IM 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



I KcbruKrr 6, isee. 



In the case of mildewed Vines I apply it early in the morn- 

 ing by drenching them weU with the syringe; but for rod 

 ppider I close the house ratlicr early in the afternoon and thin 

 ply the s\Tinge ; of course it is bettor to keep clear of the 

 bunches as much as possible, but it docs not dictigurc them. 

 In 8 late house of lilack HamburKhs, so treated last summer, 

 no one coiJd sec anv trace of it except by cloi-o scrutiny. With 

 regard to Poach trees. I generally apply it in the evening. For 

 mildew it inav bo nocospary to use it a second or third time ; 

 but for red spider I find that twice in the .reason is quite sufli- 

 dent. For Cucumbers, after well sjTinging the plants, I keep 

 the frame or pit close for a few days, thro«;ing a mat over the 

 glass when the sun strikes it, instead of giving air. 



This mixture must not be used for Melons, as it will cer- 

 tainly destroy the plants. I have no doubt that it will be 

 found of great service amongst other plants when affected 

 either with mildew or red spider ; but as yet my experiments 

 have gone no further than what I have stated above, and the 

 loss of two crops of Jfelons has warned me to use it with 

 caution on plants not hitherto tried with it. ANTiite paint is 

 discoloured by it, but only for a time. 



In conclusion, I assure your correspondents, Mr. Wills and 

 " T. S. W.," that if, on tlie first appearance of red spider on 

 the Vines, they will do as I have stated above they will not 

 find it necessarj- in future to paint the stems of the Vines as 

 a preventive of that archenemy. — J. M., Kxmoiith. 



ICEMACHINE. 



After the snow on the 10th of January, a frost of 15 

 occurred on the following night, and on the Friday wc were 

 lucky in being able to till our ice-house, as Saturday brought a 

 rapid thaw. I have thought for some years, that if ice could 

 be ground or crushed fine before being placed in the ice-house, 

 ■we should be able to secure a much larger quantity in the same 

 house, and tl at a considerably greater body of air would be 

 expelled from the house, making a difference of several months 

 in the keeping. Could not some of the great machine manu- 

 facturers turn their attention to the matter ? 



I should very much like the opinions of some of .your corre- 

 spondents (perhaps Mr. Fish would be kind enough to enlighten 

 us), whether groimd ice would not keep better than ice in 

 lumps of larger dimensions. — John Pkbkins. 



ri have no doubt at all as to smashed or crushed ice keeping 

 longer than that which is merely roughly broken, especially if 

 the crushed ice is well pounded together with heavy beaters 

 after it has been so pounded. I have had no experience in the 

 use of a machine for smashing ice. The most scnieeable, I 

 think, would be a powerful crusher with a rotarj- motion worked 

 by horse-power, the crusher placed over the crown of the ice- 

 well, and the carts being emptied close beside it. Uiiless the 

 machine were made to suit other grinding and crushing pur- 

 poses besides ice. there would be considerable outlay, and the 

 infrequencv of the use would come to be looked at seriously in an 

 economical" point of view. By breaking the ice pretty well be- 

 fore it was thrown into the hopper of the crusher, the cartloads 

 might be housed ncarlv as quickly or more quickly than now, 

 and that would be a great matter, as it is often important to 

 secure as much ice as possible in little time, the frost often 

 lasting only a short period. I trust othor readers will give their 

 opinions on this subject. My own is, that the more the ice is 

 crashed the better it will keep in small houses. In large houses, 

 where a great quantity can be lodged and roughly broken, the 

 grinding would be of less consequence. Econotnically con- 

 sidered, even those who have a small house might find it 

 cheaper to make an extra ice heap or two inste.^d of obtaining 

 a machine. I have no doubt of the desirability of the latter 

 where it conld be obtained, and it would save many a strained 

 wrist from the brisk use of wooden or iron mallets by those not 

 accustomed to the work. 



So far as I know. Mr. Perkins is the first who has drawn 

 attention to a machine tor the purpose, and were there a 

 demand for such a machine, there would be no lack of a 

 supply. Meantime. I would mention from memory two very 

 effectual modes of housing ice. The first had relation to a 

 small ice-house formed on tlie north side of a verj- deep bank 

 overhung with wood. Up this bank the ice had to be carried 

 in ba-skets, after it was better pounded than ever I have seen 

 ice since. It was then well pounded in the well, and clean 

 wheaten str.iw placed round the walls as the work proceeded. 

