■November 18, 1869. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



397 



winter destroyed ; but this little blue flower was allowed to keep 

 its place, and it not only survived, but waxed stronger and 

 stronger each winter, bracing its constitution for the endurance 

 of yet greater chills. For some years past it has had undis- 

 puted possession of the stub, completely covering it with its 

 mantle of blue, and forming a strikingly pleasing variety among 

 the reds, whites, and yellows around it. I think the plant may 

 now be considered quite safe, it having stood the test of some 

 very severe winters. — W. J., Staplchurst, Kent, 



PELARGONIUMS FOR COVERING WALLS. 



I SEE in an answer to a correspondent, in No. 449, that you 

 recommend Pelargonium The Clipper, as suitable for covering 

 a conservatory wall ; having grown it in a similar manner, but 

 chiefly for its flowers, I agree with the recommendation, 

 thinking this variety one of the very best for the purpose. 

 In the first batch of the late Mr. Beaton's crosses, sent out by 

 Mr. W. Paul, there are several varieties of sufficient vigour 

 and very distinct in colour, suitable for anyone who may want 

 to plant with the above object. Those which I have grown 

 and can recommend are — Mrs. William Paul, a Nosegay variety 

 with large pink flowers ; Amy Hogg, also a Nosegay, with a very 

 large truss and dark rose-coloured flowers; Excellent, rosy 

 scarlet, having a large truss, and good-shaped, thick-petaled 

 flowers ; Princess Liechtenstein, salmon pink, and very large. 

 There is another desirable variety called Madame Eudersdorff, 

 which, though more of a salmon colour out of doors, has nearly 

 white flowers in-doors ; although it is not of such vigorous 

 growth as the preceding, it is a profuse bloomer. Like all 

 which I have named, it is capable of covering a piece of wall 

 10 feet high by I! feet wide, though not in so short a time as 

 the other varieties. 



I think for the purpose referred to, this section of the Pelar- 

 gonium should be more grown because of the quick growth 

 and attractive qualities of the plants, as well as an abundant 

 supply of flowers for cutting being almost a certainty for at 

 least nine months out of the twelve. Their culture, too, is very 

 simple, and unless the plants are mismanaged or neglected 

 they never look unsightly. Mine are growing in a rather 

 heavy, rich, turfy loam, and road drift, with a good sprinkling 

 of charcoal ; they have good drainage, manure water at times, 

 and two prunings in the year — namely, in March and August. 

 The pruning chiefly consists in thinning and shortening the 

 shoots. The second pruning gives the plants additional vigour 

 for flowering, which they do all the winter. 



With the above Pelargoniums, a plant or two of the lilac- 

 flowered Heliotropium oorymbosum may be grown. It flowers 

 the whole of the winter, and moat abundantly if treated in a 

 similar manner to the Pelargoniums. With the flowers of the 

 different Pelargoniums I have named, the Heliotrope, and a 

 few sprigs of the Maiden-hair Fern, a bouquet may be made 

 at almost any time, and if the flowers be arranged properly and 

 tastefully it will be fit for any drawing-room. — T. Eecoed. 



BUDDING VINES. 



Some time since on paying a visit to Trentham, I saw a lot of 

 Vines — Lady Downe's I think — budded with Madresfield Court. 

 Nearly every bud had taken, and they had made fine canes. 

 Though few persons have grafted more Vines than I have had 

 worked here, yet in my ignorance I thought these budded 

 Vines better worth seeing than anything which had come under 

 my observation for a long time, and I set Mr. Stevens down in 

 my mind as a thoroughly clever man. I have seen since an 

 article or two in which the wiiters make out that there is 

 nothing new in budding Vines, that to them it is quite an old 

 practice ; in fact, they and their friends have carried on the 

 practice so extensively, the wonder is how so many of us can 

 have been so behindhand as not to know all about it years ago. 

 Well, it is quite clear Mr. Stevens need not show his Vines to 

 anyone, or, at least, if he do show them, any pride he might 

 have felt in doing so is now quite out of place. The practice, if 

 not as old as the hills, is a very old one. Is it not strange that 

 when anything particularly good and which appears quite new 

 is described, it always is old ? I am quite surprised no fossil 

 telegraph posts have been found yet. 



