134 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTDEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ Febrnary 17, 1876. 



neoeeeary adjunct — a screen, for if anyone leets his hope on 

 coping alone, that hope will be lost as snre as the crop. Ex- 

 ceptions there will be, I am well asBurcd, under circumstances 

 similar to those of last spring. May they be many, and then, 

 as I have before said, under liberal treatment a reward may 

 be expected. 



If we judge from your correspondent Mr. Taylor of Long- 

 leat, we have not well-ripened wood to support the crop this 

 spring, though this is not my case. He comes to a perfect 

 conclusion in saying the crop wOl be void or almost so. Now 

 I put the question to those who believe that glass coping 

 must produce a crop, if it is reasonable for trees of Mr. Taylor's 

 character to do so if coping were placed over them? The 

 answer must be — Decidedly not. And this is just equivalent 

 to having the trees roasted to ripeness by the end of August. 

 Will coping remodel the puny inperfeet bud before it opens? 

 Certainly not. A failure in both instances is sure ; but put a 

 coping over a healthy crop of buds shaded with a screen, we 

 can do much. But copings alone cannot insure a crop, as is 

 expected by not a few. Of this we have been convinced by 

 the failures in unheated glass houses. 



But why do I dwell so long on the uncertainty of crops 

 under coping ? My success the last season was seen by many. 

 It seems my employer never had anything in the garden that 

 gave him so much pleasure. The crop was immense ; many 

 were brought to see it; many of them doubtless will have glass 

 coping on the strength of what they have seen, being — (bear in 

 mind, these trees had never produced a crop since being planted 

 seven years ago)^weU assured after the coping is up that 

 nothing is required but to wait and then gather the fruit. 

 Then woe be to that gardener the season the fruit is wanting. 

 — John Tatlob, Ilardwick Grange. 



GRAFTING AND INARCHING VINES. 



Fkequentlt are instructions as to changing the varieties of 

 Vines solicited, and as this is a favourable season to mention 

 the matter I may, perhaps, not unprofitably detail my prac- 

 tice. No plant or tree that I am acquainted with may be 

 operated on with a greater certainty of success than the Vine. 

 It may be grafted or inarched almost at any period when the 

 sap is moving, and by any mode that is applicable to other 

 plants or trees. It may be whip-grafted, crown-grafted, or 

 side-grafted in spring, and may be inarched in spring on the 

 old wood, or in summer on the growing shoots. 



Where a Vine in a pot is provided all that is necessary is to 

 shave off a portion of its bark and wood and a corresponding 

 portion o£f the stock and fit the former to the latter neatly, 

 tying closely but not tightly, and surrounding the part with 

 moss. The root of the pot Vine will afford support until the 

 union is complete, when it can be gradually severed, leaving 

 the foster parent eventually to support the new branch and 

 future Vine. The inarching is best done when the stock has 

 grown an inch or two and when the young cane to be attached 

 is just swelling its buds. The young shoots of each may be 

 also brought together when in a growing state and the union 

 is speedy, but the operation must then be delicately and 

 dexterously performed, and care must be taken that the liga- 

 tures are not too tightly bound. This other plan is perhaps 

 the most to be recommended for ordinary practitioners. 



But Vines may require lo be grafted or inarched, and when 

 no young canes in pots are provided, and recourse must then 

 be had to bottles of water. If one end of the scion is inserted 

 in water that will answer all the purpose of roots, for the 

 \yater will support the graft until it has united to the stem to 

 which it is affixed : that is the simplest and the best of all 

 modes of grafting the Vine. 



The grafts should be 18 inches or more in length, of stout, 

 well-ripened, fruiting wood. Starting at two or three buds 

 from the lop of each a good slice nearly to the pith and also 

 (J inches long should be taken from the graft, another similar 

 slice being cut from the stock, and the two cuts bound neatly 

 together. There will thus be G inches to form the union, 

 (J inches above it for growth, the portion of the graft below 

 the slice to be iLseited n a suspended bottle of water. Ordi- 

 nary wine or pickle bottles are suitable, and they should be 

 filled wilh water, adding also a few lumps of charcoal. Smaller 

 bottles aie not suitable, needing too frequent attention in 

 replenishing the wasting water. 



