/ 
588 THE 
GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
[NOVEMBER б, 1875. 
HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITIONS, 1875. 
potes 
15 and 16.—Loughborou 
Sec., William Pallet gh 55, Baxter Gate, Loughborough. 
16 and 17. — Borough of [Rer (late Stoke Newington) Chry- 
santhemum Society's Show, in the Town Hall, Hackney. 
Sec., J. Rainbow jun., Lo ie Road, C Cla apton, E. 
25.—Ro al' Horti sarai. Society of Ire nd. Private Winter 
Exhibition. Sec., A. Balfe, 28, Westland Row, Dublin. 
27. do rmm Hill Horticultural Society's Annual Y rw 
of Chrysanthemums, Miscellaneous Plants, and Fru 
THE 
Gardeners Chronicle, 
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1875. 
APPOINTMENTS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. 
MONDAY, Nov. 8— Sale of Dutch Bulbs, at Stevens’ Room: 
= of Californian Lilies, at Sevens? 
Nov. 9 ай 
[ Royal Horticu!tural Society : Meeting ft це 
тий, rire and Sy sme ru 
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 10 | бузам hemum and Fruit 5 
"E 
ristol Chrysanthemum Show ine days). 
of Roses, Fruit Trees, Bulbs, &c., at 
tevens’ RN. 
THURSDAY, Nov. 11— sale of Dutch Bulbs, at Stevens' Roo 
Sale of Stove and Greenhouse Plants at 
FRIDAY, Nov. 12 Hil, Dulwich, by Messrs. 
сыйа and Azaleas from Ghent. 
BATUEDAY, Mew: э ond Duich Battie, at Stevens’ Booms, x 
aua vere ee) 
A iiem frequent ранц of exunerditariy 
E BUNCH F GRAPES of late, marks 
quite an epoch in Tr ullivation of this most 
prized of all fruits. From the time that 
SPEECHLEY'S big bunch astonished the Grape 
growers of his day down to the two enormous 
clusters shown at the recent Edinburgh exhibi- 
there have occasionally been weights 
reached much above the general run. At 
several places in the country there exists evid- 
ence that may be relied upon, of bunches that 
поме been grown a dozen or fifteen -pounds in 
ight, 1 
of late years. The subject i is interesting and i im- 
both for the consideratio: indi- 
vidual who studies the different inffaences that 
certain conditions exert over different members 
ofthe vegetable kingdom, as also for the gar- 
dener who approaches the subject from a purely 
cultural point of view. In these big bunches of 
Grapes may be seen the immense influence that 
cultivation has over plants destined for the food 
of man, as compared with such as administer to 
m wants in other ways; but. upon which he is 
ess dependent. . Many of the plants which 
contribue largely to the food of civilised man, 
and are easily traced back to their normal 
condition of mere weeds, have by careful and 
continued cultivation been brought to their 
present state, and without cultivation could never 
have assumed a condition of any importance. 
In the case of theVine this is the а 
Стун anthemum pad Fruit. Show. 
exhaust it by excessive and continuous forcing, 
by frequent premature cropping, as well as by 
over-cropping. The roots on the one hand have 
been planted in every conceivable material that 
is not suitable—from the disgusting unnatural 
mass of carrion (happily now out of fashion), to 
a wet ungenial soil in one place, or the opposite 
over-dry bed in another, where the roots have 
for years not got half the water they required, 
especially at those times when it was needed to 
support the continual drain upon them by the 
branches and leaves being placed under a 
covering of glass where the sun’s parching rays 
intensified evaporation ; all this, too, very often 
aided by the still further demand upon the 
roots made by an over-heavy crop of fruit. 
Year after year eyes are taken, often Кы Vines 
that are regularly made to submit to some 
extreme of treatment calculated té enfeeble 
the constitution, and yet there are no signs of 
decay ; but when the conditions are present that 
furnish the plant with what is needful for its 
Lape amp we see such evidences of strength 
an r as have not before been exemplified. 
Those ere croak over what they imagine to 
" a wearing out of species must, at all events. 
t call upon the Vine as evidence in support 
of their views, for it is found to bear up under the 
worst of treatment. If there is anything at 
the present day that might be supposed to indi- 
cate weakness in the constitution of the Vines it 
is shown in some of the seedlings that have been 
raised in recent times. 
kinds show an пее, inability to саде freely. 
But the more reasonable view to take ese 
conditions is that they are merely = ой іп 
vid 
ally weak offspring in animal life, even when 
there is no weakness traceable to the parentage. 
