December 10, 1874. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICOLTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



515 



nothing is better than a quill toothpick — a slight push, and, 

 presto ! in an instant the wood is out, and the much-relieved 

 bud perfectly ready for insertion ! It reads like a joke, but it 

 is a convenient reality, that one chief requiaite of budding 

 now is a bundle of toothpicks ! 



To conclude, all those who have large hearts and small gar- 

 dens, let them be assured that with a good aspect, with well- 

 grown plants, and high feeding, great success is always attain- 

 able. Let them take example and encouragement from this 

 model miniature town Rose garden. It will be observed that 

 my admiration is not altogether disinterested. The buds that 

 I get from it are the most perfect conceivable ; the beatings on 

 show days, when they occur, are equally undeniable. In short, 

 it may be said of this garden that which a French Marshal 

 (Niel, no doubt), once remarked of our army, " The English 

 infantry is the finest in the world, fortunately for others there 

 is very little of it." — A. C. 



KEEPING GRAPES— DAMPING-OFF. 



I HAVE on many occasions in this Journal written strongly 

 against fixed temperatures for growing plants, and pointed out 

 the necessity of working according to the weather; and now I 

 wish to say that the same rule holds good with respect to 

 keeping fruit and flowers, although for very different reasons. 

 " Late vineries in which Grapes are hanging to be kept at 45'," 

 say our advisers. Forty-five degrees is certainly a very good 

 temperature in which to keep Grapes and many other fruits, 

 and also flowers, provided always that you can altogether keep 

 out the external air when it gets above that temperature ; but 

 this you cannot do with ordinary vineries, and it is of no use 

 blinking the fact that 45" inside and 48° outside, very soon 

 means a number of decayed berries. While the temperature 

 outside ranges between 25° and 40° keeping fruit is a very easy 

 affair ; but let it rise suddenly to 50° or 60°, it then becomes 

 altogether more difficult. 



The sudden fluctuations of temperature this autumn have 

 been very trying for those who have to provide a large table 

 with dessert through the winter months. On two or three 

 occasions since the fruit was ripe we have gone to bed when 

 the thermometer was only a few degrees above the freezing 

 point, the sky clear, and everything appeared to foretell frost ; 

 but before daylight in the morning all has changed, and the 

 thermometer has been up near to 50°. This happening before 

 the Vines had scarcely ceased growing was very unfortunate, 

 and I have no doubt many have suffered from it severely, 

 especially where the Vines were young and vigorous. Mine 

 suffered considerably, for although the wood and fruit were 

 thoroughly ripened most of the leaves were green and seemed 

 as if they could not quite reconcile themselves to the fact that 

 it was really autumn. I almost envied some of my friends 

 who had their leaves scorched-up by the sun or eaten by red 

 spider, and then I bethought that I could, perhaps, give the 

 necessary check myself. 1 therefore cut all the laterals back 

 to 10 inches or a foot, and kept a dry atmosphere, when the 

 remaining leaves very soon ripened, and all has gone well since. 



Has anyone noticed that different soils give diflerent colours 

 to Vine leaves in autumn ? Alicante, for instance, in one soil 

 will have a beautiful soft scarlet colour, in another it is bright 

 yellow. Gros Guillaume grown in some soils has fiery-red 

 edges and streaks, while in others it is dotted with yellow and 

 pink. It is the same with most other kinds excepting Ham- 

 burghs, which I believe always turn yellow. I think, but am 

 not sure, that lime has a great deal to do with colouring the 

 leaves. 



But I am digressing. A vinery containing ripe Grapes should 

 never have a lower temperature than that which prevails out- 

 side, and as long as frost is kept out it should not be very 

 much higher. The safest plan, perhaps, is to always keep a 

 little fire going, but it is of the greatest necessity when the 

 outside temperature rises rapidly ; for do what we will by ven- 

 tilating, &a., when the outside temperature is rising, that in- 

 side our glass houses will also rise, and if the sun is shining 

 win rise very rapidly, and the moisture contained therein will 

 immediately be condensed on the coldest surface, which wiU 

 generally happen to be the fruit. On the other hand, if the 

 inside temperature is much higher than that outside, the 

 moisture will condense on the inside of the glass. If the in- 

 ternal temperature is only slightly higher than that outside, 

 both the fruit and the inside of the glass will be perfectly dry, 

 even though it rains in torrents, and you are also watering 

 plants inside the house. Let me not, however, be understood 



to recommend keeping plants inside a house which contains 

 ripe Grapes, because with the greatest care you cannot always 

 prevent the moisture condensing on the fruit when a sudden 

 rise of temperature takes place, and then the greater the 

 amount of moisture in the house the greater will be the difii- 

 oulty. 



