February 4, 1869. I 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTIOOIiTDEE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



81 



Uegonia Pearcei with itB fine jellow flowers peeping np uraongflt 

 the Gesuera leaves, the new hybrid Oalanthe Veitohii, Odonto- 

 giossum graniie, Oncidium Bsrkeri with two tine spikes of itu 

 brown and bright golden Uowers, and a Vanda ca'rulea with a 

 fine spike of ite pretty mauve and sky blue flowers. This is a 

 charming Orchid, and one of the most useful, as it continues 

 a very long time in flower. The group was surmounted by 

 a plant of Calanthe vestita, 7 feet across, and with sixteen 

 spikes, some of them nearly ^> feet long, and covered with 

 pretty white flowers ; many of the spikes had lateral breaks 

 near the base, which were also clothed with bloom— a very un- 

 asual occurrence. The etTect produced by this mass of Ca- 

 lanthe spreading gracefully above and between the bright 

 foliage of the Ueenera and the other flowers, can be better 

 imagined than described. In the same house there are noble 

 specimens of L:olia maialis and L. autumnalis, the latter con- 

 sisting of upwards of one hundred strong bulbs on a long 

 block of wood, and having eight fine flower spikes, some of 

 which exceeded .3 feet in length ; also OdontoglosBum Ehren- 

 bergii ; plants of the curious Diona>a muscipula ; Anguloa 

 Clowesii, with its large shining bulbs ; Lycastes, Sobralias, 

 Zygopetalums, Odoutogloasum 151untii, 0. Alexandr;i>, O. pul- 

 chellum, and quantities of tha pretty Oncidium ornitho- 

 ihynchum, in 60 and 4S-8i2ed pots, literally covered with 

 flowers. Nothing could be more beautiful than this little gem 

 for drawing-room decoration, as it lasts so long in full beauty, 

 and when accompanied with Ferns and other plants it has a 

 very pretty effect. These houses contain many other plants 

 of great merit, all of which are in excellent condition. 



On leaving the well-kept Orchid houses, which contain so 

 many plants sent home by Skinner, Bowman, Pearce, and 

 Hatton, it was sad to reflect that in less than two years the 

 lives of BO many men should have been sacrificed in exploring 

 fresh fields for the purpose of adding to the gratification of 

 those who take an interest in this particular class of plants, 

 and who little know what trials and difliculties have to be en- 

 countered. Such men cannot have any thought of gain when 

 they go out in search of new plants ; they can only be led to 

 do so from the love they have for them, and from an uncon- 

 trollable anxiety to see them iu their natural state, — J. Wills, 

 F.B.H.S. 



(To be coatiuaed.) 



OUT-OF-DOOR GRAPE CULTURE— WINE 

 MANUFACTURE. 



{Continued from page 05.) 



If I can avoid it, I never disturb a bad subsoil when pre- 

 paring to plant Vines, or any other fruit tree ; beyond 2 feet 

 deep one need not go. If the surface soil is only 1 foot deep, 

 procure a sufficient quantity of the compost which I shall 

 presently describe, and let it be raised above the natural level 

 of the soil to the desired thickness. It is far better to do this 

 than to work up a poor or wet subsoil in order to obtain depth. 

 The higher the roots are, and the more efiioient the means 

 adopted to prevent them entering the above descriptions of 

 subsoils the better ; and one of the modes most generally avail- 

 able for preventing the latter result, is to place a layer of stones 

 so thickly and compactly over the subsoil that the roots may 

 be induced to take a horizontal direction as soon as they come 

 in contact with it. The stones must be graduated from large 

 to small in placing them, in order to act as sure drainage to the 

 Vines. 



As I profess to be still writing for beginners, I feel the ne- 

 cessity of familiarising the mind to the work. There must 

 be a sufficient staple and fertility in the soil to carry the tree 

 through a succession of years with health and fruitful vigour ; 

 and as a general description of soil in which to plant out-door 

 Grapes, I think there are few parts of the country which could 

 not present the following — I will not include the top spit from 

 a pasture, or broken bones, as these would be generally diffi- 

 cult for a cottager to procure — one-third of turfy matter from 

 the roadside, road-scrapinge, and ditch-scourings ; one-third of 

 the natural soil of the garden ; and one-third of charred wood, 

 old mortar, plaster, and brick-rubbish from the size of a hen's 

 egg downwards. The last observation as to size is also ap- 

 plicable to turfy matter. Do not let the compost be too fine, 

 and if possible place a layer of the turf over the surface of the 

 drainage, grass-side downwards, and ram it so firmly that the 

 finer particles of soil will not pass into the drainage and choke 



it np. 