Here, again, the present condition of the old 
varieties of the Grape oes far to upset 
another theory—that is, the views maintained 
by those who urge that to keep up the stamina of 
cultivated plants, especially of fruits, н is neces- 
to from time to time renew the stock from 
seeds, to supply the place of what t а argue in 
time becomes enfeebled by cultivation ; for there 
can be no disguising the fact that, so far as any 
evidence exists to the contrary, there is nothing 
to show that the oldest known varieties of the 
-Grape Vine are not as healthy and vigorous at 
the present time as they ever were, and they are 
certainly as strong in constitution as the newer 
kinds raised from seeds. 
The production . of the large bunches 
would be required in another place. But in 
all that has been said and written, or which has 
in any way transpired upon Vine culture, we find 
have brought about the extraordinary develop- 
ment of strength in these individual Vines, that 
Apricot, Pear, Plum, Cherry, or any other tree 
produce fruit slightly larger than others of the 
same variety. We have heard the large sized 
Jersey Pears, now often forthcoming, held up as 
similar extraordinary productions, but betwixt 
these and the large bunches of Grapes there can 
be no comparison, the Pears being evidently 
to the Grapes in question 
Some growers diniin: the subject by attri- 
buting the production of these huge clusters to 
been placed as to soil and climate, or to some 
accidental treatment the crop may have received 
during the season it is grown. From the latter 
view we record our unqualified dissent. The 
capability of the Vines to produce such bunches 
we hold to be altogether due to the conditions 
under which they existed prior to and up to the 
time of the leaf-fall the preceding season. No 
amount of cultural skill or attention could, as a 
rule, induce the production of a single berry more 
han existed in embryo in the bud 
fully matured the autumn previous, and from 
which it was ultimately produced. As to the 
Grapes in gesan being the result of anything 
particular in the soil, we simply. reply that we 
have little belief i in any ой influence from this 
.the absence of this supplied by ample drainage, 
abundance of water, and liberal feeding, the 
manurial elements of which are presented in a 
state emm can be most readily assimilated by the 
the latter is thoroughly matured А is useless to 
expect fine fruit; yet before we can mature such 
wood as vill ;bear these immense “eS we 
and 
for though brought from i р 
olly artificial, yet nevertheless results 
are obtained tec as in all D ge would not 
possible w it is indigenous. How different 
the effects Ф xem have 2А upon it, as 
compared with those mighty giants - the deep- 
- soiled sheltered Californian valleys, which most 
probably will never in a cultivated npe reach 
anything approaching the peepee they have 
in their self-selected habi 
Those who believe in the wearing out or 
debility of cultivated plants have here a most 
decided point against them. In the Vine we 
nda plantt ti 
n 
- 
e 
shape or "e for thousands of years, and with 
everything calculated to 
undermine its constitu» 
e who 
‘the most and produce its fruit in the 
- possible senpi e subjected to treatment that 
` might be supposed to weaken and undermine its 
undermin: 
‚ had there been a possibility to | course 
tere OT 
the течи consideration. -More has been 
n the nature, requirements, and culture 
ofthe Vine, probably, € upon all other plants 
put together.” Ev found conducive to 
its health and general Vell big” has been care- 
fully chronicled an ps laid before the gardening 
world in the shape of treatises on its manage- 
ment, with a view to the production of its fruit, 
The writings 
emanating from men who have been practically 
engaged in what they have written about ; 
so different from the pirating hashed-up com- 
pilations on flowering plants, that are too 
often thrust before those who are engaged or 
take an interest in gardenin ers. True, 
even 
Vine there is considerable 
upon some important details, 
-easily accounted for by the fact that the writers’ 
“practice has been confined to particular soils 
| and localities, where the existence or non-exist- 
the case may be, of some elements 
essential to success, rendered necessary a 
of procedure widely different from what 
g matt 
amongst those who have written on the 
existence, we believe, 
is due to something supplied to the roots in 
greater узна than Grape growers generally 
ware would be beneficial to the 
Vine. The pent means by which is produced 
the wood that bears these enormous clusters, is 
the very interesting problem which the majority 
of those who cultivate the Vine would like to 
solve, but which has not yet been solved. 
In speaking on the subject of growing these 
large bunches of Grapes, we do not wish to be 
misunderstood. Those who can grow Vines in 
a way that will impart to them the extraordinary 
strength, combined with a disposition to fruit, 
necessary to enable them to produce such enor- 
mous inch accomplish something they have 
reason e proud of, and are deserving of à 
very high meed of praise. But the encourage- 
ment of extraordinarily sized bunches in prefer- 
ence to such аз are small d much more 
useful w a mi 
e the production of a 3} lb. 
bunch of Black Hamburgh or Muscat th 
n ences, лаа ess, indeed, the latter were 
-perfect as to finish—a condition that has not 