Greenhouse flowers and plants often damp-oS from the 

 same cause that Grapes do — viz., the temperature of the air 

 about them rising rapidly while the soil and the thickest parts 

 of the flowers are still cold and consequently attract the mois- 

 ture. Damping-o£f does not always proceed from excessive 

 humidity of the atmosphere ; it is quite possible for plants and 

 flowers to damp-off in an atmosphere that is really too dry for 

 healthy growth. 



I feel great difficulty in making my meaning clear on the 

 above subject, but I trust I have said sufficient to cause some 

 of my readers to think the matter over for themselves, for I 

 consider it a very important one. — Wm. Taylob. 



THE AUEICULA. 



All lovers and growers of this beautiful flower must be 

 indebted to my friend the Rev. P. D. Horner for his valu- 

 able and exhaustive papers ; he evidently looks at Auriculas 

 with the eye of a lover and a critic, and one must almost 

 envy the riches in which he revels, and also the opportunity 

 he has of intercourse with those who are interested in the 

 flower. We, certainly, in the far south are much less ardent, 

 and I believe also labour under more difficulties in their 

 growth. As the Auricula is naturally a denizen of alpine 

 regions, the cold and breezy moorlands of Yorkshire, or even 

 the "banks and braes" of Scotland, suit it better than the 

 warmer valleys and sheltered nooks of the home counties. 

 Thus, for example, this autumn has been destructive of our 

 hopes of a good bloom next spring, or I am very much 

 mistaken. The warm and lovely days that we had in Sep- 

 tember and October drove them into bloom so rapidly, that 

 I am sure more than one-half of my blooming plants have 

 thrown up autumn trusses ; and on talking with the only 

 growers I know I hear the same report from them. As these 

 were evidently those intended for the spring bloom, I cannot 

 imagine that I can have from these plants anything but a feeble 

 and late bloom. Now Mr. Horner says he has had but little 

 autumn blooming ; and as we pot at the same time, I can only 

 attribute this to the cooler atmosphere in which they are 

 grown. The worst of it is not over, for on looking through 

 my frames to-day I see some of my largest plants with fine 

 large trusses coming up. 



I cannot say anything of many of the new varieties which 

 Mr. Horner mentions, but his remarks on the older sorts are 

 so sound that I have no doubt that we may rely on what he 

 says of them. I should very much like next season, if all be 

 well, to visit the National Exhibition, and then to see what 

 our northern friends are doing. — D., Deal. 



WINTEB CUCUMBEBS. 

 I VENinKE to give " S. J. A." my experience of the above. 

 The finest house I ever had was at Rangemore, Burton-on- 

 Trent, under Mr. Bennett. Cuttings of RoUinson's Telegraph 

 were struck in August, and grown-on in pots until the middle 

 of September, and then planted out. Not a fruit was allowed 

 on them until each plant had fiUed its allotted space, which 

 they very soon did. No more fruit was allowed on them than 

 was absolutely required, the foliage being allowed plenty of 

 room to develope itself, and the male flowers kept off. We 

 were entirely guided by the weather as regards temperature, 

 the thermometer often being down to 60° at 6 a.m. They were 

 never allowed to know the want of water at the root, and the 

 syringe was seldom used ; red spider and mildew being kept 

 down by damping the walls and floor with ammonia from the 

 gas house, air also being given them from the front of the 

 house on all favourable occasions. Under this treatment the 

 plants did so well that Mr. Bennett did not hke to pull them 

 up in the spring, but allowed them to fruit all the summer. 

 — R.L.M. 



Lakge Chestnut and Ash Trees. — I send the measure of 

 some fine Spanish Chestnut trees in Oak Park, Tralee, Ireland. 

 The largest, a splendid tree, is still in full vigour ; its stem 

 measures 17 feet 3 inches in girth at 3 feet from the ground, 

 and 13 feet inches at 12 feet. The second tree measures 



