed oc 

 their cultivation. 



It is not, I think, so much to a want of knowledge as to 

 neglect that we are to ascribe the miserable appearance that 

 out-of-door Grapes present iu most gardens. The piofessiosal 

 gardener does not consider them worth his trouble, and 

 amateurs in most Cises take their cue from the proiessional 

 men. In country districts this is especially the case. There 

 is nothing so convincing as example ; therefore, if our great 

 men, who know how a Vine ought to be treated, would bnt 

 show a few oul-of-door Vines correctly managed and laden 

 with their fruit, there would soon be plenty of imitators, and 

 Grapes, the noblest of all our fruits, would not be so very 

 rarely to be met with at the tables of the labouring clasfes as 

 they are at present. It is they — not the rich who can afford 

 glass structures — whom I wish most to see cultivaling their 

 own Grapes on the walls of their cottages. 



There is no plant more easy of cultivation than the Vine ;_ 

 none more simple or easily managed, whether it be nnder 

 glass or in the open air. There ia no extraordinary attention 

 required. It must not, however, sulfur neglect, as liino-tenthB 

 of the out-of-door Vines do. 



To succeed in the cultivation of the Viue out of doors, I 

 should recommend, in the first place, if there be a choice, to 

 plant in the warmest situation, on a south or south-west as- 

 pect. Take out the existing soil to a depth of 3 feet, and tea 

 width of, say C feet, to begin with, which width can be after- 

 wards increased ; put in about 18 inches of broken bricks or 

 rubble for drainage, then about 2 feet of the fidlowing, well 

 but roughly mixed — viz., two-thirds fresh jellnw loam, asd 

 une-third lime or brick rubbish, with a spriiikling of manure 

 and charcoal, or burnt ashes ; in fact, in just the same way as 

 the best Vine borders are made. Plant young Vines early in 

 the spring 30 inches apart, cut them down to wiiliiu C inches 

 of the ground, and train up one shoot only for the first season, 

 which encourage to the very utmost. Guaid againxt May frosts, 

 which frequently destroy the young ^hols ; do n(jt puH ofl a 

 single leaf or stop a single lateral, exc«|.ting where Ihey may 

 be getting crowded, until the month of Septtiubor ; the gTO«- 