These bottles should remain for several weeks, indeed until 

 the graft has grown nearly to the top of the house. The liga- 

 tntee may also remain a long time. The grafts will probably 



take root in the bottles, but no injury whatever follows after 

 the graft has become thoroughly united to the stock. These 

 grafts will perfect fruiting canes the first season in all respects 

 as good as if they were regular growths from the Vine. Indeed 

 if they are stopped beyond the bunch which each will show, 

 if the wood is strong and good, these bunches will be in all 

 respects perfect bunches ; thus by this means a bunch if 

 desired may be secured on any given part of the Vine : that 

 is sufficient proof of the efficacy of the plan. It is so simple 

 and certain that none need hesitate to adopt it who desire to 

 change the varieties of their Grapes without planting new 

 Vines. I have tried the plan thoroughly, and seldom if ever 

 met with a failure. 



I first read of the plan in the .Journal, and went to see the 

 place which was described on page 77, vol. xxiv. I found more 

 than a hundred Vines so grafted, many of the grafts being the 

 same season 20 feet in length, and the stocks on which they 

 were grafted bearing a good crop of fruit. The gardener had 

 received his instructions from Mr. Knight of Floors Castle. 

 Some of the grafts were attached to the old stems (four or 

 five-years-old wood) of the Vines, but the finest rods were those 

 worked on the shoots of the previous year, and of the same 

 size and age as the scions. 



The great point is to have grafts of well-ripened wood and 

 make the slices both long and deep. A little moss may be 

 tied round them, but that is not really necessary, provided the 

 matting bandages are well applied. The operation may be 

 performed any time in the spring, just when the Vines are 

 being started into growth, and the bottles should be kept filled 

 with water untU .July or longer, and the ligatures may remain 

 for some time after that.— W. B. S. 



SOIL FOR RHODODENDRONS. 



My attention has been called to the fact that the paper on 

 " Soil for Rhododendrons " on page 8i, contains an apparent 

 contradiction in the statement that the boU must not contain 

 lime, and yet that they answer well in marl, which all the 

 authorities assert contains a certain quantity of carbonate of 

 lime, yet differ widely as to the correct per-centage which any 

 soil must contain to entitle it to rank as marl, some being 

 content to accept a minimum of 5 per cent., with a maximum 

 of 20, while others are satisfied with nothing under 15 per 

 cent., and actually admit a maximum of 75 per cent. If we 

 axe to accept either dictum, then I must withdraw my asser- 

 tion, for the soil which I have termed marl in perfect good 

 faith has been tested with an acid, and certainly contains no 

 lime, but consists almost entirely of silica in very minute 

 particles, and alumina, the silica predominating very consider- 

 ably. It is very light in colour, almost white. 



The common acceptation of the term marl is, I apprehend, 

 somewhat vague, and I should much like to know it the rule 

 regarding the presence of lime is an inflexible one. Apart 

 from this matter, the importance of my account of the hardi- 

 ness and adaptability of the Rhododendron must be quite 

 patent to all. So important do I consider it, that I strongly 

 reiterate the fact that Rhododendrons will flourish in full 

 vigour in any soil save that which contains lime. Thus far 

 much practical experience enables me to speak positively ; hut 

 is it not questionable whether all calcareous matter is fatal or 

 even hurtful to the roots of Rhododendrons ? To put the 

 matter upon a broader basis. Has anyone proved to demon- 

 stration that limestone of every description is reaUy so per- 

 nicious a substance as is imagined 



Popular ideas have such great weight that they are not easily 

 set aside, however erroneous they may prove. The supposed 

 necessity of peat for Rhododendrons is an instance of this. 

 It was only some four years ago that a gardener of considerable 

 experience in many things strongly advised me not to risk 

 Rhododendrons in any other soil, insisting upon it that peat 

 was an indiEpensable necessity. A little later on another 

 visitor was lamenting that he could cot plant Rhododendrons 

 owing to the scarcity of peat in the vicinity of a new garden 

 which he was making, and I have a keen remembrance of the 

 evident satisfaction with which he became convinced that he 

 could plant this magnificent shiub in all parts of his garden, 

 and that a bed of Rhododendrons need not be so expensive a 

 luxury as was supposed. — EnwAKn Lcckhuest, 



Thk notes which appeared in your issue of February 3rd I 

 read with much interest. I agree, as a rule, with our friend 

 Mr. Luckhnrst, but I confess I cannot this time. He ssya 



