October 24, 1866. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



333 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Da/ 



of 



Month 



Week. 



Ttl 



W 



Th 



F 



S 



Sun 



M 



OCTOBER 24-80, 1865. 



CJ"Iili>n Plover appears. 



t'mi«i itliiiund. 



Wliitt' Tliurii loftvos fall. 



Wild (njoHo aiTlveH. 



St. Siskin and St. .Tude. 



•id SrNUAV AFTER TitlNlTY. 



Woodcock arrives. 



Avcrairo Temperature 

 near Louilou. 



Day. 

 SO.l 

 55.7 

 55.5 

 54.7 

 51.5 

 63.5 

 66.1 



NlKht. 

 87.4 

 88.6 

 86.6 

 89.1 

 88.6 

 84.3 

 88.7 



Mean. 

 47.8 

 47.2 

 46.U 

 47.0 

 46.6 

 44.2 

 40.i) 



Rain in 



la»t 

 88 yeorB. 



Days. 

 17 

 18 

 15 

 23 

 28 

 18 

 19 



Sun 

 RiueH. 



m. h. 

 42af6 

 43 C 



San 

 Seta. 



Moon 

 Riiics. 



h. 

 47 at 4 



m. li. 



4 11 



15 11 

 after. 



11 1 



44 1 



14 2 



43 2 



Moon 

 Sets. 



m. h. 



67 7 

 61 8 



68 9 

 11 



morn. 



12 fl 



26 1 



Moon'B 

 Age. 



Days. 

 6 



n 



7 

 J) 



9 

 10 

 11 



Clock 

 after 

 Sun. 



15 48 



15 50 



15 66 



16 2 

 16 6 

 16 10 

 16 18 



bay 



of 



Year. 



297 



29« 

 2(19 

 800 

 8111 

 802 

 3Ut 



From observations taken near London diirint; the last thii-ty-eiRht years, tho average day temperatnro of the week ifl 55.0", and its uigbt 

 temperature 37.8 ". Tho Kruateat heat was 61\ on the 28th, 18G0 ; and 29th and 8l)th, 1838 : and tho lowest cold, 23', on the 26lh, 1859 ; 

 and 29th, 1843. Tho gi-CMitest fall ot raiu was 1.06 inch. 



A SURGEON'S NOTES ON GRAPES. 



DO not miuil confessing 

 that <Ti'o\\Tng Vines is my 

 especial liobby in t^arden- 

 iiiS- The cvcry-ilay work 

 of my laborious profession 

 (Iocs not leave much time 

 for any solar amusement, but I can lind enough to look after 

 my Vines. And then they are so grateful ; tliey thankfully 

 aclcnowledge the slightest attention — climbing, pushmg, 

 and clasping ; even late in the siunmer developmg minia- 

 ture lateral bimches in some neglected corner wliile the 

 main crop is colom-hig ! I have no fault to find with stone 

 fnut under glass, except their tenacity of attention ; tliey 

 insist on so much s_>iinging, so much watering, are so fond 

 of red spider, and flies of all colours, and throw then- fruit 

 upon the least ottence. that I determined to bid them a 

 friendly farewell, and fill up their place with Vines. 



The very gi-owth of the Vino is joyous and bold, meet- 

 ing you every morning \nth a fresh biu'st, and almost 

 rushing up the wii'es to gi-eet you after a longer absence ; 

 and a professional man's pet ought to bear a short absence 

 tvithout materially suffering. This is eminently tlie case 

 witli tlie Vine, and is a most powerful argument for its 

 adoption as his hobby. These remarks sufficiently premise 

 tliat I do not force. A^Tiy should I '.' As I shall presently 

 show, I can get Grapes quite as early as I can tind time 

 and place to eat them : for we are equally fond of bush 

 fruit. Even now the October Red Raspben-ies are nearly 

 in as much request on my brealrfast-table as Black Ham- 

 burghs. Grapes, however, have never been more relished 

 than in tliis past September ; it gave us a slight idea of 

 the necessit}' they become in Southern Europe. With us 

 they are usually eaten in the cool half of the year as des- 

 sert after a good dinner, when their finer qualities are mtli 

 difficulty appreciated ; but tliis summer they have been 

 consumed in large quantities as a cooliug article of diet, 

 escaping their usual fate of being transformed into " wine," 

 which, if its qualities are somewhat doubttiil, has pretty 

 tolerably certain efi'ects. 'What the extremely carefuDy- 

 wnlten dii-ectious of " Upw.\eds .\xd Onw.usds " may efi'ect 

 m the improvement of these national beverages remains to 

 be proved. At present British wines are very Httle better 

 tlian sweetened small beer, with the special flavour- of the 

 name of the wine attempted to be added. For the poor, who 

 buy largely of these diiuks in iUness, the introduction of good 

 and cheap Marsala is an exceUeut boon. But if I do not 

 force Grapes I can keep them, and so enjoy them late, 

 about seven months out of the twelve. Tins is longer than 

 we get game, and it is, perhaps, better to be without such 

 high-fiavom-ed luxuries for a time, that the zest may be 

 more ai-dent when then- season retm-ns. 

