SEPTEMBER, 409 



Early Yinery. — In this house the grapes were setting an 

 abundant crop, the leaves were large and flabby, an excessive 

 quantity of water had been used and they had the appearance 

 of being clean. Camellias were growing beneath the vines, 

 and they also looked clean. The person who showed me 

 round informed me that the year previous " the bug" got 

 amongst the ripe fruit and caused great trouble. I observed 

 that the vines had not had any winter dressing, consequently 

 I looked forward to the future with anxiety. 



Second House of Grapes. — The vines here were coming 

 into bloom, the outside border had been tampered with the 

 previous summer, and the growth they had made and were 

 making was weak. On examining the foliage I found bug, 

 and here also the vines had not got any winter dressing. 

 This house was full of plants, chiefly such as will grow well 

 in any intermediate house, with the exception of a few bego- 

 nias, which were all in a dirty state ; black scale, mealy bug, 

 and red spider were the principal insects. Adjoining this 

 house was a small division, consisting of four lights, which 

 had been taken from the above house at some former period 

 for the purpose of preserving pine apples in when ripe, or for 

 a small division of early grapes. In the pit of this house 

 were plunged two or three Francisceas, an Ixora, and a large 

 Euphorbia splendens. On the back wall was trained Cereus 

 grandiflorus profusely intermixed with a trailing Soianum. 

 Yines were planted in the outside border, and had grown the 

 full length of the rafters ; they had not been pruned back, 

 and were now making laterals. I had not seen anything so 

 weak, and bug and red spider were plentiful throughout the 

 house. 



Greenhouse or Conservatory. — A deep back wall, to- 

 gether with a mass of stone in front, gave little hopes of 

 growing anything with advantage here. The house was 

 literally full of plants. Yines were also trained to the roof, 

 and exhibited better health than anything I had yet met with. 

 As they had attained a good age, and as a gravel walk was 

 their only border, I came to the conclusion that the subsoil 



VOL. XXII. NO. IX. 52 



