November 4, 1869. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



3£? 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 

 ot 



Month 



Day 



ol 



Week. 



KOVEMBER 4—10, 1869. 



Th 

 F 

 S 

 scs 



M 



Tn 

 W 



Meeting of Linnean Society, 8 r.il. 



24 ScSDiT AFTER TRINITY. 



Prince of Walfs Born, 18-11. 



Meetine! of Royal Microscopical Society, 



[8 P.M. 



.^vcrflpre Tempera- 

 ture near London. 



Day. 

 52 

 58.0 

 527 

 53.2 

 61.2 

 60.6 

 50.5 



INiBht. 

 Si>.5 

 37.6 

 S6S 

 37.0 

 34.6 

 S.3 7 

 34.0 



I 



Mean.l 



44.3 



45.3 



45.0 



44.6 



43.4 



43.1 



42.2 



Rain in 



last 

 42 years, 



Days. 

 21 

 21 

 19 

 20 

 19 

 IB 

 23 



Sun 

 Rises, 



Sun 

 Sets. 



tn. h. 

 Iaf7 

 2 7 



m. h. 

 27af4 



26 4 



24 4 



23 4 



22 4 



20 4 



19 4 



Moon 

 Rises. 



m. h. 

 IS af 7 

 34 8 

 60 9 

 59 10 

 57 11 

 after. 

 20 1 



Moon 

 Sets. 



I 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Davs. 

 1 

 2 

 8 

 4 

 5 

 G 

 7 



From obserratioBS taken near London during the last forty-two years, the average day temperature of the week is 51 7°; 

 temperature 35.7''. The greatest heat was 63', on the 5th, 1852, and 6th, 1834 ; and the lowest cold 17°, on the 9th, 18i)4. 

 fall of rain was 1.02 inch. 



and its night 

 The greatest 



GRAPE-GROWIXG IX SCOTLAND. 



i^^^S LTHOUGH the Vine is not a plant indigenous 

 to this country (England), we have long 

 claimed the honour of being its chief and 

 foremost cultivators. If sunny France and 

 Spain have been able to show us their vine- 

 yards, and to let us taste their wines, we in 

 turn have boasted, and honestly so, of our 

 vineries — of our Grapes. We have been able 

 to show them such Grapes as completely to 

 astound by their magnificence. As if to keep 



men and tilings on a sort of equality, it seems to be a 

 settled law, that where " Nature doth most, man doth 

 least." This law is well exemplified in the case of the 

 Vine ; for where the natural climate is the most favourable 

 for the production of Grapes, it is there that the most 

 miserable fruit are produced. We improve upon, or 

 rather assist. Nature in this way — we make up for the 

 want of a natui-al climate for the Vine by an artificial one. 

 We receive the Vines from southern Europe, and send 

 thither the fruit, as examples of our skill, so much altered 

 and improved that the original is almost lost sight of and 

 unrecognisable. We take credit for our successes, and 

 attribute them all to our superior management, to the 

 greater attention we pay to cultivation. Granted that we 

 do all this ; experienced cultivators have, however, proved 

 that it is more easy to produce good Grapes in this country 

 than in theh- native climes. Why, we will not inquire : 

 for, be that as it may, the gardeners of England have long 

 pre-eminently shone, and enjoyed the prestige as the cham- 

 pion Grape-growers of the world. 



How long will this last ? however, we inquire. How 

 long shall we the gardeners of England sustain this 

 proud reputation .' Passing events would seem to say 

 that the glory is passing from us. We read of a Great 

 International Fruit (Grape) Show in Edinburgh, where, 

 if the words of the Rev. S. Reynolds Hole be true, that 

 " defeat was glorj-," what must victory have been '.' We 

 hear on every side accounts of this as the gi-eatest and 

 finest exhibition of Grapes that has yet been seen. And 

 from whence came they — they, the victors '.' From the 

 foot of the Grampian Hills — from the borders of the High- 

 lands of Scotland. Good Grapes were there as well from 

 many other parts of Scotland ; good Grapes were there 

 from England — from England's champion growers — yet 

 the glory of the contest, the place of honour, was unde- 

 niably won by Scotland : and honour to whom honour 

 is due. 



