346 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[{ November 7, 1878. 
produce, each winner taking the article he liked best in rotation 
as placed by the Judges ; and two were awarded special prizes of 
a quarter of a pound of tobacco each for the poorest stands of 
Leeks in the Show.—J. RoBINSON, Dipton Colliery, Lintz Green, 
Honorary Secretary. 
[We publish the above report with pleasure, and compliment 
the colliers on spending their leisure hours so worthily.—EDs. | 
ABOUT VINES.—No. 2. 
IN continuing my jottings about Vines I shall proceed with 
a plain statement of my own doings, and to make them the 
more useful to amateurs I shall certainly not neglect to par- 
ticularise all the failures I have met with. To be apprised of 
the vicinity of danger I hold to be of more value than to be 
taught the road to success. 
Here it may be well to explain, as I have been taught by a 
neighbouring mining engineer, the ground I occupy is the 
ancient watercourse of the Wear that now runs by it, and the 
soil being shored-up by the many floods of past ages accounts 
for it being of quite a different nature at short distances. 
Where my first vinery stands the subsoil is a mixture of clay, 
gravel, and sand; whereas where my second stands it is pure 
sand, which I am told is 100 feet in depth. This will partly 
explain the reason of my forming the two borders in different 
ways, the field being all fine old turf. 
When comméncing to form the roads and making prepara- 
tions to build my first proceeding was to take the first spit 
from all paths, foundations, and the space my house was to 
occupy, and then to store it in the handiest spot for the borders. 
The next proceeding was to provide ample fall for drainage. 
I did not wish to raise my vinery an inch more than was 
necessary, but I made sure not to have the border stagnant. 
The place chosen for the border unfortunately fell 3 feet to 
the north-east. To surmount this difficulty I built a 21-inch 
stone wall 3 feet above the surface at the lowest end, and the 
top of this stone foundation formed the surface level after the 
border was completed. The good soil was first wheeled out 
from the whole space, and next the subsoil was carted out to 
fill-up the different paths from whence we had already taken 
the good soil. After a fall of 6 inches had been secured from 
back to front the bottom was thinly spread over with Portland 
cement, it being mixed with two parts of sharp sand. As 
soon as it was sufficiently set to allow being wheeled over by 
the aid of battens, stones and lime rubbish was spread over 
about 6 inches thick, a sufficient quantity having previously 
been screened to take out the smaller rubbish which was 
afterwards mixed with the border. The next proceeding was 
to cover the whole carefully with fresh-cut sods, the grass 
down. After this the border inside and out was filled up to 
its proper height with turfy soil. Inside, and of the portion 
of the border outside then made, there is 400 cubic yards, as 
the turf was laid a yard thick. To the soil was added about 
twenty loads of cow manure and half a ton of bones; the 
latter being kept handy a few were thrown into each barrow. 
In the report of my place I noticed that the bones were 
printed stones, and it appears I had neglected to mention to 
Mr. Wright the cow manure; the fact is, the quantity used 
was so small that I might treat it rather lightly. The front 
wall is 9-inch pillars with 2-feet arches the whole length, the 
under side of the arch being 6 inches below the surface of the 
border. 
My second border received about the same quantity of 
manure, but no bones, and I only made the inside border 
6 feet wide. The back part being intended for Peaches, I only 
added a little turf to what there was without disturbing the 
subsoil. The bottom being sand, I dispensed with artificial 
drainage entirely. I shall next notice the first year’s growth 
of the Vines and the treatment they received.—JOSEPH 
WITHERSPOON, Led Rose Vineries, Chester-le-Strect. 
TROPAOLUM TUBEROSUM. 
I PURCHASED in 1877 from Messrs. Hurst & Son, Leadenhall 
Street, three small tubers of Tropzeolum tuberosum, each about 
the size of a Cobnut. They thrived and blossomed well. On 
digging them up I found about 2 Tbs. of tubers to each, some 
weighing 5 ozs. Can they be used for food? Are they palat- 
able? This year some stems have risen among the branches 
of a Fir tree to 9 feet in height, and are now in blossom all 
the way up. If of no use their ornament is great.—P. H. W. 
