Jans 20, 186$. ] 



JOUEN'AL OP HOKTICCJIiTUEE AND COTTAGE QAHDEJfEE. 



4S7 



siity-flve classes, thirty-six of which are open to all Eng- 

 land, the others to those residinjj in Sussex only. Intending 

 exhibitors should send notice to the Secretary, Mr. E. Car- 

 penter, 96, St. James's Street, Brighton, of the classes in 

 which they purpose showing, before Saturday, the 24th inst. 



STOPPING vest: shoots— STEI^'GIXG. 



I CONSIDER that no general rule can be laid down for 

 stopping Vines on the spur system when showing fruit. It 

 is, therefore, necessai— for me to say why I think so. If a 

 shoot is strong it will require stopping nearer home than 

 a weak one does, and the strong-growing kinds throughout 

 will requu'e somewhat different treatment from the more 

 delicate kinds. JTor instance: some of the Sweetwaters 

 require different treatment from the Muscat of Alexandria, 

 and pot Vines in all cases require a management different 

 from that for those planted out. Xo doubt Mr. Wills is 

 quite right in saying that the leaves are the mouths to feed 

 the Grapes ; but let us bear in mind that if a master of a 

 family had more mouths than he had food to put in them 

 the whole family would suffer, and let us try to apply this 

 to the case before us. 



Let us first look at the pot cultivation (and, by-the-by, 

 Mr. "Wills does not tell us, but I infer he alludes to Vines 

 planted out), and pot cultivation is now extensively prac- 

 tised, and well deserves attention. A successful grower wiU 

 find it necessary to adopt Mr. Wills's views in stopping 

 with two leaves ; indeed, in some instances I would not stop 

 at aU until the fruit were set, and the bunch fuUy formed 

 and thinned ; but when luxuriant growth is going on with 

 planted-out Vines I have experienced that stopping at the 

 very eye where the bunch is wUl be productive of the best 

 fruit, and I think reaaon will bear us out on this point. 

 Cut short in the way described, the sap or food, of course, 

 flows immediately to the apex of the shoot or bud. For a 

 week or so there is nothing to feed but one leaf and the 

 bunch, and in a very little time the apex bud will burst, and 

 we can then give one or two leaves as circumstances require 

 — not that I foUow this strictly, but I do in some instances, 

 and in all cases one eye only above the bunch. 



Mr. Wills and myself differ in ioto as to syringing after the 

 Grapes are set, and whilst I am in opposition to your corre- 

 spondent, I know I am at drawn swords also with the gi'eat 

 Vine-gi-ower ili-. Thomson, of Dalkeith. Of course no one 

 would think of syi-inging whilst they were in flower, but 

 after they are nicely set, about thinning time, most de- 

 cidedly I say syringe (in hot weather after the sun has left 

 the house), not only the floor and walls, but the Vines, leaves, 

 fruit, glass, and every part of the house. I will offer a proof 

 that I am right, too, to those who choose to avail themselves 

 of the opportunity to see the houses here. T n-o years ago, 

 when I came to this place, the houses were all new, the 

 Vine-border well made under the eye of an experienced 

 Vine-grower, and young Vines had been planted out about 

 six weeks, but were very badly attended to, consequently 

 had not made a move after being planted ; even the young 

 leaves were turning yellow. A particular acquaintance of 

 mine and one of the best Vine-growers in the kingdom, Mr. 

 Burton, at the Marqnis of Salisbury's, saw them in that 

 stage ; his opinion was that they were completely ruined. 

 I had my own thoughts upon the matter ; I could see they 

 had been kept quite dry. I set to work, had the inside 

 border well saturated with water, kept the house a little 

 shaded from the burning sun (the month of June>. I cut the 

 Vines in to one of the most prominent eyes I could find, and 

 wrapped the Vines in damp moss, and the house was syringed 

 night and morning. The result was in about a fortnight 

 the top bud began to show vitality, in three weeks burst, 

 and by the end of summer the canes had reached the top of 

 the house. Mr. Buiton saw them again in the autumn, 

 but could scarcely credit they were the same Vines. The 

 following season— namely, last year — I allowed them to bear 

 a bunch or two, and here again I am at variance with Mr. 

 Thomson. This year I am fruiting them from the bottom 

 to the top of the house. They are now in vigorous health, 

 those in one of the houses just changing colour, and have 

 been treated up to this time as before described, having had 

 the syringe at work without intermission. The foliage is 



green and healthy, the berries well swollen and free from 

 rust and spot of any description. 



