88 



JOUBNAL OF HOKTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



[ Jannary 80, 1866. 



Lad; Downe'g prodnccd by it is of very largo Bize, and the 

 liorriea are tmnBUollj- so, jet black, and highly flavoured. Al- 

 together Bupcrior to the same variety on its own roots. 



No. 3. — LikIi) Uiiicnc't iini/UJ uii the iUack Ihimburgh. The 

 berries are large and well coloured, and the flavour excellent. 



jJo. 4. I.aitii Diiirne'f jroirn on it^ own rout'. Although the 



bunch and bcrricn are not so large in this ca-'e as in that where 

 it is grown on tiromier dn Cantal and Black Hamburgh, the 

 flavour soems richer and more sugary. 



No. 5. — LikI'I Dciwiw's pni/trd on C/inK.«-(rt,< NapoU'iiu. The 

 bnncbes and ben-ies are small, and very inierior in every re- 

 spect to all the preceding. 



No. 6. — H>«('» St. Peter's grafted on Barbarossa (Grog Guil- 

 Iflume). The flavour here is more than ordinarily rich and 

 Bweet, and there seems to be more sugar than is usually present. 

 The berries, however, are not so large as in the following : — 



No. 7. — liVsCs St. Peter's prafled on Mmeat of Alexandria. 

 The stock has eWdently exercised an influence here for the 

 better, the berries being more than ordinarily large, and the 

 flavour rich. We almost fancy we can detect a slight indica- 

 tion of the Muscat flavour occasionally. 



No. 8.— Black Alicante (Merediths). This is the true Ali- 

 cante of Specchly, and a very different Grape from that which 

 appeared witliin the last few years as Kempsey Alicante, which 

 proves to be the Morocco. The flavour is very deUcious, and 

 it is one of the best late Grapes. 



No. 9. — Cox's Black Alicante. This is the Grape that gave 

 rise to the name of Kempsey Alicante, but which is the same 

 as Morocco. 



No. 10. — Gros Maroc. This is a large olive-shaped Grape, 

 as large as Morocco, but colours much better. The flesh is 

 tender and melting as that of the Black Hamburgh. 



No. 11. — Bhiel: Eagle. This is a small black Grape, both 

 in the bunch and the berry, and does not appear to possess any 

 merit. 



No. 12, — Golden Lady Dotcne's. This, a white form of the 

 Black Lady Downe's, and exactly similar to it. It produces 

 the same cylindi-ical form of bunch, the same large round 

 berries, but with a fine golden yellow colour, and the same firm 

 crackling flesh. It is now (Januai-y 27thl as plump, firm, and 

 as juicy as it might have been in October, while all the others 

 we have mentioned are more or less shrivelled. 



No. 13. — Child of Hale is an oval Syrian-looking Grape, but 

 does not possess any st ri king merit. 



GLEANINGS FROM ROCK AND FIELD 

 TOWAIiDS ROME.— No. 11. 



The railway journey from Bologna to Milan is through a 

 rich pastoral country with low-lying fields of rice or grain and 

 dykes bordered with Myosotis palustris, with here and there 

 large patches of a brilliant blue Teucrium (regium '!). I felt 

 very jealous of this particular railway journey, remembering 

 our pleasant drive, in days gone by, through Modena, Parma — 

 sacred to Correggio and his frescoes — I'iacenza, and Lodi, 

 where the women wear a long black Moorish veil, which is ex- 

 ceedingly becoming, and where, in fields Imee deep in pasture, 

 it is said that eighty thousand cows are kept to supply milk for 

 the Parmesan, Gniyire, and other cheese. 



It was very tantalising to pass rushing onwards, catching 

 only glimpses of the wild flowers one longed to possess ; but, 

 after awhile, the earth, with its many-coloured carpet, was for- 

 gotten in the entrancing view of the snow-capped Alps, which 

 broke upon us out of cloudland, revealing itself not in one full 

 bnrst of beauty, but in dream-like visions that made you thirst 

 for nearer, closer revelations. Is there anything that can bo 

 compared with snow mountains ? — any feeling like that which 

 is awakened by " Is it a mountain or a cloud ? Oh, how 

 lovely ! What is it — so radiant in its glowing purity — now- 

 appearing, and now gone, as if a door were suddenly opened 

 and shut, through whose portal you saw distant glimmerings of 

 light and beauty which only flashed across your dazzled sight 

 to vanish away?" As evening came stealing on, the parting 

 clouds showed the same wonderful images changed to a rosy 

 light. The most refulgent glowing rose colour rested on the 

 mountain snort-. 



From these visions of the work of God we passed to that 

 most perfect work of man — the Cathedral of Milan, built of the 

 purest white mavhle, its thousand chiselled minarets gleaming 

 against the sky. We sat down in the broad Piazza watching it, 

 as the stars one by one appeared twinUing in the heavens 



above, and the roond clear face of ihc moon appeared over the 

 tower, adding her mysterious light and shadow to the scene. 