 No. 239.— Vol. IX., New Sebies, 



I gi'Ow my Vines in tliree ways — on walls, in gi-oimd vine- 

 ries, and in cool vineries, and I hardly know wliich method 

 lias this year given me the most pleasure. With outdoor 

 Grapes this has been the finest season since 1H57, though 

 1H5«, lHo7, 18,'-,H, and IH.'i!) were all good. The next four 

 years — 1800. IHOl, ls(;:i, ISfi.')— were nearly equally bad 

 from tho well-remembered winter-summer of lK(ifl, and the 

 partial failure of the succeeding summers. 1804 was too 

 dry, thciugh, perhaps, the fine crop of this year owes its 

 existence to tliat dryness. 



Although iu Huntmgdonshu-e, jnst on the verge of the 

 parallel where Grapes refuse to ripen (.53° 20'), I gi'ow 

 and succeed in ripening ten varieties out of doors. They 

 are given in then- order of ripening — Early Malingre, 

 Sweetwater, Miller's Burgundy, Grove-End Sweetwater, 

 Royal Muscadine. Hyland's Hardy Black. Muscat St. 

 Laurent, Black Hambiu-gh. Esperionc, and Muscat de Sar- 

 belle. Eight of these are pitted against each other, in the 

 fau'est possible manner, on the Thomery sj'stem. planted 

 2 feet apart, each with two anns, 4 feet long, spun-ed in 

 closely to one eye at eveiy 7 inches along the rod. This 

 system gives perfectlj' fau- results, and if faithfully chro- 

 nicled for a term of years would give valuable data as to 

 the growth and ripening of the different varieties. 



To the first-named, the Early ^Malingi-e. I am glad to 

 attach my testunouy of its good qualities. For thi-ee years 

 it has ripened on the 20th of August on an open waU, 

 wiien other varieties with exactly the same exposm-e and 

 treatment were stiU. stoning. It is a veiy elegant oval 

 Grape, with the crunson calj'x stUl adheiing to the berry. 

 The bunch is also prettUy shaped. I was sony to see 

 Dr. Hogg's low estimate of it in the " Fruit Manual ;" but 

 Jove is reported to have occasionally nodded. The Grove- 

 End Sweetwater, in spite of its synonj-me, is hardly so 

 early or so fine as the old Sweetwater. To my taste the 

 Royal Muscadine is superior to. both, more gelatinous, 

 croqiHiiit, and has not the ranli taste that the Sweetwater 

 acquii-es wiien gi'0\\ai on walls. Miller's Biu'gundy will 

 always ripen, and if opportunity be allowed for eating, 

 will always please with its Black-Cm-rant flavom-. Hy- 

 land's is a very good Grape, reared by the late gardener 

 at Hinchinbrooke. It is a most lovely Vine iu the .spiing, 

 from the beautiful pm-e light green of the young shoots, 

 and the nmnber of bmiches it shows. It is not a good 

 setter if the weather is cold and wet at the flowering : but 

 tliis year it has been most successful. It has closely-set 

 bmiclies ; berries black, oblate, roimdish ; slight JIuscat 

 flavour, more fully developed xmder glass. I cannot say I 

 care for the Esperione, though a most prolific bearer, with 

 fine bunches. Except in such favom-able seasons as the 

 present, it is sadly deficient in sweetness and flavom- : and 

 I can well believe " Upw.\bt)s and O.swabds " wiien he 

 says that honey is an excellent addition to the wine made 

 fi'om it, even in excess of the sugar. INIuscat St. Laiu-ent 

 is a watery Grape, decidedly Muscat ; rather sliy beai-er 

 out of doors, thougli prolific luider glass. Tlie leaf in 

 dying shows the Sweetwater parentage. Sarbelle shows 

 freely, growing well, but is ditiicidt to ripen, and is hardly 

 so good as Hyland's. 



No. 891.— Vol. SXXrv., Old Sekhs- 



