Angnst 26, 1876. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAliDENER. 



183 



If convenient, Vine borders ehonld be made both ineide and 

 outside, and be connected by open arches, thus giving the 

 roots freedom to ran and feed in all directions within the 

 limits of the borders. I say limits, for the better way is to 

 confine the roots to their own border : if allowed to wander too 

 wide or go too deep, who will predict success or permanent 

 and satisfactory results ? Vine borders should have hard 

 bottoms and thorough drainage. The question of what kind 

 of soil is best for Vines is a very wide one, and if a hundred 

 successful growers were to attempt to answer it, perhaps no 

 two of them would agree in everything. Sods from old pasture 

 land well broken up and mixed with about one-seventh of its 

 own weight of good stable manure will make a good border for 

 Vines. Vines do better and continue to bear longer in soils 

 rather heavy than light. Broken bones, lime rubbish, and 

 charcoal in borders are helpful, but very good Grrapes have 

 been and may be grown without them. 



Vines are generally propagated from eyes or buds with 

 about half an inch of wood or stem on either side of the buds ; 

 but I have never seen or known any good reason given why 

 cuttings, technically so called, are not used instead of eyes. 

 There is more nutriment in a cutting to support the bursting 

 bud than there is in the eye. Certainly the strongest Vine I 

 have yet seen grown in one season was from a cutting ; and I 

 have seen as strong and eligible Vines for planting grown from 

 the cuttings of the green wood of started Vines as from eyes. 

 These green shoots were struck like Verbenas or Fuchsias in 

 a cutting pit, and made excellent strong short-jointed canes. 

 Vines, then, may be grown from eyes, or shoots, or green wood. 



Of late years it has been found that Vines which have been 

 planted in the borders as soon as the plants were large enough, 

 have done better than those that had been grown one and two 

 years in pots. This discovery is of considerable importance, 

 for now anyone may strike his own Vines, plant them when 

 fi or 8 inches high, and see his vinery filled with beautiful 

 rods well ripened before the end of the first year. Amateurs 

 as well as experienced gardeners are now doing this. Grape- 

 growing has been simplified and made easy by intelUgent men 

 of late years. 



Vines so easily raised or struck are now planted doubly 

 thick, 60 that every second Vine — termed supernumeraries — 

 yields a crop of fruit at the end of the second season from 

 planting, and the permanent Vines are permitted to strengthen 

 and grow for two years before they begin to bear. Four feet 

 asunder is about the best distance the permanent Vines should 

 be planted, and the wires should be at least 16 inches from 

 the glass. If planted too close, or tied up too near the glass, 

 there will be danger of the loaves being too crowded. Vines 

 like plenty of light, warmth, air, and moisture. The beginner 

 in Grape-growing, for whom these lines are penned, will learn 

 more from experience and observation than from letters or 

 treatises on Vine culture ; but reading such treatises will tend 

 to open his mind for observation. — A. Pettigbew. 



CATEKPILLARS versus GOOSEBERRY BUSHES. 



I QUITE agree with your correspondent " Beta " respecting 

 the crops of Gooseberries being unusually heavy this year, but 

 as far as my bushes are concerned I have never been less 

 troubled with caterpillars, for I have only seen them on two 

 bushes, and I grow between twenty and thirty pots. In this 

 neighbourhood Peas, Potatoes, Plums, Cherries, Gooseberries, 

 &c., are sold by the pot. A pot of Gooseberries is 90 lbs. 

 of fruit, and the pot-hampers average 10 lbs. each. I at- 

 tribute the absence of caterpillars to having the bushes well 

 dusted over with quicklime and soot in winter (which will 

 partly confirm the remedy recommended by " Beta "). This 

 I had done to prevent the birds picking-out the buds. The 

 bushes were all covered over white, and likewise the ground 

 underneath. 



The old saying is " Prevention is better than cure," and if 

 this prevents the caterpillars I shall certainly use it for the 

 future; but at some future season perhaps the caterpillars 

 may defy all our dustings, and put in an appearance with a 

 determination to strip our bushes entirely of their leaves. 

 Should they do so I have an iufalhble remedy to recommend, 

 which I have used for years. The first time I saw it used was 

 in a garden ten miles north of the Grampian Hills, where I 

 served my apprenticeship, and I have used it with perfect suc- 

 cess when necessary ever since. It is white hellebore powder. 



