July 18, 1866. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOUTIOULTUBE AND: COTTAGE GABDENER. 



51 



BnioTO iti most iiitcvestiug. MyrtleH, ArbutuH, AJiautiim ciipil- 

 lus-VmmriB Kive plixoe to Ericas of several lioautiful kiiKl», 

 Aspk'uiura acii(intum-jiigrim\, nnd PolysticJium aiiniilin'n (Keen 

 to-drty lor the first tirao), ami thf-'ne are chiDiKcd into I'iiKiH and 

 tli^ Heatljei" of our jiativs land; but after a wUilo all vu(;i.'ta- 

 t^QU Oflftses, and you are aa it wore alouu on tho bluak ruj^i^od 

 mouutaiii, with such blasts blowing round you as nialio you 

 shiver and tremble lest carriafio and horses and you slionld be 

 blown down the two thousand feet that are betweeu you an<l 

 ypur Inst night's halting-place. . : 



] About BiuFghetto we gathered LithoBpetinura purpureiim- 

 ccBrnleum, Crocus vernns, Aquilogia vulgarLs, and a very curions 

 Bpeoies of Poteutilla with a rough woody stem, from whicJi was 

 formed a dense tuft of leaves and llowers. The loaves were 

 teruate and very hairy, the petals white, witli a ])retty l)rown 

 tinge. I had never met with this I'oteutiUa before, and its 

 woody stem distinguished it £rom any species I knew. Wo 

 drove by fields bright with the common lilac Anemone, and 

 others again gay with the Anemone liorteii.sis. The only Feru 

 I saw on this day's route that appeared strange to me was a 

 very tiuo variety of .isi)louimu trichomanes ; it was growing 

 higij on the Bracco Pass, its fri)nds measuring (piito a quarter 

 of a yard in length, the j'innules large and very far apart. It 

 did not look the least like the English trieliomanes, but yet 

 there was no particular feature to distinguish it from it. 



Although I missed strange Ferns from tho Braoco, their loss 

 was in some sort made up to me by the strange variety in the 

 beggars ; they troop down the hill in parties to meet you ; you 

 hear them laughing and chattering as they run, but the minute 

 they approach you the laugh gives place to a low whine, which 

 they will keep up for a gi-eat distance. I usually started in 

 the morning with as much money in small coins as I meant 

 to give away during the day, and when it was all gone I began 

 to beg of the beggars, when the whine would cease, and the 

 dark eyes twinkle with fun, and sometimes they would pelt me 

 ^vith flowers in retm-n. There is in the Italian character so 

 much chUd-like simplicity and aptitude for fim, that even the 

 very beggars win their way into your heart as no other nation 

 has the power to do. 



From La Spezzia we journeyed to Siena by rail, staying a 

 short time at Pisa to gaze once more upon its unrivalled 

 piazza, where the baptistry, the cathedral with its leaning 

 campanile, and the Campo Santo stand out white and glorious 

 against the sky. Our way wound at the foot of mountains, 

 the highest of which w-ere covered with new-fallen snow, and 

 looked dazzlingly bright as if with the light of life — the Carara 

 moimtains, rich with a hundred varied hues, worshipped at 

 the feet of their white sisters, who seemed so near to heaven 

 that the reflection of its purity fell on them. Siena is chiefly 

 to be noticed for its academy, which contains very fine examples 

 of what is called the Sienese school of painting. Some of these 

 pictures are said to be of the thirteenth century. Duccio of 

 Siena was an estabUshed painter at Siena in 1'28'2, and there are 

 several of his pictures still existing to be seen : real artists 

 fall into ecstasies about them, describing their merits in glow- 

 ing terms, but to my untutored eye most of them were but 

 unnatural, almost grotesque, performances, hard in outline and 

 unmeaning in expression ; but I looked at them as I look at 

 the old China Rose, feeling that out of them has been deve- 

 loped all that is beaiitifiil in art, and much that is lovely in 

 nature. 



Looking out of the inn window at Siena, I saw the dead 

 body of a poor man being taken to the mortuary — a house for 

 the dead provided by nearly every foreign town for the recep- 

 tacle of the poor whose smaU dwellings can ill spare a separate, 

 decent space for their dead. Brothers of. I believe, the Bene- 

 dictine order, habited in the brown suit of their order, with the 

 hoods drawn over their faces, carried a black bier to the door 

 of the house. Four priests, dressed in surplices, came out, 

 preceding the brother bearing the corpse. This was placed in- 

 stantly, but with all possible reverence, in the bier, covered 

 with a pall on which was embroidered a gold cross, and the 

 small procession formed, the priests heading it : four brothers 

 canied the bier, while four others walked at the side bearing 

 lighted tapers. The whole ceremony was so quiet and rc\e- 

 rent, that I could not help wishing that every parish in England 

 could have its mortuary and its Protestant confraternity to 

 perform offices of love, such as I have described, for its poor. 