I consider attempting to aid fertilisation useless. I had 

 a house (pot Vines) in bloom in the beginning of January 

 last, the worst time of the year ; I never used any artificial 

 means to assist the fructifying pollen. The fliswers are 

 hermaphrodite, and the anthers are so connected with the 

 stigma of the pistil that there is no need of any assistance. 

 The bunches I am speaking of here all set, and have long 

 since been cut, and now a second batch of pot Vines is fruit- 

 ing in the same house. — At.feed Whittle, Gardener, Bush 

 Hall, Hatfield, Herts. 



THE jSTEW EAELY PEAS. 



In the spring of this year it was proposed by Messrs. 

 Carter that the early Peas should be carefully tried and 

 proved under our superintendance, at Waterloo Nursery, 

 Kilburn. a fine open spot of ground, with a subsoil of stiff 

 clay. We communicated our intention to Messrs. Sutton, of 

 Reading, and Messrs. Dickson, of Chester, and they both 

 kindly forwarded true stocks of their early Peas, and Messrs. 

 Fairhead hearing of the experiment, also wished their varieties 

 to be tested. We procured Carpenter'sExpress,andDillistone'3 

 Early Prolific, from the raisers. The Peas were all sown on 

 the 15th of Btaroh, one long row of each, side by side, of the 

 following named sorts : — Sutton's Eingleader, Fairhead's 

 Conqueror, DUlistone's Early Prolific, Carter's First Early, 

 Fairhead's Eailway, Sangster's No. 1, Carpenter's Express, 

 Fairhead's Hardy's Early, and Dickson's First and Best 

 Early. The following five varieties — Dillistone's Early 

 Prolific, Sutton's Eingleader, Carter's First Crop, Fairhead's 

 Conqueror, and Fan-head's EaUway, all proved to be iden- 

 tical ; in fact, so much so, that they all appeared the same, 

 both in height (2 feet), time of flowering (13th of May), 

 colour of the foliage, style of growth, measurement of the 

 pods, their shape, number of peas contained in the pods, the 

 peculiar property of all these five sorts, in producing a mass 

 of pods from the bottom to the top of the haulm, and in the 

 whole crop being fit for use simultaneously. The entire row 

 if need be can be gathered and used the same day ; again, 

 the flavour in all is alike. We must, therefore, so far as our 

 trial and judgment are concerned, remark that, throughout 

 all the stages of their growth, there cannot be found a shade 

 of difference ; we, therefore, consider that honour should be 

 given to whoni it is due, and that Mr. Di'listone has the 

 merit of sending out the earliest Pea known. 



We now come to Sangster's No. 1, Dickson's Fh-st and 

 Best Early, Cai-penter's Express, and Fairhead's Hardy's 

 Early, these we treated exactly alike, one long row of each 

 vaiiety planted side by side. Excepting that Sangster's No. 1 

 and Carpenter's Express have flowers of a whiter colour, 

 there is absolutely not the shadow of a difference between 

 these fou: sorts. Thej' are the same in height (-Si feet), 

 were in flower May 20th ; style of growth, flavour of the peas, 

 shape of pods, all alike. One noticeable feature in these 

 varieties is, that several successive gatherings may be made 

 day after day. These four sorts are quite ten days later, 

 under ordinary cultivation. The five early varieties were fit 

 for use June 3rd; these four later sorts not untU the 13 th. 

 No doubt much depends upon locality, snug and warm 

 borders, dry subsoil, and other similar contingencies.-— 

 A. Henderson & Co., Fin-: Apple Ela;e, Edgicare Road. 



Pekjiit me to say a few words respecting early Peas. I 

 sowed -Mr. W. Paul's Tom Thumb in a gentle heat on the 

 20th of February, planted out the young plants on a south 

 border on the 20th of March, and gathered on the 23rd of 

 May. 



Carter's First Crop vaiiety was sown on the same day, 

 and I treated the plants precisely the same in every respect. 

 I gathered from them on the 29th of May. 



Sangster's No. 1 sown at the same time, and treated pre- 

 cisely the same in every respect, were gathered from on 

 June 4th. Therefore, I consider iVIr. W. Paul's Tom Thumb 

 the earliest Pea we have. 



Another excellent quality in favour of Tom Thumb is, it 

 requires no sticks. The plants grew with me about IJ foot 

 high, and although they commenced fruiting at the time 