Though it is a bad thing to have to confess ignorance, yet it 

 is worse to be unwilling to learn, and I think some of your 

 readers would be glad to know how a young Vine can be cut up 

 into single eyes, and each eye made into a strong fruiting cane, 



or rather thick rod, in one year. I cannot help thinking that 

 if Mr. Stevens would describe his practice, some of your nu- 

 merous readers who have not seen the Vines in question, would 

 be much obliged to him for the information.— J. R. Pearson, 

 Chilwell. 



[We wish Mr. Stevens would oblige us with a detail of his 

 practice. Few persons know how to bud the Vine, although 

 directions were published in 1844. — Ens.] 



INDUSTRIAL EMPLOYMENT ASSOCIATION, 



ESTABLISHED FOR THE PURPOSE OF PREVENTING PAUPERISM 

 AND CRIME, BY RESCUING DESTITUTF. CHILDREN, AND 

 EMPLOYING ■■WASTE LABOUR ON WASTE LAND." Offices: 

 35. Parliament Street, S.W. 



This Society which has, as our readers will observe, a some- 

 what long name — yet a shorter one would not, perhaps, properly 

 describe its aim and objects — has recently issued its third 

 report, which is now before us. It takes for its motto, " Pre- 

 vention is better than cure," and as Lord Stanley has observed, 

 " The principle of the Association is sound ;" Lord Shaftes- 

 bury, Sir Robert Peel, and others well capable of judging have 

 also written in its favour. At the same time we would warn 

 its promoters not to be too sanguine. 



We have at this time a great number of able-bodied workmen 

 leaving our shores, yet we have in the United Kingdom up- 

 wards of 31,000,000 acres still uncultivated, some of it capable 

 of high cultivation. These things ought not to be. Then 

 when we consider that children trained to farming operations 

 almost always grow up strong men and women, and capable of 

 earning an honest livelihood, we must regret still more this 

 waste land. Children run to waste for want of employment, 

 land runs to waste for want of cultivation ; the former are just 

 fitted to remedy the latter, the latter to remedy the former ; 

 and yet this is not done. I wish that the Government would 

 undertake the work. The waste land is England's ; the waste 

 children are also England's. This Association endeavours to 

 move both Government and people ; we wish it success. We 

 can ourselves speak of the benefit which has arisen from re- 

 claiming land from the dominion of the water ; thus Whittlesea 

 Mere was a quarter of a century since a useless portion of 

 England, the land formerly its bed now feeds oxen or grows 

 good corn. 



Supposing newly-cultivated land falls into the hands of 

 small holders, much would depend upon their knowledge of 

 cultivating the soil. Thus Fergus O'Connor, when he started 

 his Land Scheme, established a lot of cottages on five-acre 

 plots, near Lincoln. The first occupiers totally failed ; they 

 were artisans, and ignorant of soil-culture. Their successors 

 are doing well, being cultivators. One of them is clerk to 

 Bev. Mr. Ellison, he bought one of the five-acre plots, and he 

 and wife and daughter cultivate it. He was a gnrdener, has 

 a vinery, a Cucumber house, and plant house. He sold £40 

 worth of plants last year, besides Grapes, &a. It must, how- 

 ever, be observed that the five-acre plots are good land. We 

 are justified in believing that some waste land ought to be 

 brought under good cultivation, and suitable renters could 

 obtain a good livelihood. As in America, so in England, the 

 poorest crowd into the towns ; thence come overcrowding, 

 horrible vice, disease, misery extreme, and not seldom crime. 

 If these wasted labourers could be brought to work on now 

 waste land, the tide of human life would be turned back to 

 pure air, clean water, and accommodation fit for beings with 

 mind and souls. Could this Society carry out its object, the 

 happiness and morality of the masses would be increased, and, 

 of course, society itself benefited. The Society has need of 

 funds to continue and strengthen its present staff and labours, 

 and the public must come to its aid, and provide funds of at 

 least £300 a-year for rent of offices and necessary expenses. 

 Those who have to give could surely send a trifle to the 

 Secretary, 35, Parliament Street. Their mite would, perhaps, 

 produce a large interest of good to man.— Wiltshire Rector. 



POMOLOGICAL GLEANINGS. 



Chereies in the United States.— At the recent meeting 

 of the American Pomological Society at Philadelphia, it was 

 suggested that each delegate should name one variety of Cherry 

 that was considered the best and most flourishing in the section 

 where he resided. This resulted in four of them naming the 

 Kentish, caUed in the States the Early Richmond, andsixCoe's 