 In the dim Ught we obsened a crowd of people passing into a 

 little church near at hand — we, too, entered. The church and 

 the numerous congregation were in diej) shadow, save at the 

 altar, where a brilliant blaze surrounded what is called the 

 " Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament," and revealed the 

 kneeling priest before the altar. Around us on every side rose 

 voices in a loud murmur of petition ; the priest's sonorous 

 voice saying a litany, in the responses of which the kneeling 

 people joined. It was a strange scene on that work-a-day 

 evening — poor and rich kneeling side by aide together in one 

 common supplication. 



The interior of Milan Cathedral, though fnll of beantiful 

 details, is, to me, disappointing, and the roof is painted in imi- 

 tation of stone ! — but the glory of the interior consists in the 

 shrine of St. Carlo Borromet — the modem saint, whose virtacs 

 seem to have eclipsed thoFC of Milan's anciently reverenced 

 St. Ambrose. But St. Carlo's virtues, unlike those of many of 

 the latter-day saints, will bear a scrutinising gaze. In 1505 

 we see him presiding at the Provincial Council of Milan in 

 which canons were enacted, protesting against some of the 

 abuses of the Eoman Church. Afterwards we find him "selling 

 all his goods to feed the poor;" and, when the dreadful plagne 

 visited Milan, he was the first in every oflice of love, personally 

 rendered to the sick and dying : so I did not begrudge St. Carlo 

 his gorgeous shrine, albeit the gold and jewels poured out upon 

 and all around it with such lavish prodigality seemed a little 

 out of place for one whoso motto in life and death was " Uu- 

 juilitaa." 



Everything in Milan has a clean and characteristic square 

 look about it that I have noticed in no other foreign town. 

 There is more air, more sky, and, I ftncy, more soap and 

 water. 



The public gardens are very fine, and on Sunday afternoon 

 we found a baud playing, and crowds of gaily dressed folk en- 

 joj-ing the music as far as a eontinnons flow of chatter wonld 

 allow them, as they walked up and down broad avenues of 

 Chestnuts in full bloom. In these gardens I noticed beds fnll 

 of Deutzia gracilis, the bloom hanging like wTeaths of snow 

 upon them. I had but one fault to find with the gardens, and 

 that was that they were too well kept to allow of my gathering 

 any wild flowers ; but, indeed, the dear old untidy freedom of 

 Italy seems vanishing away beneath Victor Emmanuel's sway, 

 so that I had to look on a world of sulphur Eoses hanging in 

 festoons from the trees, on boughs of Cercis siliquastrum, and 

 the Petunia Tree hanging temptingly close to my hands, with- 

 out venturing to gather a blossom ; and yet I must own that I 

 have never seen public gardens that struck me as being so well 

 kept, so handsome, or so appropriate to the purpose for which 

 they are designed ; and the numberless happy parties we found 

 at every turn proved that they were appreciated. 



One of the most ancient churches in Milan is that of 

 St. Lorenzo, before which there stands a row of columns as 

 ancient-looking ns those before the Pantheon in Rome, while 

 within the church there ai'e mosaics corresponding in style, 

 and I beUeve in date, with those in the churches of St. Con- 

 stanza and St. Prassede at Borne. 



The picture gallery of Milan is not so full of gems as that of 

 Bologna. There is the Sposalizio of Bapbael, one of his early 

 pictures when in Perugino's school ; Abraham's Dismissal of 

 Hagar by Guercino, the chief bcanty of which lies in its colonr- 

 ing. There are also some grand pictures of Paul Veronese, 

 but nothing that leaves any very lasting impression of beauty. 

 We found the celebrated Cenacola of Leonardo da Vinci in the 

 refectory of St. Maria delle Grazia much the worse for the 

 wear and tear of the ten years that had passed since we had 

 seen it ; the photographs of the original are really useless to 

 convey any idea of the extreme beauty of even what is left of 

 this painting, but there is a " touched-up "' photograph which 

 is vei-y good. The head of the Eedeemer is still beautiful, the 

 original sketch for it is preserved in the Brea, and is well 

 worth a study from its portraiture of giief, unearthly in its 

 intensity of sorrow. It depicts the moment in our Lord's life, 

 with which, perhaps, from its humanity we can best .'Sympa- 

 thise. The friend in whom He trusted, for whom He is bear- 

 ing so much, is about to betray Him. Leonardo has blended 

 tills human grief and Divine love in most wondrous harmony. 



Still on by raU to Susa, a little village in the bosom of lofty 

 moimtains, where beggars, tidily clad and well-to-do-looking, 

 meet you at every turn, some ol them with many rings on the 

 fitngers held out for charity, and gilt ornaments on their 



