Boeamber 21, 1876, ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



53S 



and Nectarine trees 133 in number. It is of no nee sending 

 me one thing for another. I am sure to find it out. I have 

 had Old Roman Nectarines sent for Royal George, and Princess 

 Clementine (simmer Rose, white; very beantifnl) sent for 

 La Tour d'Auvergne, a red snmmer Rose. Now I am snre 

 that the nurserymen who sent the above were not aware of 

 the mistake. I can only account for these mistakes by the 

 carelessness of the propagator, or by the " larking " habits of 

 improvers, who are permitted to propagate, but who " lark " 

 during propagation. 



N.B. — Do not turn off your propagator till the season is 

 over, and have a book to depend on instead of moveable tallies. 

 — W. F. Radoltffe. 



APPLE ELECTION. 



Now that the election of Apples is mooted, what have the 

 readers of our Journal to say about the project being carried 

 into effect ? As with Roses so with Apples. That there will be 

 an amount of labour and anxiety about an election there can 

 be no doubt, and who will lead the van and be the returning 

 officer ? Mr. Robson has well ventilated the question, but my 

 own opinion is that three classes will answer the purpose 

 required — namely, earliest, midseason, and latest kinds. Apples 

 vary, some doing well in one place, some in another. Locality, 

 circumstances, climate, and situation have much to do with 

 their well-doing. I have known in some seasons Apples which 

 have kept well, and in others the same sort have not kept 

 well at all. I have known when Striped BeefiDg and other 

 useful keeping Apples, after being carefully stored, have gone 

 off with a disease like dry rot ; other seasons they have not 

 been affected at all. Early Apples in some seasons have 

 kept for months, at other times they have speedily decayed ; 

 so that under some circumstances it becomes a difficult matter 

 to say when they are in and out of season. Then, again, we 

 northmen are sometimes inclined to envy our more favoured 

 southern brethren, yet they say we need not do so. No doubt 

 they have their difficulties as well as we have, yet we have an 

 idea that the climate of the south on the whole is more favour- 

 able than that of the north ; nevertheless, by all and every 

 means let us have the election. — Pirus Malus. 



EUCALYPTUS GLOBULUS. 

 The information supplied from Ireland to the hardiness of 

 this beautiful evergreen has in the majority of instances been 

 favourable. However, in my case I regret to reoord a total 

 failure. Three plants 5 feet high I planted out in warm situ- 

 ations sheltered from the north-east winds on the east ooast 

 of County Down. In two years those plants attained the 

 height of 20 feet. In February of the third year, during a long 

 period of snow and frost, the splendid foliage gave way and 

 the trees became leafless, with the extreme ends of the branches 

 blackened and dead. They never recovered. A similar fate 

 was the lot of many more, and deeply did the owner regret the 

 loss. — John Boyd, Co. Dublin. 



EENEWING OLD VINES. 



With the exception of a few late sorts all Vines will now 

 be at rest, and those which have not done well throughout 

 the season should now be nnder consideration as to what is 

 best to do with them. If they are very old Vines, and seem 

 quite exhausted, many would recommend that such be rooted 

 out altogether and be replaced with young canes. Under cer- 

 tain circumstances perhaps this would be the best thing to 

 do ; but I am inclined to think that rooting-out and planting 

 afresh is not always the most profitable way of disposing of 

 old Vines. 