March 12th was piteously cold, and it was Sunday, so I went 

 to the Duomo or Cathedral to listen to a f.amed .lesuit preacher, 

 and to gather what flowers of Italian rhetoric I could find. 

 Sermons in Italy are not like sermons in England. The gene- 



ruUty of tho peo))le go to mass early in the nuirning, and to 

 the sermon, if there be one, in the middle of the day ; they do 

 not sit, an wo d-j, but are content to stand for an hour together 

 liHtening in wrapt attention to tho eloquence for whicli Itahan 

 jirea-shera are fiuuod. Oh ! how wonderful it was to watuh that 

 vast mnllitudo of uptnnicd faces eagerly drinking in tho rich 

 and varied tones I llutulrcds wore standing— -soldiers, priests, 

 old men and yoiuig childnri, the luuie and the sick, the sister 

 of charity in her white h<iod, side by sido with the poor among.st 

 whom she ministers — all listcuuig, all wrapt up in the exceed- 

 ing interest of the subject; there came a ])auso, tho preacher 

 wiped away the hot perspiration, the midtitude murmnred 

 loud in assent, then a few finishing worcLs, and it was over. 

 It was a scene, strikhig in its deep simplicity and in the un- 

 rivalled beauty of its surroundings. 1 wish i could say that 

 thu subject of the sermon made it deserving of the atteintgon 

 it met with. It was on the gradual da'ay of England, in 

 prosperity and prestige since she became Protestant ! Few of 

 the Itahan poor are educated in any way, nearly all their know- 

 ledge comes to them through their priests ; and if the source 

 of tlie fomitai:i be jioUuted, where shall those who long for 

 knowledge be able to slake their thirst ? 



The cathedral of Siena is in part unfinished — that is, a pro- 

 portion of it is left as the builders left it when the plague 

 burst over the town destroying 80,000 of its inhabitants, and 

 all the church revenues were taken to support the poor. What 

 is finished is very perfect, the very floor itself being of inlaid 

 marble figures, the pillars are of rich marbles, and the roof 

 magnificently carved. 



Siena is a queer-looking old town with vei*y steep paved little 

 streets, leachug up and dow-n and in and out in a most sur- 

 prising fashion. The cold was intense, and the wood for the 

 fires— ao called in mockery— was gi-een, and the chimnies 

 smoked ; but it is a place for summer, and very fashionable for 

 Florentines in the hot season. — Filix-fcemina. 



i -LwiV. STOPPING AND SYRINGING VINES. 



Your able correspondent Mr. Wills does me injustice. I 

 have not the paper by me containing my article, neither have 

 I a copy of my letter, but I well remember the observations 

 I made on the stopping of Vines on the spur system. Mr. 

 Wills, in the article before me, sets forth as if I made it a 

 general rule not to stop at all until the fruit is set. I will 

 take up your worthy correspondent's words, and say I must be 

 mad shoirld I attempt to allow a shoot to proceed on in its 

 course without stopping until the fruit were set. I advocated no 

 such system ; on the contrary, Mr. Wills advocates tw o joints, 

 I advocate one, and I stated in some instances that stopping 

 even at the bunch's joint I considered not impfi-acticable. Mr. 

 Wills may well say I should have few advocates if I entertained 

 any such notion ; I should consider myself a complete sim- 

 pleton. I said there is no general rule for stopping, there 

 are exceptions, but N.B., the exception I here name is confined 

 to pot Vines. ,. , . 



In some instances we have no occasion to stop at all. I 

 know not the distance yoiir correspondent and myself are 

 apart, but I should indeed be very happy, and esteem it a great 

 favour, if he would call upon me ; I could then show him in- 

 stances, more than one, where I have had no occasion to stop, 

 and now the shoot is not more than two or three leaves beyond 

 the bunch. In oitr second house of pot Vines the hunches 

 are mostly cut, yet some good bimches still remain ; the third 

 batch is progressing nicely, and he would see in both houses 

 examples I have before named. '-->i 



And now I must give a double invitation, should it be 

 required, for Mr.Wills's visit. Whatever his experience le.ads him 

 to follow, I adhere in every resjject not only as to two follo~n-ing 

 seasons, but two multiplied by ten, to my system of syringing. 

 I have now a house, that named in my former communication, 

 two years planted out ; the syringe has not been stayed more 

 than three weeks, there are bunches hanging from the top to 

 the bottom of the house nicely colouring, and not a stain or 

 discoloration to be seen on any of the berries (Muscats and 

 Black Hambirrghs). The pot Vines I treat, so far as regards 

 the syringing, exactly in the same w.ay, and the bloom that is 

 upon the Black Gr.apes" cannot be surpassed. But it appears 

 that your correspondent and myself have disagreed to agree ; for 

 most assuredly I perfectly agi-ee with him in reference to the 

 water being clean. Undoubtedly the water must be perfectly 

 clean, or the Grape will be (Uscoloured. I can speak to this from 



