January 28, 183D. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICOLTDKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



65 



Ycllou-. — Yellow Princo. Scurht. — Rex Rubrorum, Waterloo. 

 Scarlet and Yellov. — Tonrneaol. — Samuel Buoome, Temjile 

 Gardens. 



OUT-OF-DOOR GPiAPE CULTURE— WINE 

 MANUFACTURE. 



(Continued frontpage 44.) 



Did it ever occur to " Ar.cnAMDAUD," tocoiisiilertlie amount 

 cf space unoccupied upon cottages, barns, and other buildings, 

 against wliich Vines could be planted, and made to bear enor- 

 mous crops of Grapes, merely by common attention given to 

 tlicir training? I have no hesitation in saying, that our ugly 

 caked English walling, so beautified and economised, would in 

 a gieat measure compensate iu productiveness for the soil at 

 present lost for cultural purposes from being taken up by 

 railroads. 



I planted the Espiran and Royal Maacadine Vines against 

 the walls of this house, to grow Grapes tor wine-making, about 

 the period that the first number of The Cottage Gardener was 

 issued (1848). For years I was chaffed and pooh-poohed for 

 my pains, but I have changed all that through never allowing 

 an opportunity to escape of adverting in these pages to out-of- 

 door Grape-culture, and to the subject of home-made wine, and 

 by never failing to exhibit results at our chief exhibitions of 

 horticultural produce. From the walls of this house, aye, even 

 aspiring to the chimneys, I gathered .jOO lbs. of beautiful Grapes 

 last October, and purchased 40 lbs. besides from my man, who 

 gi'ew them upon the walls of his cottage. The whole has pro- 

 duced us T'l gallons of wine, which proves everything that I 

 could desire, and yet to grow Grapes here may be termed 

 " raising them under difficulties." The situation of this house 

 is high and bleak, and we are exposed to violent south-westerly 

 gales, which sweep piercingly over a melancholy lake. The 

 Vines are also, in a great measure, shaded by trees, which 

 merely leave an opening sufficient to admit the concentrated 

 force of the blast. I merely mention this in passing, in order 

 to prove that our climate can be depended upon for Grape cul- 

 ture very far north, where there is a good aspect on houses or 

 garden walls, and the Grapes will produce a beverage far 

 superior to those unwholesome compounds too commonly sold 

 as wines. 



I do not think it well to complicate my subject by recom- 

 mending too many sorts of Grapes. The very best hardy white 

 Grape for any aspect, from south-east-by-south to north- west, 

 is the Boyal Muscadine. Due south it will ripen its Grapes in 

 nine seasons out of ten, and always on all the above aspects 

 sufficiently to make a good sparkling wine. 



The Espiran ranks second with me as a red-wine Grape. It 

 hangs late before it begins to colour, but when it does begin to 

 do so it makes up for time, and it produces a rich sparkling, or 

 still wine of the true vinous flavour, according to fancy. On 

 good southern aspects, as a dark Grape, the old Black Ham- 

 burgh would be most generally suitable for eating-purposes, 

 and it makes an excellent wine as well, though not equal in 

 piquancy to that from the Espiran. It is also more tender in 

 its constitution. 



In following out this subject, I intend to confine myself to 

 the spirit of " AncnAMBAUD's " articles, and to keep within 

 the scope of the million, and I hope to show from beginning to 

 end that the affair is a simple and economical process, for, 

 excepting making the borders — the next subject I shall write 

 about, as it must be seen to directly — and planting, training, 

 and pruning the Vines above " arm's reach," the time of a 

 working man need not be trespassed upon, as most other 

 matters could be easily managed by his wife. — Upwards and 

 Onwards. 



[To be continaed.) 



Now that ont-door Grape-culture is being discussed, a few 

 words which I shall offer on the subject will, perhaps, not be 

 out of place. 



The locality to which I refer is in North Lancashire, and in 

 a direct line about five miles from the sea ; there, from a wall 

 about 18U feet in length, I have had a fair crop of Black Ham- 

 burgh Grapes, the berries of good size, well ripened, and of 

 fine colour and flavour, and as regards the last two qualities, 

 in my opinion surpassing many of the hothouse Grapes grown 

 at the present day. 



I think I am not mistaken in Black Prince, and if I am not 

 • SO, it is very different from what " Abchambaud " saya of it. 



Its bunches were very fair in size, and very black; but al- 

 though the skin of the berries is rather tough or leathery, it is 

 far from third-rate ; in fact, I think a connoisseur would ba 

 quite satisfied of its being nothing short of second-rate. 



