Septembers, leos.] JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



187 



at present existing. Tlie question is, Do the leaves as fully 

 tlalionite ; and is the approiiriatiDn of the sap as complete, as 

 if there wore more leaves ? Wo may flatter ourselves tliat t)io 

 head controls the root ; hut if we keep the head dose-stopped 

 it is certain we do not diminish the nunilier of roots already 

 existini:!, and wo have large leaves and lnose large hunches as 

 n necessary consequence. By the tiuie that the herries are 

 half swelled the vigorous growth and root-action may he so far 

 controlled as to show none of the evils of high feeding that 

 season, hut the herries may he actually of less size than was 

 calculated ujion, and the crop ripens otT small in berry and perfect 

 in colour. Should the herries, however, attain a large size, it 

 is just possible, with root-action now reduced to a minimum, 

 that the colouring may be bad. The root-action being reduced, 

 it does not follow that the decomposition c^f the materials of 

 which the border is composed will be arrested, but it goes on 

 whether the roots be there to lay hold of its products or not, 

 and the border alfords richer food in the following year than 

 in the first or jn-evious one. This state of things continues 

 for a time witliout any serious evil being exjjerienced as regards 

 the Vines, and would no doubt set itself right ; but we, think- 

 ing the border must be in need of manure, give a heavy dress- 

 ing. We have a splendid show of fruit, and take a full crop ; 

 for the Vines, frcnn not being fed to excess, show fruit abun- 

 dantly, and we leave no more bunches than in the preceding 

 year in which they coloured beautifully, but the berries were 

 rather small, which is attributed to the border becoming ex- 

 hausted. We now have the satisfaction of seeing the Vines 

 stronger, and the berries seem as if they would not leave off 

 swelling. At last they take a turn. " Are they not tine ?" says 

 the proprietor to the visitor. But somehow the gardener does 

 notfeel quite at ease ; he shakes his head, gives extra ventilation, 

 cannot tolerate a plant in the house, and daily becomes more 

 uneasy. The Grapes colour slowly, but he sees a black berry 

 and a'beautiful bloom on it. He sighs, and says to himself 

 they wiU be all right. He never passes the vinery without 

 looking at the Grapes. Three weeks, and not black yet ! The 

 svm shines on a bunch, and he sees the seeds in some of the 

 berries — they wiU not colour. He takes a near view : they 

 have a good bloom, hut have a reddish black skin streaked 

 with black, their proper colour. He tries them for flavour, 

 and compares them with others in another house that are 

 black, and vows they are the better-flavoured of the two. Three 

 weeks longer they hang, but grow no better in colour, and he 

 is obliged to own that they are ripe and badly coloured. 

 Another year he will have them black, but for the time being 

 he will aflirra that they are better flavoured than highly co- 

 loured Grapes. Blindfold a judge, and give him a berry of 

 the imperfect and another of the perfectly coloured, and he 

 will pronounce the imperfectly coloured the better-flavoured ; 

 but let him see what he tastes, and he will give the preference 

 to the perfectly coloured, owning, however, that the former 

 are sweeter and tirmer in the flesh than the latter, which, 

 though less sweet, are more juicy, brisk, and refreshing. 



To what can we attribute defective colouring, when there is 

 nothing wanting in the management and means, but to high 

 feeding? Take what may be an average crop at the time of the 

 fruit showing, and which may safely be calculated to arrive at 

 maturity ; if from some over-zeal more food is given in the 

 atmosphere, or at the roots, coupled with extra pains being 

 taken to secure finer fruit than usual, the result is sometimes 

 badly-coloured Grapes, that no one likes to see, mucli less 

 grow. I may be told that in consequence of the berries attain- 

 ing a large size from extra feeding, the crop became heavier 

 than was calculated upon, and was, therefore, too great for 

 colouring well. Surely the increased size of the berries was 

 merely tlie effect, and the primary cause that which gave the 

 increased size to the berries. — G. Abeey. 



VENTILATING AND TRAINING IN GROUND 

 VINERIES. 



Is my opinion a much better mode of effecting the above 

 than the one proposed by your correspondent " F." in No. 229, 

 would be to have a door at the apex of the span at each end. 

 This would give thorough ventilation throughout. These doors 

 could be made to open or shut at pleasure by a mere hinge 

 and button. 