It is not a great many years since it was a settled 

 article of belief amongst English cultivators, yes, and 

 Scotch ones too. that first-class highly-finished Grapes 

 could not be produced north of the Tweed, however great 

 the skill, or however much the care taken in their cultiva- 

 tion ; the climate was too cold, the summers were too 

 short and sunless, &.c. Is it the cUmate or the seasons, 

 then, that have altered ? or is it the cultivators who have 

 triumphed over and surmounted the difficulty, if such there 

 was? We have no evidence of the former, therefore the 

 No. 449.— Vol. XVII., New Sesibb. 



entire credit is due to the latter. I do not affirm that 

 Grapes are more difficult of cultivation in the northern 

 part of the kingdom than in the southern. I simply call 

 attention to this noteworthy fact, that the finest Grapes, 

 both for appearance and flavour, at the late show came 

 from the most northern exhibitors. I call attention to the 

 remarkable excellence to which Grape cultivation has now 

 arrived in Scotland, and note the exceedingly rapid pro- 

 gress made in that one department during the last few 

 vears. 



■ When the first International Fruit Show was projected 

 in Edinburgh, we in the south had little fear for our 

 -laurels." It was, however, with something akin to- 

 astonishment that we were met with the magnificent pro- 

 ductions of Mr. Fowler, of Castle Kennedy, and Mr. 

 Thomson, of Dalkeith. This year we have been agam 

 invited to the fight, again to be vanquished, this time 

 more smartly than ever. Again we have had a new 

 antagonist to encounter ; this time it is Mr. George John- 

 ston, gardener to the Earl of Strathmore, Glamis Castle, 

 Forfarshire, who for his signal successes, having obtained 

 eleven first prizes for Grapes, must be designated the 

 champion amongst Grape cultivators. 



It may be inquired by those who have not been able 

 to see for themselves whether these Grapes, wliich have 

 excited so much interest, were superior, or even equal, to 

 those usually to be seen at our own exhibitions— in our own 

 gardens'? I dare to say they were, and very much so. 

 The Grapes exhibited at our southern horticultural shows 

 latterly have been, with a few exceptions, notoriously in- 

 different in qualitv. There has been a very perceptible 

 fallin'^ off in the general muster of the Grapes at our shows 

 during the past two or three years, in spite of aU our 

 boasted improvements in tlieir culture. Grapes are cer- 

 tamly not so well represented now at our exhibitions as 

 they were even six or eight years ago. It may be argued 

 that we have had no good autumnal exhibition calling 

 for a display of this kingly fruit. Tliis is quite true, but 

 independently of all that, I venture to say that we, as a 

 nation of Grape cultivators, are sleeping in our spmrs 

 meditatmg on past glories, while our northern fnends are 

 prancing triumphantly ahead of us. 



We are enabled to see that which is, we can also con- 

 template that which has been. Twenty years ago coiild 

 we have written thus of the Grapes in Scotland '.' Scarcely i 

 for evei-y good bunch that could have been found then, I 

 will encase to find thousands now— yes, and thousands 

 finer. It is not a difficult matter to trace the source, to 

 discover the cause, of this great impetus in Grape growing. 

 I have but to point to the man. I have but to name 

 Mr Thomson, of Dalkeith. From the very day that he 

 recrossed the border on taking charge of the gardens at 

 Dalkeith, then world-famous through his predecessor ttie 

 creat Mr. Jlclntosh, horticulture, m especial Grape cul- 

 ture, has made rapid progress in the north. By his own 

 noble example of culture at Dalkeith : by Ins pracUcal 

 instructions so clearly given in his book on "The Nine; 

 bv his able editorsliip of " The Gardener, a pubhcation 

 enioyin" the confidence of most practical gardeners ; by 



No. 1101.— Vol, XLII.. Old Sxbixs. 



