April 22, 1869. ) 



JODRHAL OF aOBTXCOLTUBE AND COTTAGEiiGARDENER. 



269 



earlieat of fruit-ripening shrubs, the Bnbus spectabilis, or Sal- 

 mon berry of North-west America, which had formed i;geU 

 into thick and wide-spreading patches from 3 to 6 feet in 

 height, on which many of the beautiful pendent reddish purple 

 flowers wore fully expanded in the last week of February ; and 

 although checked by hard trust thurtly after, Ibey were again 

 putting forth a fresh supply of lovely bloom. 



In the heavy clayey -like soil of the garden, Alpine Anriculas, 

 the different varieties of Hepatica triloba, and that most beau- 

 tiful of small hardy variegated edging plants, the Arabis lucida 

 variegata, were all growing with such freedom and luxuriance 

 as they are never seen to present in th« light dry soils which 

 prevail about Edinburgh. In conclusion, the IJerberis Bel- 

 staneana deserves a passing notice from the beautiful reddish 

 colour of its young shoots and the robust habit of its growth. 

 It was received among some other foreign seeds, but no record 

 has been kept as to when or where from. The old plant is a 

 noble bush about 10 feet in height ; and some nursery lines, 

 which brought but moderate prices, contrasted well, both in 

 beauty and vigour, with others of the B. vulgaris grown along- 

 side, — A. G. ^^ 



HYBRIDISING PELARGONIUMS. 



Ckobs-bbeedin'g may be said to be a horticultural game of 

 chance, very speculative, very easy, and very interesting. 

 Hybridising, while it is equally a chance operation, is far more 

 difficult and speculative in its results ; strictly defined it is the 

 production of a progeny between two different species, and 

 judging from the results brought before the pubhc, it is but 

 seldom that a hybrid of note is obtained by this process. 



My attention was drawn to this subject from a desire to com- 

 bine the compact habit of growth and free-blooming qualities of 

 a Zonal Pelargonium, with the rich and uncommon beauty of 

 colour of the flowers of Rollisson's Purple Unique, an under- 

 taking declared by a high authority in such matters to be very 

 difficult and uncertain, as it is considered to be impossible to 

 hybridise a variety of the Zonal Pelargoniums with one of the 

 Capitatnm species, to which family Unique belongs. Now, here 

 was apparently an insurmountable difficulty, but as I always 

 like personally to test an alleged fact I resolved to try the ex- 

 periment. Accordingly, last season about a dozen strong 

 plants of Unique were collected to operate upon ; and Rebecca 

 was chosen as being of a likely shade of colour to cross well 

 ■with Unique, if I should succeed in effecting a cross at all. 

 With Rebecca, then, for the pollen parent I set to work ; 

 flower after flower, and truss after truss, being carefully but un- 

 successfully manipulated. As autumn approached I began to 

 think the authorities were right, and that these two varieties 

 of different species were not to be connected. However, while 

 pollen and bright sunshine were to be had, I determined to 

 persevere, and at length to my intense delight I perceived a 

 seed vessel protruding in an unmistakeable manner. This, in 

 time, became fully developed and ripened well, but when 

 gathered it had but one feed — a fine plump seed certainly, but 

 only one. As it was so late in the season I did not venture to 

 sow my treasure, but laid it by till March, when it was sown, 

 and a healthy plant with four or five leaves is the result. These 

 leaves in their appearance certainly follow Unique, and the 

 question forces itself upon me whether after all I have succeeded 

 in obtaining a hybrid. The petals of each flower, before ex- 

 panding naturally, were opened sufficiently to admit of the re- 

 moval of the anthers, and as they were taken from the flower 

 at so early a period of its growth, no fertile pollen other than 

 than that used by me was likely to be present to mar the 

 effects of my experiment. 



As many of your correspondents have doubtless more experi- 

 ence than myself in such matters, I shall be glad to know if I 

 may hope eventually to succeed in my object, which I have 

 no doubt all lovers of bedding Pelargoniums will agree with me 

 to be worth attaining. — Edwaed Luckhuest, Enericn iTo'i'se 

 Gardens, Kent. 



VINE -GROWING. 

