PROCEEDINGS. lix 



Black Hamburgh Grapes, with which came the followino- 

 memoranda : — " Finding the vines in this establishment in 

 a bad condition, I was at a loss to discover by what means 

 to furnish my employer's table with grapes. I thought that 

 to destroy all the vines at once would be unwise, and on 

 examining the border I found it very wet and cold. I cut 

 a trench 3 feet from the front of the house across the 

 border, and found all the old roots decayed, and only some 

 few new ones growing from tlie stems of the vines, and 

 which had the appearance of having been produced after 

 the manure had been removed. In November, 1846, I 

 filled the trench with hot stable manure and covered the 

 border with 3 feet of oak leaves. Forcing commenced on 

 the 21st of November. The vines broke weakly, and 

 showed a light crop which ripened in April. After the 

 crop was all cut, I shaded the house and removed the other 

 portion of the border, taking every particle of soil away, 

 although the vines were in full leaf, I drained it well with 

 strong oak wood, and upon this was put 1 foot in thickness 

 of long manure in a fresh state. The soil employed was 

 turfy loam and horse droppings ; the roots were carefully 

 placed in the soil as we made the border. After all was 

 finished, it received a gentle watering, and in a fortnight 

 the vines commenced growing, and made shoots up to the 

 top of the house, and ripened in October. The vines were 

 pruned in November. Forcing commenced on February 

 8th, and there is now a good crop of grapes, of which the 

 specimens sent are samples. Tlie vines have all made 

 shoots of good strength from the bottom to the top of the 

 house, and have all the appearance of luxuriance, their 

 leaves being large and dark green, and I have no doubt 

 they will bear fruit of excellent quality next year. They 

 are now in a good state for early forcing, the wood being 

 quite ripe. The three bunches I sent to Chiswick July 

 meeting, weighing 2 lbs. each, from the same vines were not 

 sent with the view of obtaining a prize, but merely as evi- 

 dence of the hardships the vine will bear, and of a quick 

 way of improving vines when they are in a bad condition." 

 Samples, green and white, of a very nice sort of elastic 

 hexagon netting were shown by Mr. Haythorn, of Notting- 

 ham, 



Novelties from the Society's Gardex. Tritonia aurea, 

 a beautiful orange-flowered Caffreland production, nearly re- 

 lated to Gladiolus ; Eranthemum albiflorum, an Acanthad, 

 pretty enough, but too much like a white Lilac ; Calceo- 

 laria cuneiformis, a woody Bolivian species, in its young state 

 vol. hi. / 



