234 Notes and Gleanings. 



vitiated state, and that, the plant being unable to throw it off otherwise, new 

 parts are formed : these being vigorously stopped, the vitiated sap chokes the 

 passage in the narrow part between the berry and main conduit of the sap ; and 

 the berry, so cut off from further supplies of sap, shrivels. 



The sap may be vitiated by excessive watering, too rich soil, and the border 

 being deprived of air from the closeness of the materials employed ; and this 

 vitiated sap produces much wood, and long loose bunches of fruit with wiry foot- 

 stalks. The berries swell very irregularly ; and when they should become large, 

 plump, and well colored, they stop swelling, remain red, shrivel, and are sour. 

 A soil open, well drained, and poor rather than rich, would prevent the last 

 result ; and our best grapes are not grown in borders measured by their depth 

 and the quantity of manure they contain, but by the openness of the soil, the 

 slow decomposition of the manurial substances, and its dryness and shallow- 

 ness. Naturally, the vine loves the hills and rocks, and will not thrive in bogs, 

 such as we may see without much trouble in almost any garden where vines 

 have been planted some time. Afford the vine a warm, dry, and open soil, and 

 ■shanking will be less frequently seen. It may only be an idea which I have : but 

 I think calcareous matter is valuable for some kinds of vines, and these are 

 such as are most liable to shank ; viz., Frontignans. I have had these free from 

 shanking when grown in a border out of doors resting on a bed of chalk ; which 

 substance also entered largely into the composition of the border, as also 

 .another variety very liable to shank; viz., the Muscat Hamburg. Of all 

 grapes, this I believe to be the very best, and, at the same time, the most diffi- 

 cult to grow without shanking in an outside border. With me, when worked on 

 the Black Hamburg stock, it is any thing but cured, though vastly improved. 



The "spot," as gardeners call it, is mainly due to the same causes as 

 shanking. — G. Abbey. 



Cherries grow to an enormous size in California. A lot were exhibited, of the 

 ox-heart variety, which measured over two and a half inches in circumference. 



Annual Bedders. — To any one in want of a cheap, showy, and easily- 

 managed bedder, I would say, Try the common scarlet-runners. I have grown 

 them for this purpose for two seasons, and have satisfied myself, that, when 

 properly managed, this plant makes a very gay and effective bedder. At the 

 present time, my row of runners is a perfect sheet of orange-scarlet, and this in 

 spite of the drenching rains to which most of my bedders have succumbed. 

 Nothing can be simpler than the management. Sow the seeds in May in poor 

 soil, without manure, but on dry land, and in a sunny position. Put the seeds 

 into the ground with your finger and thumb, at, say, twelve inches' distance from 

 each other. They soon make their appearance, and grow like mushrooms. As 

 soon as the stems begin to taper up, peg them down until you have a perfect row, 

 or, if you grow them in a bed, until the ground is completely covered. After 

 that, you must go over the row or bed occasionally, and nip off with a pair of 

 shears any straggling shoot, together with some of the foliage if it is too thick. 

 You will soon have an even mass of bloom, which will last till the frosts come. 