Several cases have come under my notice lately where the 

 old Vines had annually been decreasing in strength and fruit- 

 fulness until the young shoots were no thicker than straws 

 and the bunches little larger than Black Currants, and these 

 same Vines are now producing wood and fruit equal to the 

 best five or six-year-old young Vines ; and with this advan- 

 tage — that they bear as muoh fruit the second or third year 

 after being renewed as a young Vine would be capable of 

 doing the fifth or sixth year. Young Vines are generally 

 planted two years before they bear fruit, and, as a rule, they 

 only bear a bunch or two the third year, while it takes them 

 another year or two to be in bearing condition the full length 

 of the rod or rafter. Old Vines have no leading cane or spurs 



to make, as they are always the full length of the rafter, 

 and all they require is something to put fresh vigour into the 

 old wood, and this may be accomplished in the following 

 manner : — 



When the Vines are quite dormant, if the roots are outside, 

 begin by digging a trench along the border 4 feet deep and 8 feet 

 from the front of the vinery. When this has been taken out 



3 feet wide take another trench out in the same manner, and 

 in doing so be very oareful to preserve the roots as entire as 

 possible, and place them as they are laid bare up towards 

 the stem. The soil roust all be taken out to the depth of 



4 feet until the whole Vine can be lifted away. The bottom 

 of the border will then be clear, and if the drainage is not 

 naturally good place a layer of rough broken stones or brioks 

 to the depth of 6 inches all over the bottom. Where the 

 roots are inside the house serve that in the same way, and 

 then fill up to within 18 inches of the surface with a mixture 

 of good loam and ground bones. During these operations the 

 roots should be tied-up in a damp mat, and as soon as the 

 border has been filled up to the extent stated, take the Vine 

 and place it where it has to grow, then spread the roots all 

 over the surfaoe of the new soil, and oover them carefully up 

 to the original level of the border with the best of the soil. 

 Place about 2 feet of long dung and freBh leaves over the 

 newly-made border, and for the first year do not push the 

 Vines into growth with much fire heat, and when they do 

 make shoots let them grow from 2 to 3 feet long before stop- 

 ping them ; and if all the bunches are out off as they appear the 

 first year, the seoond year's crop will be all the better for it. 

 After the wood has been well ripened the Vines may be rested 

 as in former years, and the crop the following season will be 

 little, if anything, inferior to the best they ever produced, and 

 they will continue on for years to bear like young Vines. 



I have seen old exhausted Vines treated at the roots as above 

 described, and the rods cut off at the lowermost spur, send 

 fine strong canes up to the top of the rafter the first season. — 

 Vms. 



[So have we Eds.] 



THE GABDENS AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE. 



John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, built a house in 

 1703 on the site where the Palace now stands whioh bears his 

 name. This Palace was oommenced building in 1825 from 

 designs furnished by Mr. Nash, and many years passed before it 

 was completed. The area of the gardens is about fifty acres, of 

 whioh there are about twenty-five acres grass. There is a con- 

 siderable breadth of ornamental waters, islands, rustic bridges, 

 magnificent trees and shrubs, that one might believe one's self 

 to be a hundred miles in the country among the most beautiful 

 natural scenery were it not for the distant and rather faint 

 rumbling of the traffic in the adjoining streets. 



The gardenB lie to the west of the Palace, and in the Georges' 

 time the site whioh they occupy was devoted to dairy purposes, 

 but the late Prince Consort had the ground laid out in the 

 English style, and always had the gardens kept in a fit con- 

 dition for the reception of royalty. 



That part of the lawn which adjoins the Palace is kept quite 

 open, not a tree nor bush interrupting its level expanse of 

 turf. On this grassy carpet crioket, football, and other games 

 have been played during years past, and the Royal Family oan 

 call to mind many happy scenes of their youth. Where the 

 lawn becomes first broken in its continuity there is some 

 breadth of ornamental water well stocked with waterfowl, 

 amongst which are many rare exotic species. The waters are 

 varied with islands and plantations, which are connected to- 

 gether by rustic bridges ; and on the shore most remote from 

 the Palace are some grand forest trees, Oaks, Elms, Planes, 

 Beeches, Poplars, Limes, and other trees of stately growth, some 

 of which sweep their lower branches grandly over the glitter- 

 ing surface of the waters, others towering upwards, and their 

 tops are reflected in the clear surface of the lake. The Queen, 

 when the weather was fine, used to breakfast in the open air 

 under the shade of the trees that fringe the ornamental waters. 

 Beyond the water there are thickets of choice shrubs, deci- 

 duous trees, clumps of Rhododendrons, and other evergreens. 

 The richness of the miscellaneous gathering is peculiar to the 

 spot. 



We next come upon wilder scenes. Sometimes we are 

 hemmed-in between thickets, and anon are enjoying a charm- 

 ing view from the crown of a hill, and again find ourselves in a 

 deep hollow among Ferns and grasses or a tangle of flowering 



