41C 



JJUKNAL OK UOKTICULTCBai AND COTTA.GE OAxtLENEH. 



[ Docembor 3, ise& 



to eat, being very leathery and thick-skianed. Useful for pro- 

 ducing quantity, but quite tliird-rate in quality. Cambridge 

 Botanic Garden is tbe same as Black Prince, having succeeded 

 well in that garden, bence its name. 



F.sjdmn, or Espcrione as it ia commonly but erroneously 

 called, is a much-vaunted hardy Grape, yet I have never tasted 

 a berry of it from a plant in the open air that was much 

 better than a sloe. It colours well, and has the appearance of 

 being good, yet it is not bo. When grown in heat under the 

 best conditions, this Grape is not worth eating. It has received 

 much praise as an excellent hardy Grape, to which it can lay 

 no claim whatever. It was, I believe, the late Mr. Donald 

 Beaton who first gave it this false character ; he, with his usual 

 fire, extolling it to the very skies, not knowing at tbe time that 

 the subject of all his praise was not the Esperione at all, but 

 simply a fine example of the true Black Hamburgh. Although 

 not at all suited for dessert, it is an excellent wine-making 

 variety. 



Miller's Buryundij. — This is a very hardy and free-fiuiting 

 variety. The bunches are rather small, but very numerous, 

 and the berries small, and very closely packed together. 



Black Cluster, Port Wine or Cluret, and Black July, are 

 all very similar to the preceding, and of about equal merit, 

 the last somewhat earlier, and perhaps not quite so sweetly 

 flavoured. In ordinary seasons these ripen well, and are very 

 good in flavour ; the berries just a little too small, and so 

 crowded together that it ia diilicult to make a commencement 

 on a bunch. All. of them are excellent for making wine, and 

 deserving of cultivation. 



IVIiitc Froiitignan, Black Frnntirjnan. — I have found both 

 of these do exceedingly well against a wall. Their flavour is 

 naturally rich and piquant. Even when only half ripe they 

 are considerably so, and are very pleasant to eat ; just the 

 reverse of Black Prince and Espirau in that respect. 



In addition to these there are the following, which, I believe, 

 would prove valuable, and well suited for open-air culture, all 

 of them being early ; but I have as yet had but little oppor- 

 tunity of proving them myself — viz., 1, Early Siiumur Frontig- 

 nan ; 2, Early White Malvasia ; 3. Pitmaston White Cluster ; 

 4, Chasselas Hatif de Tonueiu. The second is the same as 

 the Grove-End Sweetwater, an excellent- flavoured sort; the 

 fourth, a few days earlier than it — indeed, tbe earliest white 

 Grape I am acquainted with, small in berry, but sweet. There 

 are scores of other varieties of the small French Chasselas and 

 MuEcats that are, perhaps, equally well adapted for the pur- 

 pose, but as Grapes attaining their full perfection in the open 

 air in this country, there would be little distinction in point 

 of flavour from those iu tbe same classes which I have already 

 enumerated, which are those in most genei-al cultivation through- 

 out northern France and Germany. 



All Vines are hardy ; some are of more succulent growth than 

 others, and the wood requires a greater degree and a longer 

 duration of heat to become ripened thoroughly — that is con- 

 stitution. But the tenderness or otherwise of the Vine lies not 

 there so much as in the fruit itself ; in short, in its early or 

 late-ripouing properties. A Grape, when said to be hardy, 

 simply receives the character of ripening its fruit earlier, and 

 with a less amount of heat than another. There are some 

 which will not set their fruit freely, excepting in a high tem- 

 perature, such as the common Muscfts; but with few excep- 

 tions, the most of our Vines will just produce as many Grapes 

 in the open air as in the warmest vinery. Our summers, 

 however, being usually so low in temperature and so short, 

 there are but few varieties of Grapes that ripen sufficiently 

 to become eatable. They are, however, suitable for a certain 

 kind of wine, unless the summer be unusually cold, when 

 some sorts refuse even to swell their berries. The Muscat of 

 Alexandria itself has produced hero on the open wall almost 

 every year a good crop of fruit, flue large bunches and berries ; 

 yet the fruit is never eatable, always acid and sour. Only 

 once have I detected any traces of the true Muscat flavour 

 in it. 



