Jimo 8. 1876. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND OOTTAQB GARDENER. 



447 



end of September last, cnt on the 18th of January, 1870, im- 

 mediately bottled in clean water, the neck of the bottle caulked 

 as usual with clay, and cut to-day. Can any other Grape be 

 kept as well :' I think not. We have no specially-erected 

 room for keeping Grapes, but store them in the fruit room 

 having a grate, in which in winter we frerjuently have a fire, 

 and sometimes gas burning all night to keep out frost. — 

 Edwin Child, Gardeiter, A'om's Green, West Derhij, near 

 Liverpool. 



[The Grapes were quite nnshrivelled, fnll-flavonred, and 

 with bloom upon them. — Eds ] 



THWARTING HARES AND RABBITS. 



Mr. Baxter Smith has doubtless communicated a useful 

 hint on protecting the bark of newly-planted trees from hares 

 and rabbits by fastening round the stems of the trees virgin 

 cork. This we are told ia cheap, neat, and effectual. I can 

 well believe it is eiifeotual, and I know it is appropriate, and 

 where only a few trees reijuire to be protected its cost is not 

 serious ; but when, it may be, some hundreds of stems must 

 be protected the virgin cork would become rather a serious 

 item, especially when compared with an article of the same 

 nature, and which answers the purpose equally well, and which 

 in many places can almost be had for nothing. I mean by 

 this that any sort of bark will answer the purpose of thwarting 

 hares and rabbits as well as the bark of the Cork Tree. 



I have used Larch bark extensively and successfully in pro- 

 tecting newly-planted fruit and forest trees in open spaces from 

 sheep as well as from " ground game." The extra casing of 

 bark will also protect the trees from beasts, but these animals 

 commit greater injury by rubbing than by nibbling. To pre- 

 vent this it ia a good plan to drive into the ground a few short 

 stakes, letting their tops (not pointed) be an inch or two above 

 the ground ; they will be hidden by the grass but found by the 

 animals' feet, which will immediately " back out of it." A 

 few rowB of these stakes round and at a suitable distance from 

 the tree will prevent its being rubbed by beasts. The stakes 

 should be 5 or (> inches apart. 



But to return to the bark. Any kind of bark will do pro- 

 vided it is dead — that is, that it has been removed from the 

 trees for a few montha. Rabbits will not nibble dead trees nor 

 juiceless bark. I was led to the use of loose bark aa a pro- 

 tector to treea by observing that while the bark of freshly 

 planted trees was devoured by the vermin, the stakes which 

 supported the said trees were never touched. I therefore en- 

 veloped the trees with loose Larch bark, and was gratiSed to 

 find that the rabbits were completely baitled and the stems 

 perfectly safe. More than twenty years' experience has con- 

 vinced me that this is a cheap and perfect remedy against 

 rabbits and sheep injuring the stems of trees. 



I have been situated on an estate having large plantations, 

 and where eoiue tons of bark have been each year peeled for 

 the tanners. It is not all who have trees to protect who are 

 similarly situated ; but if those who cannot obtain bark by 

 other means will go to any large sawyard they will find loads 

 of outer strips thrown away, and which the owner of the yard 

 will be glad to have cleared away for next to nothing. These 

 strips carefully tied round the stems of trees will afford them 

 perfect protection against the inveterate, annoying, and in- 

 jurious nibblings of rabbits and larger animals. — A Forester. 



CYPBIPEDIUM PUBESCENS, OR DOWNY 

 LADY'S SLIPPER. 

 Our figure represents one of a family of plants which to be 

 described as charming is but a poor compliment to pay. No 

 plants are held in higher estimation than our Lady's Slippers. 

 We have to call it our own, but it is very seldom found in its 

 native home. It has been said that many a lovely flower 

 blooms unseen, and may not this be applied to our Lady's 

 Slipper '.' It would appear that it inhabits homes away from 

 the haunts of men, and few are the recorded localities where 

 Cypripedium Caloeolus flourishes in a wild state. This family 

 contains some of the most beautiful plants that can grace our 

 rockeries, and which are worthy of being included in our 

 choicest collections of hardy herbaceous planta. If we were 

 confined to an individual kind, that kind would be Cypripedium 

 spectabile, for which we are indebted to North America, and is 

 being succef sfuUy cultivated in many places in Britain. When 

 once established it proves to be one of the finest objects of the 

 garden. 



Cypripediuma are moiature-loving plants, requiring partial 

 shade, but must not bo planted in stagnant soils. Any amount 

 of labour bestowed upon them will bo more than compensated 

 for by their curious and beautiful flowers. They delight in a 

 compost of good fibrous loam, peat, coarse grit, and charcoal 

 dust. Some of them may require a little deviation from the 

 above compost, requiring leaf mould or well-decomposed vege- 

 table matter. They are splendid objects for pot culture, and 

 with care they can be made available for many purposes of 

 decoration. In some situations out of doors it is advisable 

 to cover the crowns with some kind of material to prevent the 



Fig. 118.— Cjiu-ipcdinm pubeEceDB. 



water lodging about them during the winter. They should 

 also be planted deeply. C. guttatnm is of creeping habit, pro- 

 ducing lovely white flowers. C. acaule is a very desirable 

 variety. There are others of this charming family, but 

 C. spectabile bears the palm. I have no knowledge of their being 

 increased by seed; only by division, and that requires very 

 careful manipulation, and is best done when growth is com- 

 mencing in early spring. C. pubescens has yellow and purple 

 flowers. It was introduced from North America in 1790.— N. 



OMPHALODES VERNA. 



None of the plants included in the order Boraginace.x — and 

 it contains Forget-me-nots (Myosotis) — have so clear decided 

 brilliant blue flowers as this. It commeucea flowering in 

 March, weeks before the Wood Forget-me-not, and continues 



