XIV PKOCEEDINGS. 



Awards. Knightian Medals : To Messrs. Loddiges, of Hack- 

 ney, for various Orchids, more especially Oncidium crispura, 

 a large-flowered variety of Barkeria Skinneri, Cattleya Lod- 

 digesii, Epidendrum vitellinum, a white-lipped variety of 

 Odontoglossum grande, and the rare Apricot-coloured Ca- 

 lanthe curculigoides. To Mr. Plant, gardener to J. H. 

 Schroder, Esq., F.H.S., for a collection of Orchids, consist- 

 ing of Laelia Perrinii, Lycaste Skinneri, a very large-flowered 

 Phalaenopsis like araabilis, Epidendrum Skinneri, the beau- 

 tiful Oncidium Barkeri, and other Oncids. To Mr. Moore, 

 gardener to R. Hanbury, Esq., F.H.S., for Odontoglossum 

 grande, Trichopilia tortilis, Cattleya labiata superba, and 

 other Orchids. To Jones Nash, Esq., of Bishop's Stortford, 

 for very fine bunches of Black Hamburgh and perfectly- 

 ripened Muscat of Alexandria Grapes. 



The vineries in which these were produced, it is under- 

 stood, are heated with brick flues. The rafters are nearly 

 20 feet long, with upright sashes in front. There is a pit 

 in the middle of each, filled with tan which is renewed an- 

 nually. The glass is chiefly crown ; but the lower sashes 

 of one house are glazed with 16-ounce sheet. Ventilation 

 is managed by opening the sashes in front, and sliding down 

 those at the top. 



The Black Hamburgh Vines were planted in 1843, and 

 cut back in 1844, when each at once made the whole of the 

 single rod that furnishes the crop. These rods are now, on 

 an average, 5^ inches in circumference, and run straight up 

 the centre of each light, so that the leaves and bunches 

 are exposed to all the light and air which the houses can 

 furnish. The borders are thus constructed. The houses are 

 built on the side of a low hill, with a gravelly bottom. On 

 the surface of the natural ground, whicli was coated with 

 concrete, the border has been formed 3^ feet deep at the 

 back, and 2.^ feet deep in front, so that it slopes from back 

 to front, where it is rounded off". No rain can ever lodge 

 there. It was formed witli burnt clay (the bottom of some 

 old brick-kilns), loamy turf from an old pasture, plasterers' 

 rubbish, hair and trimmings of hides (called fleshings) from 

 the tan-yards, and an enormous quantity of thoroughly- 

 rotten stable manure — tlie last border alone consumed a 

 Ijarge-load of 40 tons of such manure. All these materials, 

 after being thrown together, were thorouglily incorporated. 

 They form so loose a bed tliat a stick may be easily pushed 

 through it to the very bottom. 



Every November these borders receive a good mulching 

 of stable manure, which remains to rot in the succeeding 