 The season of the year brings us again into the train of 

 thought required by our several vocations, and as I am getting 

 my vineries into work one by one, I naturally think over my 

 last year's experiences, that I may either modify or extend 

 these as required. Some of them I am now going to put on 

 paper that I may send them to you, in the hope they may 

 catch the eye of your correspondent " H. S.." and induce him 

 to do the Uke. When he last wrote he differed from me, but he 



impressed me with the opinion that he was too much in earnest 

 to stop short of mastering the subject in hand, and as having 

 too much interest in the practical results to be obtained to be 

 longer on the road than was absolutely required. Last year 

 was not behind its predecessors in the number of discuBBions 

 upon Vine cultivation, all of which 1 read and profited by in 

 my own way ; the one on the extension system I thought was 

 the most important, and I give my ideas upon its application. 



The old plan of growing Tines was the three-rod syBtciDi 

 which is, as I understand it, cutting out the oldest cane or rod 

 and growing a new one in its place. By this plan you are pro- 

 vided with two fruiting rods— one that has been cropped npfin 

 part of its length and has a new top-, and one new cane up to 

 the top of the house, but which you will shorten-in so as to 

 compel it to fruit from its lower half. From the first of these 

 you will obtain some bunches on the two-year-old wood, and 

 also some much better ones from the new part at the top,- 

 though you will not have much room to let it grow; but this 

 does not signify, as when it has done its work this year it will 

 be cut out. The lower part of the house will be supplied with 

 bunches by the second cane, which should bear good large ones, 

 which it can support by reason of the vigour it will receive 

 from its growing top, and the Vine, as a whole, will be strength- 

 ened by the third new cane coming up from the bottom. The 

 advocates of the short-rod-and-spur system consider that this 

 cutting away of a good long cane the length of the house a 

 great waste of strength, and not needed. Now, the first ques- 

 tion is, AVhich system cuts away the most ? In this all pruningB 

 should properly be included, and I do not think there is much 

 difference either way. Upon the short-rod-and-spur system 

 there are more bunches, but fruiting off new eyes unquestion- 

 ably produces the finest bunches. Then where, so to speak, 

 does the shoe pinch ? I think it is in the check the roots sus- 

 tain during the pruningupon the short-rod plan. Most writers 

 say, Prune the end of a spur one leaf past the bunch, and as 

 gardeners always go in for systematically doing their wori, all 

 spurs growing at all are pruned just at a time when the roots 

 should be kept going, which is not the case where you have 

 one new cane coming up, and the top of a second left growing. 



Now, my experience is that this check is very bad, and iss 

 the case, of Muscats it often causes them to set badly, as I find 

 the best bunches on spurs that have never been stopped. It 

 is said that as soon as the end of a spur is taken the laterals 

 commence to grow, and that thus there is no check ; but this 

 is only the case when they are growing with very great vigonr 

 and producing a light crop. The Vine properly under discus- 

 sion should be one carrying a large crop, and there is no ques- 

 tion that the leaves produced by a spur are more likely to 

 strengthen the roots than those produced by laterals. My con- 

 clusion is, that you can arrive either way at all the advantages 

 of the extension system. It simply means growing plenty of 

 new strong wood. 



The second important question is the preservation of the 

 leaves in a condition to produce roots. Leaves have thesd 

 functions — producing roots, new wood, and a crop of GrapeS 

 in this instance, and lastly, the final stage, ripening the wood 

 made, and elaborating the sap to be laid up for next year. I 

 may be wrong, but it is my conclusion that the root-producing 

 process should go on till the crop is ripe and the last swelling 

 of the Grapes completed, for up to this time the Vine must 

 require all its powers of absorbing moisture. Now, the power 

 the leaves have of absorbing moisture and feeding the Vine 

 must be greatly impaired if they are allowed to be dried and 

 hardened by the sun. I therefore shade them with thin tiffany 

 nailed en outside till the second period has arrived; and as far 

 as is possible without syringing right at a bunch, I have the 

 leaves dewed every evening. As most of my Vines grow up- 

 right, and the bunches are shaded by the leaves, this is com- 

 paratively easy. When the second period has come, and the 

 crop is cut, we take the tiffany off, and having lowered the tem- 

 perature syringe as iiard as we like without fear of producing 

 any fresh growth ; a low night temperature, obtained by ad- 

 mitting air when the Vines and the house are wet, being suffi- 

 cient to prevent growth notwithstanding high day temperatures. 

 In the case of extra-late houses with fruit hanging this cannot 

 be done. Thin tiffany does not prevent the sun's rajs from 

 acting on the house, and, of course, it is only put upon the 

 south side of span-roofed houses running east and west, and 

 upon the viest side if running north and south ; mine are all 

 span-roofed. 



Of temperatures 1 have no new experiences to offer, this last 

 hot summer being none too hot for me, even when going above 