[The tubers of T. tuberosum when cooked are eaten by the 
natives of Peru. They have also been tried in this country, 
and been considered by some to form an agreeable dish. 
When boiled they are of a soft pulpy substance, and in flavour 
resemble Seakale mixed with the hot taste of garden Cress. 
Some who have thus used them state that they have a very 
delicate flavour like the richest Asparagus and superior to the 
Potato, but they are disposed to be watery and not to boil 
firm. It has been found that when used immediately after 
being taken up the tubers have a disagreeable taste ; and to 
remedy this, in Bolivia, where the plant is called Ysano, they 
freeze them after they are cooked, and eat them when frozen. 
The ladies of La Paz are very fond of them, and in the season 
of the taiachas large quantities are sopped in molasses and 
taken as refreshments during the heat of the day.—EDs. | 
TOMATO AND CALCEOLARIA DISEASE. 
I HAVE grown Tomatoes for seyen years, and the first four 
years the plants had the disease seriously. The cause of the 
disease I consider was the result of turning the plants out too 
early, because during the last three years I have grown the same 
sorts in the same place and soil, and have had no disease but 
abundance of sound fruit. I used to plant them in May, but 
now do not plant until towards the end of June. 
Now to the Calceolaria disease. I have a friend next door 
who always obtains cuttings from me. One sort only is grown. 
He inserts his cuttings in 48-size pots quite thickly. In the 
spring he pots them off ; and when he does so, through their 
being so close together, their roots are greatly injured. When 
turned in the beds he loses nearly all with the “disease ”’ as he 
says. I grow the same sort of cuttings from the same plants, 
but I insert them about 2 inches apart in a cold frame. In 
spring I take them up with soil adhering to their roots, and 
plant them about 8 or 9 inches apart in other cold frames ; 
from there they go to the flower garden, and I do not lose 
above three or four plants all through the summer, and they 
bloom profusely. I grow about five hundred plants, my friend 
grows very many more.—W. L., Barnet. 
DRESSING CARNATIONS. 
Ir seems to me that in this controversy those who take the 
opposite side have the advantage over me. I always sign my 
name, they are anonymous, and under that cover are not over- 
particular what they say. “A STAFFORDSHIRE GROWER” in 
last week’s issue wishes to “clear up a point or two.” Now 
Tam quite willing to make a statement on this point. If your 
correspondent will give his real name and address in this paper 
I will also publicly state whether I employ a professional 
dresser and how much I pay him for his services. There is 
one thing that is kept quite in the dark in this controversy 
which will open people’s eyes to the one-sided way in which _ 
it has been carried on, and particularly by this correspondent. 
It is the fact that Mr. B. Simonite of Sheffield was competing 
against me in all the classes but three, I think. Now if it 
depends so much on the dressing of the flowers, how was it 
that in every case I beat Mr. Simonite? Will your corre- 
spondent answer that question? Again, if I did not exhibit 
honestly, how was it that Mr. Dodwell, Mr. Simonite, Mr. 
Rudd, and the other exhibitors, all of whom knew how my 
flowers were dressed, did not enter a protest at the time in the 
usual way? As to the letter signed “ GILLYFLOWER,” I did 
not know of it till I saw it in the Journal; had I done so I 
would not have allowed any reference to myself to haye been 
published. As an exhibitor of many years’ standing I have 
always been careful to comply with the rules of the schedules, 
and never to my knowledge did I infringe one. In the case 
of Carnations I adhere strictly to the rules of the National 
Society in their letterand spirit. If any real lover orintending 
exhibitor of Carnations had a desire for information on this 
subject the best way would be to write to the secretaries of 
the shows, and any complaint of dissatisfied exhibitors should 
be dealt with by the committee. 
As to the time it takes to dress a flower, I can do four in ten 
minutes. I will relate an incident that happened at South 
Kensington as an illustration. At the last moment I was busy 
dressing flowers for the classes when I observed two lying in 
a small heap of flowers that I had cut in a hurry ; and I re- 
marked to Mr. Peter Veitch of Chelsea. who was looking on, 
that if I had time to dress them they would be placed first in 
their respective classes. I dressed them in his presence, and 
also placed the cards under them, I should say in less than 
