December 5, 1878. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
appears in the number of the “ Proceedings” of the American 
Chemical Society. This substance occurs at depths ranging 
from about 160 to 320 feet below the surface, in certain petro- 
leum-bearing strata, along the northern foot of the Carpathian 
Mountains. It is found in lumps or layers from 1 to 3 feet 
thick, and is of a pure honey-yellow colour, with the hardness 
of beeswax. The better qualities of this earth wax are manu- 
factured into ceresine, a substance hardly distinguishable from 
beeswax, and sold as such in Russia, to which country large 
quantities are exported. 
GROS COLMAN GRAPE 
ALONG with this I send you a medium-sized bunch of Gros 
Colman Grape, it being one of thirteen bunches on one rod 
growing in our Muscat house. It is 
sent for your opinion, and under the 
impression that this grand late Grape 
has not yet, and néver will, take its 
proper position until it is cultivated 
in ahigh Muscat temperature, under 
which circumstances it is found here 
to very far surpass the quality of 
any that have been produced in a 
Black Hamburgh house. It is not 
now so “well up” as it will be six 
weeks hence; but I think you will, 
to say the least of it, find the sample 
sent much superior to the character 
generally accorded to this noble 
Grape asregards flayour.—D. THOM- 
SON, Drumlanrig. 
[The bunch of Gros Colman which 
we haye received from Mr. Thomson 
is the finest of that variety we have 
Annonay for 1858 it is mentioned by the name of Gros Colmar. 
In that of De Bavay in 1852 it is called Gros Colman, and this 
is the earliest record I can find of it in nurserymen’s lists. It 
can be traced through Germany, where it has been for many 
years known as Gros Koélner, and it is of this name that 
the French Gros Colman and Gros Colmar are corruptions 
Through Germany we trace it eastward through Austria and 
Hungary, where it is grown under many names, among others 
those of Karzhina, Zherni, Seleniack, Vronck, Kapzhina, and 
Velka Spina. Our figure represents merely the shoulder 
of the bunch.—H.] 
SEASONABLE NOTES ON FORCING FLOWERS. 
PREPARATION must now be made for forcing in earnest. 
Gardenias are always acceptable. Plants in a forward state 
ever seen; large and handsome, 
weighing 3 ths. 14 ozs., and with ber- 
ries some of which measure 1+ inch in 
diameter, as shown in the engraving 
of them. The bunch sent to us 
shows how well this valuable Grape 
can be grown, and how desirable it 
is that it should be more extensively 
and better cultivated than it has 
been hitherto. A native of the Hast, 
it requires a temperature equal to 
that of the Muscat of Alexandria, 
and with this treatment Mr. Thom- 
son has succeeded in establishing the 
reputation of this Grape, hitherto 
rauch reviled by those who did not 
know how to grow it. 
The history of Gros Colman 
appears not to be very well known, 
and a question has lately arisen 
as to the correct orthography of 
the name. It was introduced to 
this country from Angers by Mr. 
Rivers about twenty years ago, and, 
as he informed me, he discontinued 
growing it because it did not ripen 
ima house where Black Hamburghs 
were grown. It was subsequently 
introduced by the late Mr. Standish 
when he first went to Ascot from 
M. André Leroy of Angers, and as 
he treated it as a late-ripening ya- 
riety requiring a great amount of 
heat he succeeded in ripening it per- 
fectly. The bunches were small 
and cylindrical, closely set with large black berries. but in no 
respect approaching the one that is now before us. Mr. Standish 
always spoke in high terms of Gros Colman, and it 1s mainly 
to his recommendation of it that it has been dispersed over the 
country. It has now fallen into the hands of skilful Grape- 
growers who know how to bring out its merits, and it will 
become one of the grandest of our late-ripening and long- 
keeping Grapes. 
_ Gros Colman is the name by which it was introduced, and it 
is under that name that it first appeared in M. A. Leroy’s 
catalogue of 1860. It seems to haye travelled westward from 
the Nast, for in the catalogue of Jacquemet-Bonnefont of 
Fig. 64.—Gros Colman Grape—Berries natural size. 
Pat) 
plunged in bottom heat of 75°, and with a brisk moist top 
heat of about 70°, they will soon swell the buds, but the plants 
at a great distance from the glass. G. florida, intermedia, and 
Fortunei are most suitable. Tabernseemontana coronaria flore- 
pleno well set with buds is amenable to similar treatment, and 
its flowers are as fine as Gardenias. Eucharis that has been 
kept in a cool house, now plunged in bottom heat of 85° and 
top heat of 70° to 75°, will throw up the flower scapes readily, 
few flowers being more acceptable at the new year. Cleroden- 
dron Balfourianum, which has been resting for some time, 
should be brought into the s!ove or house with a temperature 
of 65° to 70°, and having a good soaking of water and a top- 