>Si dliw i. 



The garden under my care is between two and three hundred 

 years old, and twenty-two years ago I broke it up and Re- 

 planted it. PArt of my proceedings was as follows : — The first 

 work done, as turf from a pasture was not to be obtained, was 

 to dig off the top spit from the lawn and place it in a heap, and 

 the next thing teas to uproot poUard-Uke Apricot trees, Brown 

 Beurru Pear, and other trees no longer capable of bearing fruit, 

 and that were growing against the south-south-east front of 

 the house, which good old Bishop Fell built. As before Btftted, 

 this Oxfordshire stone dwelling is subjected almost continually 

 to peculiarly cold currents of air, and boisterous winds b6at 

 upon it. Vinos' were thought of. ostensibly for their foliage, 

 and were never expected to ripen fruit on so uncongenial a 

 spot. In planting them, however, I adopted the method I 

 thought most suitable, in order to coax them to do so, and the 

 result is known. The Vines first planted did not prove true to 

 name, but things came right at last. 



I excavated the site the Vines wore to occupy to the depth of 

 ■2 feet (J inches along the side of the house, and to a width of 

 8 feet, allowing the bottom of the border, as I proceeded, to 

 slope gently front the wall, and then formed a longitudinal 

 drain at its lowest point, 6 inches deep, increasing to 1 foot 

 deep, and emptying itself into a dumb well .'< feet deeper, and 

 4 feet in diameter, with sides built round with rough stone to 

 prevent the soil falling in. This dry tank and the drain lead- 

 ing to it were then filled with stones, as also the bottom of the 

 border — a plastic clay — to the depth of 6 inches, so that the 

 smallest stones catne uppermost ; all were then forced firmly 

 together with a heavy rammer, and completely covered with a 

 layer of turf reversed, and that also was rammed firmly. I 

 had not been idle beforehand in collecting material to fill up 

 with. I charred the woodwork of an old summer-house, and 

 every bushel of old mortar aud brick rubbish that I could 

 obtain duly found its way here. Bones were procured and 

 broken with a road-stone hammer. I place my bone-tub in 

 the coal house, of which, being constantly visited, rats fight 

 shy. What old worn-out boots and shoea I could scrape to- 

 gether were chopped up upon a wooden block. In short, my 

 Vine border Was made to consist of two parts chopped turf 

 from the lawn, two parts the top spit from the kitchen garden, 

 one part charred rubbish, one part mortar and brick rubbish, 

 half a part broken bones, and the chopped boots. The border 

 was filled up With the mixture about 1 foot higher than the 

 ground level, to allow for settling down, and so it remained 

 during the winter. 



I must here mention, that I have at two separate times 

 widened the original border of 8 feet to 20 feet, the materials 

 used in doing SO being as nearly as possible in the same 

 proportions as those previously used, and the new bottom of the 

 border sloping ttt tlie drain.— Upwards and Onwakds. 

 ""•'■"- (To be contiaaed.) 



SHOOTS OiF FRUIT TREES DEFICIENT IN BUDS. 

 I ENCLOSE! you a last-year's shoot ofi one of my Peach trees in 

 my orchard liiouse. You will observe that there is not a single 

 bud of any kind at the axils of many of the leaves, and not a 

 single wood bud on the whole branch. This is the case over 

 the whole tree, not this year only, but every year it is the same 

 with this particular tree, most of the shoots having no bud at 

 all, either wood or bloom, except a terminal one. I shaU feel 

 obliged if your, correspondents could give me any reason for 

 this. The tree is treated exactly the same as all the rest of 

 my trees, all of which, as a rule, bear very well. The tree has 

 been quite free from aphis and red spider, except a little of t|he 

 latter, which I am certain will not account for the peculiarity. 



Again, my Noblesse Peach trees have rarely a wood bud upon 

 them, except the terminal bud, my Eivera's Orange Nectarine 

 the same; the latter blooms most profusely, but never sets 

 more than four or five fruit, all the rest dropping off when 

 about the size of a pea. No triple buds are produced on either 

 of these trees. I have, in consequence, long straggling shoots 

 with no possibility of keeping them within bounds, except, by 

 cutting downto the pot periodically.— A Constant Reader. 



rWe cannot account for the Peach tree making no wood 

 buds, except on the supposition that it is too weak, and a freer 

 cutting- in and allowing fewer shoots might effect a remedy. 

 You must, however, have had some wood buds, or the tree 

 would hav.^ 'ied years ago. Noblesse Peach trees often make 

 few wood buds, except the terminal one and a cluster of small 

 ones near the base of the shoot. A good plan for giving these 