 The position of the house prevented anything like moisture 



remaining, and a drain two or three times trapped prevented 

 all air entering from below. The labour in mulleting the ice 

 for this small ice-house, so difficult of access, was excessive; 

 but the ice kept well, and was so much of a dense solid mass 

 that a sharp pickaxe had to be used to fake out a pailful or 

 two, for two or three barrowloads at a time were not there 

 thought about. 



The other example was very different. The frost had been 

 very severe. The water was fine and clear, without even a 

 rush in it. The ice was from 3) to 4 inches in thickness, and 

 required much mallcting to break it. As an exjieriment, a lot 

 of ice was cut with sharp axes into blocks of 1") inches square. 

 These blocks were taken and packed in a part of the house by 

 themselves, and where they did not fit exactly a little water or 

 the poimded ice was placed between to fill all vacancies, whicl] 

 instantly, owing to the frost, set like cement in a brick building. 

 During the next summer, when the ice pounded in the usual 

 way had sunk considerably, these columns of blocks stood alone 

 in their glory. I attribute their greater endurance to the 

 clearness of the ice, freedom from every weed, and the shutting 

 out from them of all air, except what the water contained be- 

 fore it was frozen. Though this plan was interesting enough 

 as an experiment, it never could he carried out largely except 

 in very exceptional circumstances, whilst the crushing plan 

 proposed by our correspondent could be carried out anywhere. 

 — R. ir 



BRE.VKIXG OF THE VINE. 



" T. S. W.," in No. 2.50, says — " That irregular breaking io 

 Vines is more owing to the different parts being exposed to dif- 

 ferent temperatures than to natural causes," (I quote from 

 memory and may not use the exact words), and the same ex- 

 perience prompts me to bcUeve, that except in rare and ex- 

 ceptional cases, it is not necessary to bend, twist, or otherwise 

 distort the canes in order to insure a good " break," but that 

 proper attention to moisture and temperature is all that is 

 reijuired to bring this important part of Vine-culture to a suc- 

 cessful issue. I say important, for the management after Vines 

 have broken will be easy throughout ; but if, on the contrary, 

 they break badly, after-operations are rendered difficult and 

 disappointing. 



I have been employed in places where the bending of Vines 

 is part of a system, and they have broken badly, yet the same 

 Vines another season, bent in just the same way, have broken 

 comparatively well. I have also seen Vines break alternately 

 well and badly when trained straight up the raflers, in each 

 case the health of the Vines being the same, and also the time 

 of starting them — viz., January 1st, the best break being ob- 

 tained in mild and dull weather when but little tire heat was 

 required. Hence, it would appear that the evil is not consti- 

 tutional, but atmospheric, and, therefore, more immediately 

 capable of being remedied. I will briefly give the treatment as 

 practised in two cases. First, then, let us start with a night 

 temperature of 50', and a rise by day of a few degrees, not 

 being particular to a degree or two. Admit air air shghtly at 

 the front as well as back of the house, syringe in the morning, 

 and again in the afternoon — say at two or three o'clock, and 

 close the house, which will not be opened again until nine or 

 teu the next moniing — no systematic inoisteniug of the paths 

 and floor of the house, except syringing the pi|)cs on making 

 up the fires at night. Who can be surprised at Vines breaking 

 irregularly under such treatment ? they being alternately sub- 

 jected to an atmosphere as humid as that of a swamp, and as 

 arid as that of a desert, in each case the evil being aggravated 

 by the current of air from the front lights. Add to this, that 

 tiie house being entirely close, the U])per part would he for 

 nineteen or twenty hours out of the twenty-fom- subjected 

 to a temperature so much higher thiui the lower part as to 

 cause the upper part of the Vines, be they beut or straight, to 

 obtain the start, and as a natural consequence the general 

 breaking is irregular. The least evil which follows, is that all 

 the best bunches arc at the top of the house. 



In the second case, tlie same Vines shall be trained directly to 

 the top of the house, be started at the same night temperature, 

 keeping the paths, walls, .tc, of the house coustnutly moist, 

 but the atmosphere not stagnant, damping them ten or twenty 

 times aday if required. Let the day temperatiue be attained 

 by nine o'clock in the morning, being a rise on the niglit tem- 

 perature of 5° by fire heat, and of 15° by sun heat; in each 

 case by unremitting and unflagging attention keep it unifoim 

 Let there be a system of airing, and let that system be rigidly 



