Foreign J\otices. 229 



the surface; and, thirdly, after the first of October, rain is too cold and 

 chills the plants. I water the plants with a very fine rose, and al- 

 ways twice over, but never until they are on the point of flagging; and, 

 after the first of October, I either warm the water, or use it out of the 

 stove. I remove the mignonette to the front of the green-house, about 

 the first of November, for fear of damps. If a succession is wanted, I 

 cut down as many as may be necessary, about the middle of December, 

 and these will make a better blooming and thicker pot of mignonette, 

 than a second sowing, and will save trouble. In thinning, I leave only 

 six or seven plants in each pot; five of them about one inch from the 

 rim, and one or two in the centre. In order to show gardeners how 

 wrong it is to let rain fall upon their frame plants during winter, I had 

 two pots of mignonette j)Ut on the vine flue of an empty pit in Novem- 

 ber, giving them no water and no covering; and upon the first of Feb- 

 ruary brought them into the green-house; and now (Feb. 5) they are 

 looking well. This speaks volumes; if mignonette will stand 30'^ of frost, 

 merely because it is kept drj', what will cauliflowers, lettuces, radishes, 

 &c., not stand.'' The above may appear a simple story to many; but I 

 am obliged to be more particular with winter mignonette in pots than 

 with the finest stove plants." {Gard. Mag.) 



FRANCE. 



Method of training the Vine in the Pyrenees. — "The valley of Arri- 

 ege between Tarascon and Foix, assumes a more quiet and gentle char- 

 acter; mountains and steep rocks giving place to hills, the slopes of 

 which are productive in grain, and the warmer and more sheltered rocks 

 clothed with vineyards. The manner in which the vines are planted 

 and trained, is peculiar. In all the corn-fields, the stones, which would 

 otherwise encumber the soil, are gathered in heaps of various forms and 

 sizes. Among these heaps of stones, the vines are planted and trained 

 over them on poles or espaliers. The effect of this arrangement is beau- 

 tiful; and the corn-fields may be taken for a garden; the knots of vines 

 for its parterres." (From Murray's Summer in the Pyrenees, — in Gard, 

 Mag.) The conductor remarks that this extract may "afford useful 

 hints to British gardeners, in training both ornamental and fruit-bearing 

 plants." We may add that the American amateurs and gardeners may 

 also derive much benefit from the above hints, not only in training orna- 

 mental and other fruit-bearing plants, but particularly in the culture of 

 foreign grapes in the open air. It has been, and still is, generally sup- 

 posed that when a vine is planted out, of any of the foreign or English 

 grapes, as they are more frequently termed, in distinction to our native 

 kinds, it must have a rich soil, both deep and light, or it will not flour- 

 ish. A situation very dry, or the soil thin and rather poor, is deemed 

 wholly unfit for growing the vine. Now this is just contrary to what 

 should be done; and the consequence is, that the vines make a very vig- 

 orous growth, with large stout wood, and roots which penetrate into the 

 deep and rich soil prepared for them; their robust growths rarely get 

 more tiian half ripened, and are either killed by our severe wiiUers, or, if 

 protected, the half mature wood produces small crops, with the fruit 

 gross and insipid, rarely ripening well. If they were planted according 

 to the mode in the al)ove extract, or in one somewhat similar, we should 

 hear less com|jiaint of poor vines, small crops, and unrif)e and mildewed 

 fruit. We h:ive yet to learn, both the mode of cultivating foreign <;rapes, 

 and our native kinds also, which, i)y most persons, are treated just like the 

 former, with the exception that they need no protection. We shall ex- 

 tend our remarks on this subject at some future period, and, in the mean- 

 time, we hope cultivators will profit by the above extract. — Ed. 



