98 



JOUBNAL 0^ HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



( January 29, 1874. 



mile away, has hashed his moan ; that flock of long-tailed 

 titmice, which were swinging and pecking about the Fir cones 

 a few minutes since, are gone ; and now there is not even a 

 gnat to quiver in the slant sunrays. Did a spider run over 

 these dead leaves ? I almost fancy I could hear his foot-fall. 

 The creaking of the saddle, the soft step of the mare upon the 

 Fir needle, jar my ears. I seem alone in a dead world. A 

 dead world, and yet so full of life, if I had eyes to see ! Above 

 my head every Fir needle is breathing — breathing for ever ; 

 currents unnumbered circulate in every bough, quickened by 

 some undiscovered miracle ; around me every Fir stem is dis- 

 tilling strange juices, which no laboratory of man can make ; 

 and where my dull eyes see only death, the eye of God sees 

 boundless life and motion, health and use. — {" Prose Idylls," 

 hy Charles Kingsley.) 



A TABLE FOUNTAIN. 

 A TABLE fountain, simple in construction and action, and 

 admitting of any desirable degree of ornamentation, has been 



Table Fountain. 



recently patented in the United States. The sectional figure 

 annexed will render a description of it clear. It consists of a 

 pedestal, which may be of cast metal, porcelain, or wood, 

 turned and ornamented in the lathe, whUe the basin may be 

 of glass, metal, or other suitable material, with metal rim 

 adorned, as in the specimen illustrated, with lions' heads, 

 supporting chains, itc, while small cups d are attached to the 

 inside as receptacles for flowers. Ferns, <tc. Just beneath the 

 jet, too, is a tulip-shaped receptacle for flowers ; and the 

 handles of the plugs c may be ornamented in shape as shown, 

 or else be concealed beneath the water. In the cylindrical 

 hollow of the pedestal a heavy plunger a fits water-tight ; 

 through the centre of the latter the rubber tube e passes, 

 ending in a flap-valve pierced with a small hole, of sufficient 

 size, however, to supply the jet with the requisite quantity of 

 water. The hollow of the pedestal is separated from the basin 

 by a perforated cap supporting the jet and containing the two 

 plugs, which are connected to the plunger by chains or cords. 

 To set the fountain at work all that is necessary is to fill the 

 basin with water, which will also run into the hollow pedestal, 

 till the desired height is reached. The plunger is then pulled- 

 up by means of the plugs or the handles c, the water passing 



through the hole in its centre, and beneath through the flap- 

 valve ; on restoring the plugs to their position the plunger 

 descends, and the water is forced through the pipes to the 

 jet, where it rises to a height varying with the size of the jet 

 and the weight of the plunger. It is obvious also that the 

 fountain will play for a longer or a shorter time according to 

 its size ; but it is so easily started again that its action may be 

 considered as virtually continuous. The water, of course, may 

 be coloured or perfumed, though such a proceeding might not 

 be relished by gold-fish, which would otherwise live tolerably 

 healthily in the glass basin of such a fountain. A tap should 

 be fitted at the bottom of the pedestal for drawing-off the 

 water when desired. — (English Mechanic.) 



MRS. PINCE'S BLACK MUSCAT GKAPE. 



I WAS about to write a few observations on this Grape when 

 the Joiirnal came to hand, bringing Mr. Inghs's queries and 

 interesting notes. It is the first dawn of there being two 

 varieties. I will, however, speak of one, and what I may term 

 its caprice. The Vine came from Exeter direct and is true. 

 It was planted in a new vinery with Alicante, Muscats, and 

 Lady Downe's. In due time they arrived at a fruiting state, 

 and produced fine bunches. The first year of fruiting the 

 house was not heated — that is, only sufficiently to exclude 

 frost from bedding plants in winter. The Tines started 

 naturally, and were carried-on with little more than sun heat. 

 The Muscats and Lady Downe's did not ripen even moderately 

 well, Alicante was better, and Mrs. Pince the best of all — that 

 is, really very good both as to colour, flavour, and keeping. 

 That is under what I call no heat. 



Next, the house was heated by hot water, and a higher but 

 not really high temperature sustained — high enough to ripen 

 Muscats, AUcante, and Lady Downe's, which were and are 

 good to look at, to eat, and to hang, but Mrs. Pince faUs in all 

 these requisites. In a word, it is not ripe. Is not that strange ? 

 I must confess myself puzzled not a little by it, and can only 

 suggest one explanation which I shall come at in a moment. 

 In 1872 a Vine of Mrs. Pince in a house of Hambnrghs re- 

 ceiving no artificial heat produced really nice Grapes, well- 

 coloured and good, but not perfectly ripe for long keeping. In 

 1873 the Grapes of this Vine were neither well coloured nor 

 good to eat. How is this ? The first suggestion is, the sum- 

 mer of 1873 must have been colder than that of the year 

 previous ; but it is not so, as I find on reference to temperatures 

 carefully taken on the spot, that the total means (day and 

 night) , for the months from March to October, both inclusive (the 

 growing months), was, in 187'2, 53°, and in 1873, 53 J°. I was 

 struck to find them so nearly alike. The point, however, is 

 in favour of the year in which the Grapes did not ripen ; tho 

 year in which they did being sUghtly the colder, much the 

 duller, and infinitely the wetter. 



I am not for a moment disposed to think that these unpro- 

 pitious conditions are in favour of the Grape, but rather that 

 it was not a question of temperature at all. The finest Grapes 

 I ever saw of Mrs. Pince were grown in warm Black Hamburgh 

 (not Muscat) temperature. They were in all points perfect. 

 The following year, under the same temperature, they were by 

 no means so good. They are in an outside border, and it 

 might be surmised that the deluge of 1872 might have caused 

 injury to the roots ; but against this idea is the fact of tha 

 Vine first noticed — the one amongst Muscats — which is planted 

 inside. The differences here noted are not, therefore, due to 

 temperature or root-watering variations, and I am driven for 

 a solution to the foliage. 



I will now state a belief, and I invite correction, that Mrs. 

 Pince requires to carry more foliage than any other variety ta 

 thoroughly perfect the fruit. Wherever I have seen it first- 

 rate there has been foliage in abundance — a great proportion 

 of leaves to bunches. In the variations in question there were 

 in the successes a few bunches and a long growing rod above 

 the fruit ; in the failures, more bunches and a much shorter 

 rod of growth-extension. That was necessarily so. But what 

 about the side growth ? Well, I believe it was simply too much 

 restricted, and herein was a great if not the whole source of 

 the failures. If, say, Hambnrghs will perfect themselves when 

 stopped at two leaves from the bunch, I say give Mrs. Piuce 

 four, five, six, if there is room for such to expand without 

 crowding. Look at the surface of the leaf of Mrs. Pince and 

 one of Black Hamburgh. Lay one on the other and measure 

 the difference in breathing, elaborating power, and see the 

 loss in superficial inches which must be debited to Mrs. Pinco. 