In advocating tbe cultivation of the Vine iu the open air, let 

 it not be imagined that I recommend it in any case where 

 glass structures can be secured. Our English climate is usually 

 too cold for any great amount of success or satisfaction over 

 being attendant on such a method. Where glass can be used, 

 whether in the form of our common vineries, orchard bouses, 

 or ground vineries, I say, Adopt them, and not be dependr.ut 

 on securing a single bunch of Grapes from Vines planted in 

 the open air ; yet there are hundreds of places throughout the 

 country where no assistance from glass can be obtained, but 



where there may still be a little space to spare on a wall, or the 

 end of the dwelling-house, as in our smaller villa gardens aad 

 in those of tbe working classes. In such cases a Vine or Vines 

 may be planted, and by a little ordinary attention a tolerably 

 decent lot of Grapes may be grown. Independently of the fruit, 

 the Vine is a very ornamental plant in itself for the covering 

 of bare walls, Ac. See how well Vines grow, and how noble 

 they look in the Royal Horticultural Society's Gardens, South 

 Kensington, where they have been planted to hide the beautiful 

 and costly brick arcades ! These Vines have been planted but 

 a few years, and they are annually loaded with beautiful fruit. 



To secure success in the cultivation of Vines in the open 

 air, it is just as necessary for them to be planted iu a well- 

 prepared border as in any other case, and that the same 

 attention should be given to their pruning and training as is 

 ordinarily practised in the best-managed vineries — matters 

 which are very seldom thought of, the Vines being just planted 

 in any sort of soil, and allowed to ramble as they will. The 

 great enemy to the Vine in the open air is mildew, which is 

 sometimes very difficult to subdue, yet by continued applica- 

 tions of sulphur it can be kept in check out of doora as well as 

 under glass. 



I have been induced to offer these few remarks on this sub- 

 ject through having been applied to for information — 1st, As 

 to whether Grapes sufficiently good for dessert can be culti- 

 vated with any success in tbe open air in this country? 2nd, 

 If BO, which is the best variety for that purpose ? In answer 

 to tbe first question I sum up my remarks, and say that certain 

 varieties can ; to the second, that the best Grape for open-air 

 cultivation ia the Eoyal Muscadine. — Archameaud. 



CORDONS, BUSHES, PYRAMIDS. 



Under the above heading there is to be found in " our 

 Journal " of the l"2lh of March last, page 198, an interesting and 

 sensible letter, signed " C. C. E." To that letter on the 2t)th 

 of March, page 231, Mr. Kivers wrote a reply, and " C. C. E." 

 followed with a rejoinder on the IGtb of April, page 291. 

 At the close of the first letter referred to, " C. C. E." promised, 

 if wished, to give at some future time fuither notes on his 

 experience in fruit-growing. Will " C. C. E." now make good 

 his offer ? The fruit season may now be said to be fairly over, 

 and an instalment will, I am sure, assist iu fulfilling the ob- 

 jects of your Journal, 



There is a remark in the second letter, suggesting that Mr. 

 Eivers's plantation of Cox's Orange Pippin, with tbe trees 3 feet 

 apart each way, is more curious than desirable, more of a 

 mere horticultural feat than a system to bo followed by the 

 ordinary fruit-grower. I quite agree with the writer here, and 

 I am, therefore, tbe more curious to know whether his addi- 

 tional experience has confirmed this view or not. Also, if he 

 would state the area and aspect of his ground, and snme further 

 particulars of his watering arrangements, I think his commu- 

 nication would bo the more practical. — Coiinukia. 



[In answer to the foregoing " C. C. E." writes as follows : — 

 " I had intended, partly from lack of time, partly because the 

 season of 18i'/8 has been, as far as my experience goes, so dis- 

 astrous to biennial removers of fruit trees, to remain silent 

 on this subject for the present; but when so courteously 

 challenged by ' Cobnueia,' I gladly take pen in hand in 

 answer to hi? inquiries and in fulfilment of my promise, ask- 

 ing him and all to remember that this is but my sixth year's 

 practice, and that I am a learner and not a teacher in the school 

 of Pomona. 



" To begin in order, my eighteen cordon Pear trees on a 

 boarded fence having been planted two years were lifted, and 

 in order to make room for new leaders, reduced to twelve. 

 This season two fruit of Williams's Bon Chictien and six of 

 Doyenne d'EtS were the sole produce. Alas ! how short of the 

 (by some) expected crop of twelve, or even six fine fruit each. 



" Nest I turn to my plantation of 122 bushes en Paradise and 

 Quince stocks, planted in 18G5. Most of these were lifted last 

 winter. Of the crop I cannot spenk, there was none worthy 

 the name. Fourteen bushes of Cox's Orange Pippin produced 

 one fruit (G ozs.), and an abortion ; Keddlcaton Pippin and 

 Normanton Wonder, a few sickly fruit, which seemed reproach- 

 fully to bewail their lost roots, and occasioned many reflections 

 on Dame Nature and ' lifting.' Williams's Bon ChrC'tien and 

 Beurre de Capiaumont stood the operation best, but looked far 

 from healthy. A peck b.'iiket would have more than contained 

 the whole produce of 122 bushes; but as most of these were 