Where there are a large number of bushes to go over I get 

 about half a pound and mix in a bucketful of water, and 



sprinkle the bushes all over until the leaves are quite wet, and 

 it is sure death in about an hour after being applied. The 

 alleged cure "Beta" saw adopted in the lake district — viz.. 

 that of letting all the weeds and grass grow up amongst the 

 bushes, would not, I am afraid, be tolerated in a well-kept 

 nobleman's or gentleman's garden, but the above remedy I 

 can guarantee effectual and in no way unsightlv. — J. Anderson, 

 Hill Grove. 



NON-POROUS POTS. 



From experience I can say that Camellias will thrive in these, 

 having had some very large trees of Camellias in pots made at 

 the Sanitary Tile-works ; they are glazed, and apparently im- 

 pervious to moisture. The plants have been in these pots for 

 years new, and are likely to remain for years to come. They 

 are in perfect health, and begin to expand their blooms in No- 

 vember, and give us a regular succession to the end of April, 

 and are the admiration of all who see them. 



I believe that many plants suffer as much or more from in- 

 judicious watering than from most other causes. I think that 

 watering is as little understood as any branch in our profession , 

 and is frequently as carelessly performed. I for one should 

 be glad to see from the pen of any of our leading men 

 an intelligible rule to know when a plant in a pot should be 

 watered. 



I have often stood to admire the plants in our cottagers' 

 windows in their jars and spoutless teapots. With what glee do 

 they often tell me what a favour it was to obtain a slip of such 

 a Geranium and such a Fuchsia from Mr. So-and-so's garden, 

 and how anxious they are to know the kind of soil most suit- 

 able for their pets, and how often to water them. They need 

 encouraging in the management of their window pets, and 

 garden plots too, for some of them are ready to make the 

 colour rise to one's cheeks to see and hear the interest they 

 manifest in these things as the cottagers' show approaches. — 

 Obseever. 



THE BELLADONNA LILY. 



Amartllis Belladonna is a native of the Cape of Good 

 Hope, from whence it was introduced in 1712. In Italy it has 

 long been extensively cultivated, where it grows as freely as it 

 does at the Cape. It was in Italy that the specific name of 

 Belladonna was given, the generic name Amaryllis — a beautiful 

 woman immortalised by Virgil in one of his poems — was given 

 by Linnaeus. "It was," says Herbert, " the exquisite blend- 

 ing of pink and white in that flower, as in the female com- 

 plexion, that suggested the common name in Italy, and to 

 those lovely tints Linnceus referred when he assigned the 

 name of a beautiful woman." 



This fine old Lily is perfectly hardy, and when planted in a 

 row at the foot of a south wall, and left to take care of itself, 

 it will flourish to perfection. It is only in a few old gardens 

 where such rows are to be found ; but wherever seen none can 

 dispute their beauty. For extensive out-of-door decoration 

 the bulbs should be planted in June, to be divided and the soil 

 renewed about every six years. 



BeUadonua with Guernsey Lilies (Nerine samiensis) are also 

 extensively cultivated in pots for greenhouse and conservatory 

 decoration. For this purpose bulbs are imported in large 

 quantities annually, and are offered at a cheap rate by aU the 

 principal dealers ; and although, as a rule, the flowers are not 

 nearly so fine as are those produced by bulbs established in 

 the open air, yet they create a charming effect when mixed 

 with the foliage of other plants (for they have none of their 

 own) in the autumn months. 



Importations of these bulbs generally arrive about the end 

 of the present month or early in September, and have the 

 flower-scapes not only formed but ready to burst into beauty. 

 On this account the vendors have good reason to urge on their 

 clients the advisability of giving their orders early — advice 

 which is good for vendors, growers, and bulbs, for if it is not 

 heeded the flowers are lost or the bulbs do not arrive in the 

 condition which a grower naturally expects. If he " orders 

 early," however, he may generally depend on most of the 

 bulbs unfolding their beauty shortly after they reach his hands, 

 but it is seldom that all of them will do so, as they are at all 

 times liable to delay in transit, and some of the scapes may 

 be imperfectly developed. It is as well to recognise these con- 

 tingencies when ordering the bulbs, and to order a few extra as 

 a margin for a possible failure ; that is the only safe plan to 

 insure a display. 



