iuimzs 29, 1874. ] 



JOUBNAL OP HOBTICDLTUEE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEB. 



99 



Is there nothing in that ? I think there is, and it tolls us to 

 leave two leaves on this variety when wo would leave only ouo 

 on most others. So far as my observations extend, practice 

 Bustaina the theory of the matter. 



There is no doubt that this is a grand Grape when well grown, 

 and everything throwing light on its peculiarities or nature is 

 demanded to add to its virtues the one that is lacking — viz., 

 certainty of perfection. My contribution is. Let it carry plenty 

 of foliage ; do not restrict violently ; f oUow no rule rigidly ; but 

 let it go as far as possible, providing only — and this particu- 

 larly — against overcrowding. This given, I think there will be 

 little to fight for in the matter of a few degrees of heat more 

 or less, and on this point I will not enter the lists at all, not 

 being able to speak practically and with that accuracy necessary 

 to approach this element of its culture.— J. Wright. 



Now, because these facts are true, we do not propose to stop 

 all digging or ploughing-up of the soil — wo propose to go on as 

 usual. — [American Gardener'^ Monthly). 



SOIL CULTURE. 



It will never hurt an intelligent man to know why he does 

 things. Eather will he profit in this, that he can better adapt 

 himself to circumstances. There are in horticulture hosts of 

 practices — all good practices — about which none of us know 

 the reasons, or if we reason at all, reason wrongly ; and hence 

 we often do work which might as well be undone for all the 

 good it is to us. 



There are innumerable things in greenhouse-building and 

 greenhouse-warming, in plant-growing and fruit-culture, the 

 labour on which is absolutely thrown away, simply by doing 

 what others have done, without knowing why they did it ; and 

 yet the practices may have been very good in themselves at 

 the time and for the purpose, whatever it may have been, but 

 of no avail to the purposes of the modern imitators. 



It is not long since the writer was talking with one of the 

 leading scientists of Europe, and wishing to learn the present 

 condition of physiological science, introduced the topic of root- 

 growth. It was contended by our really learned friend that 

 roots could only grow well when in very loose soil, which soil 

 must be very loose in order to " admit air to the roots ;" for, 

 " without a free communication of the roots with the at- 

 mospheric gases, rapid growth was impossible." He was at 

 once referred to Grape Vines, which, for mere experiment, 

 had been set in what might be termed a turiqiike road. It 

 was, in fact, the side of a road which had been heavily stoned, 

 and over which horses and hea^y carts have been running for 

 twenty years. The "turnpike" had to be torn open with a 

 pick to admit the Grape Vine roots, and the material picked 

 out, fiUed-in again after the roots were set in. Yet these 

 Vines make an annual growth of 20 feet, and bear fruit of the 

 very best description. The grower top-dresses with rich ma- 

 nure, prunes ' ' according to the art," and so forth. The plants 

 have the best professional treatment, but "loose soil to admit 

 the air " they have not. Our friend looked at the illustration, 

 shook his head, and passed on. It is a question whether the 

 circumstance will ever be called up again to his mind. He will 

 yet teach that plants " must have loose soil " as strenuously as 

 ever. He will no doubt think that one or two instances are 

 exceptions; and yet on " one or two facts," or experiments, as 

 they are generally called, by not merely " one or two," but 

 often by one original observer, most of the current literature 

 called vegetable physiology is founded. If "one or two" 

 plants can grow magnificently in hard soUd soU, but with an 

 abundance of good fertilising matter, without being " loose to 

 admit the air," why may not a thousand? 



But these " one or two " facts are not the only ones. The 

 writer is in favour of ploughing and digging our soil very 

 much as before. There are many reasons why we must do so ; 

 but if we ever believed that the mere loosening of the soil was 

 to be one of these reasons, it is clear, from these facts, we 

 should be worse than an idiot to continue on in that belief. 

 We shall have to dig and plough and cultivate for many 

 reasons ; we often do so now because v;e think the roots re- 

 quire this ; but where there is no other reason than this, we 

 may save ourselves this much labour and expense. With 

 abirndant plant food they will take care of themselves. 



We mentioned these cu-cumstances to Mr. Vicki-oy, who has 

 charge of the experiments at the Industrial University. He 

 sustained " one or two " facts by his own experience with corn. 

 For four years corn had been planted in two lots side by side. 

 In one the ground was manured and " worked " in the usual 

 mariner for corn, in the other it was manured in the same 

 way without any working. There was no difference whatever 

 in the crops produced from either lot. 



PLOWEES FOR OUR BORDERS.— No. 25. 



HCUTELLjVBIA MACEANTUA. — LiRSE-i-LowEaED Skull-cap. 



Though less showy, perhaps, than some other of the Lipworts, 

 many of the Skull-caps are very ornamental plants, and none 

 more so than the Scutellaria macrantha. 



It is a native of Eastern Asia, and appears to be widely 

 spread, extending, according to Sir WUham Hooker, to the 

 great wall of China, where it was detected by Sir George 

 Staunton. As might have been anticipated, it is perfectly 

 hardy and of easy cultivation and increase. It is an herbaceous 

 perennial, scarcely exceeding 1 foot in height, with angular, 



Scutellaria macrantha. 



branching stems, and opposite, entire, lance-shaped leaves, 

 and forming when sufficiently strong a spreading bushy tuft. 

 The very handsome purple flowers are produced in long ter- 

 minal spikes, and are larger than those of any other species 

 known to us. The plant seeds freely, and may be readily 

 increased by these means, as well as by division of the roots, 

 or by cuttings under a glass, either in the border or frame. 

 Seedlings usually flower the first season if sown early, and 

 should bo transplanted from the seed pan while young, as they 

 wUl suffer less from removal than at a more advanced state of 

 then- growth, when their tap-like root is more developed. 



With regard to soil, a mixture of good loam and decayed 

 leaves or manure appears to best suit this plant, though it 

 will probably flourish in any good garden soU ; for many hardy 

 plants, like individuals, possess the happy faculty of adapting 

 themselves to situations of diverse character, provided that 

 they are not of too extreme a nature. 



It disappears so entirely during the winter months that it is 

 advisable to mark its place in the border by a label of some 

 description, for much injury is often done to plants of a similar 

 character when the borders are dressed in spring, from ignorance 

 of the precise locality of their roots. 



When first introduced this plant was recommended by Sii- 

 W. J. Hooker as a desirable one for planting in masses, and 

 now that its seeds are readily procurable at a reasonable rate, 

 its employment for this purpose may be fairly made the sub- 