Permit me to suggest a few other alterations, I think im- 

 provements. Would it not be desirable to fix the ease on two 

 tiers of bricks instead of one, the usual practice, and leave the 



openings in the upper row ? This in some measure would 

 protect fruit from tlie ravages of iriice, slugs, and other vermin. 

 Again : my practice would bo to train the rods on stays — flat 

 pieces of iron lying transversely on tlie brickwork ; this would 

 allow the bunches to Imng, thcrcliy swelling and colouring on 

 all sides alike— a desideratum impossible to acconijilisli wluii 

 lying on the bare ground, with their upper sides plump ami 

 under sides compressed and colourless. — J. N. 



PROPAGATING AND AFTER-i\IANAGEMKNT OF 

 BEDDING AND OTHER PLANTS. 



[Cuntiiiiird front p(uji' 04.) 

 Pelargoniums. — Now is the time to propagate the Pelargo- 

 nium in order to have good plants for jilantiug out next year. 

 Where largo quantities are required jiots should be dispensed 

 with altogether ; and even where Pelargoniums are grown in 

 small quantities they will be found to do best in boxes, in 

 which way also larger numbers can be kept in a limited space. 

 There are many advantages to be gained by adopting this 

 system, one being that the plants grow better when they are 

 turned out of boxes than they do out of pots. The boxes which 

 I use are made by my own men. Formerly we used to have 

 them made by tlie carpenters who worked on the estate ; but 

 we found the demand much greater than the supply, for the 

 carpenters could not make them without measuring, plaining, 

 &c., to a great nicety : the consequence was, we could not 

 obtain more than six or eight boxes a-day from them, so 

 without serving a long apprenticeship to a carpenter I thought 



1 would try my hand at box-making. The first thing I did 

 was to get the sawyers to cut me out a lot of strips of wood 

 about (J inches wide and halt an inch thick. Well-seasoned 

 larch I find as good for this purpose as any wood I can procure. 

 Having obtained a good supply of these, my next proceetling 

 was to cut them up into two-feet lengths. After the boards 

 were all cut up search w-as made amongst the pieces that had 

 been cut to waste for the ends. Of these aU that would measirre 

 10 inches or a foot in length were cut to the desired length ; 

 then the whole lot was thrown into a tank for an hour or two 

 to soften the wood a little, as we found after a little experience 

 that the nails refused to g'> into the sides and ends of the 

 boxes without splitting them, the larch wood when seasoned 

 and very dry being very brittle and as hard as oak. After 

 leaving the pieces in the tank for two or three hours, they were 

 taken out and placed in a pile at one end of the pctting-bench, 

 which was cleared fcU' the purpose of hox-maldng. 



I and my handy man Brown, commenced the work of nailing 

 the sides together at (l a.m., and by 12 o'clock we had a large 

 pile ready, which only wanted some narrow strips to be nailed 

 across the bottoms, and the rough edges to be trimmed a little. 

 For the bottoms I use strips of the same kind of wood, about 



2 inches wide and 1 inch thick. As they are nailed on, an 

 opening of about half an inch is left between each bar, so that 

 the water may pass away freely. Well, at the end of a not-over- 

 busy day we found we had completed forty-nine of these boxes. 

 Such a quantity we should have been obliged to have waited 

 more than a Aveek for had we depended on the carpenters for 

 them. The next day we had at this sort of work, we found 

 we were becoming pretty expert, and time was gained by 

 hitting the right nail on the head, two blows doing instead 

 of four, so that sixty-three boxes were completed in one day. 

 The way we made them was as follows : — Two ends and two 

 sides were selected to match ; the ends were then placed on 

 the bench at the proper distance apart, one of the sides was 

 then placed on the ends and a nail driven in at each end to 

 keep them in their proper place, the ends were then reversed 

 and the other side nailed on; about twenty 2.J-inch nails are 

 used for nailing the sides and ends together. I find boxes of 

 this description last quite as long as those made by the sldlled 

 carpenter. They are kept in almost constant use from two to 

 three years. 



In preparing the boxes for the cuttings, I find the best drain- 

 age is charcoal, of which some large lumps are placed over the 

 openings in the bottom of the box, I then put some smaller 

 pieces between, finishing off with some small charcoal or the 

 small sittings from the crock heap. There should he about 

 li inch of drainage in the bottom of the boxes. The remain- 

 ing space in the box is then HUcil up with nice sandy soil, and 

 a little silver or clean river sand is sprinkled over the surface. 

 After this the cuttings may be put in, the soil in the boxes 

 having been made moderately firm. 