Another point I wish to mention has reference to a system 

 which is not in common use. What is it possible to do with 

 flued walls, or hollow walls with flues to run through them, bnm- 

 ing up the cinders which are cast out from the mansion ? By 

 this means one would be able to assist the ripening of the fruit 

 and of the wood, which latter, in my opinion, is the main point, 

 for unless the wood is well matured, we cannot expect success. 

 The first outlay in building the wall will be a little greater than 

 for an ordinary wall, but the expense of constructing the fur- 

 nace would be very small— little more than the doors and fire- 

 bars, with brickwork, being required, and the work could all 

 be done by an ordinary bricklayer. The Grapes above referred 

 to are from a wall of this description, and this may have 

 altered the quality of Black Prince. 



I quite agree with " Archambaud," that it is to be regretted 

 open-air Vines are so much neglected, for I fully believe Grapes 

 will pay for all the care anyone may take of them, and should 

 they ever fail to be good enough for the dessert, then the wine 

 they make would be far before most home-made wine, and the 

 cost no more. 



We are about to add a vinery for earlier work, but the wall 

 Vines will be expected still to do duty. I shall, if it be thought 

 interesting, report the result of my success next year in grow- 

 ing Grapes with heated walls. — H. B. 



PORTRAITS OF PLANTS, FLOWERS, AND 

 FRUITS. 



Brassia Lawrenciana var. longissima (Lawrence's Long- 

 sepalled Brassia). Nat. ord., Orchidaceje. Linn., Gynandria 

 Monandria. — Native of Costa Rica. Flowers orange, pnrple- 

 blotched, fragrant.— (L'of. Mari, t. 5748.) 



Ibeeidella eotcndifolia (Kound-leaved Iberidella). Nat. 

 ord., Crucifera^ Linn., Tetradynamia Siliculosa. — Native of 

 Carinthian Alps, at elevations from GOOO to 9000 feet. A beau- 

 tiful rock plant ; flowers lilac— (Zii,/. (. 5749.) 



Tacsonia eriantha (Woolly-flowered Tacsonia). Nat. o d., 

 Passiflone. Linn., Pentandria Trigynia. — Native of the 

 Ecuador Andes, at elevations of from 11,000 to 13,000 feet. A 

 graceful greenhouse or conservatory climber. Flowers Ulac, 

 flushed with yellow. — {Ibid. t. 5750.) 



Stai'Elia iiYSTEix (Bristly-flowcred Stapelia). Nat. ord., 

 Asolepiadea'. Linn , Gynandria Pentandria.— Native of South- 

 eastern Africa. Flowers pale yellow, dotted with purple. — 

 {Ibid. t. 5751.) 



Thibaudia acuminata (Sharp-leaved Thibaudia). Nat. ord., 

 Ericacca;. Linn., Pentandria Mouogynia. — Native of Co- 

 lumbian Andes, at elevations from 8000 to 10,000 feet. In- 

 troduced by Messrs. Veitch. Flowers scarlet, yellow-tipped. 

 Fruit fragrant and eatable. — {Ibid. t. 5752.) 



CohTiiis— Queen ]'icluria.~"No family of plants has, in 

 modern times, so speedily acquired notoriety as that of the 

 Coleus. It is not so long since that our gardens could boast 

 only a few weedy species, of which the most important was the 

 " Nettle Geranium " of cottage windows. Tht-n came C. Binmei, 

 the red-stained leaves of which first drew attention to the 

 family as ornamental- foliaged plants; this being followed by 

 C. Verschaffaltii, the still brighter colours of which have been 

 turned to so good an account in conjunction with the silvery 

 Centaureas for summer bedding purposes ; and this, again, 

 being succeeded by the almost black-leaved form of C. seutel- 

 larioides known as nigricans, the purple-veined C. Gibsoni, 

 and the green-edged C. Veitchii. 



"The foregoing, with one or two trifling sports, were all that 

 we possessed up to the beginning of the present year, when a 

 set of a dozen novel hybrids, raised in the Chiswick Garden of 

 the Koyal Horticultural Society by Mr. Bause, on their appear- 

 ance in public created quite a furore, and realised, when 

 offered for sale at Stevens' Auction Rooms, the large sum of 

 £393. These included frilled-leaved, plane-leaved, and reticn- 

 lately-marked forms, represented respectively by C. Bausei, 

 C. Saundersii, and C. Scottii; but the ground colour was green, 

 with markings of a deep chocolate purple. What the value of 

 these new sorts as bedding plants may be has not yet been 

 fairly determined, but they are certainly very beautiful objects, 

 if only suitable to be grown as pot plants for conservatory 

 decoration. 



