HORTICULTURAL CHRONICLE. 



September, 1874. 



— Protection of Vines from Frost. — Mr. C. Baltet 

 has recently described a new method of preventing vines 

 from freezing, devised by Mr. Rousseau, of Estissac, Aube. 

 The procedure is no other than burying the canes after 

 pruning throughout their whole length , with the exception 

 of the two uppermost buds , and leaving them so until the 

 frosts are over. This may be very well and interesting as 

 an experiment, but we have serious doubts whether re- 

 maining so long under ground would not cause the swollen 

 sappy buds to perish; and would the young shoots thus 

 kept back carry their fruit satisfactorily? It is only by trying 

 it on a large scale that this question can be answered, a 

 garden experiment is insufficient. 



We must admit that we prefer the following idea, com- 

 municated to us by the celebrated pomologist , Mr. Mas. It 

 consists in making a vertical hole at the foot of each vine 

 with an iron bar, enlarging it by working the bar about and 

 coiling the whole cane within it. In this position the circu- 

 lation of the air around the buds is ensured, and the warmth 

 of the soil is sufficient to preserve them from frost. The 

 young shoots may even start a little before the canes are 

 withdrawn, but they will quickly acquire he proper direction 

 after being taken out. 



— Extraordinary bunches of Grapes. — At the grand 

 Flower and Fruit show held at Belfast in connection with 

 the meeting of the British Association, the largest bunch 

 of grapes ever recorded as having been grown in the United 

 Kingdom was exhibited by Mr. Hunter, gardener to the 

 Earl of Durham, at Lambton Castle. This monster bunch 

 weighed no less than twenty-one pounds twelve ounces ! It 

 was of the Black Hamburgh or Frankenthal variety. Nothing 

 approaching the weight in black grapes was ever previously 

 shown. Last year Mr. Hunter exhibited two very large 

 bunches of the same variety at Manchester, one weighing 

 nine pounds eight ounces, and the other thirteen pounds 



— Insect-destroyers of Cucurbitaceae. — Two insects 

 have devastated the Pumpkin and Vegetable Marrow culture 

 this season in the United States, from Albany to New-York. 

 One is a Galeruca, the specific name of which could not be 

 determined by Mr. Boisduval, who has examined the insect. 

 This insect devours the young plantlet immediately after 

 germination ; but if they are so fortunate as to escape the 

 first enemy another equally insatiable awaits them in the 

 form of the Epinachna borealis , closely allied to the species 

 which attacks the native Red Bryony. No means of destroying 

 these scourges have as yet been discovered. 



— Ravages of Tenthredos. — It is not so with the 

 insect popularly known as the Pear-tree leech, Tenthredo 

 cethiops, which has effected such havoc in many French 

 nurseries this year, both in Paris and its neighbourhood 

 and also in Touraine. We ourselves have seen the destruc- 

 tion it has caused amongst the pear trees in Mr. Defain's 

 nursery, at Amboise. It may be observed in the larva state, 



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