194 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



■ [ Marcli IG, 1S71. 



Tlie garileu Hyacinth systematically cross-bred, 



The Tea-scented Kose crossed with the Yellow Briar race, also its 

 yellow forms with Eosa alba, to produce fragrant white and yellow 

 Perpetnals. 



Pelargouinm scntatnm with Ciconinm, to verify or disprove the 

 capability of union between the Scarlet Geranium and the Ivy-leaf. 



Carnation and Picotee. 



Tom Thumb, or other plain-leaved Geranium, crossed with Mrs. 

 Polloct, Golden Chain, and Alma. Baron Hngel, or other dark-zoned 

 sort, with the same three descriptions of variegation. 



Aquilegia glandulosa with other Columbines. 



British wild Howers, as Veronica, Eanuuculus, 'Lonicera, Digitalis, 

 Gentiana, crossed with allied exotic species. 



Common Sloe with Green Gage. 



Cherry Plum with the Green Gage. 



Bramble with the Easpberry. 



Crosses amongst the Brassieas, Onions, Carrots, and Eadishes. 



Black Currant pnd Scarlet Eibes. 



DIFFICULT AXD HITHEHTO UNATTEMPIED HYBSID UNIONS. 



Common Maize by variegated Japanese. 



Common Pine Apjjle by Variegated Pine Apple. 



Composite plants, as Aster, Dahlia, and Chrysanthemum. 



Native Iris, fcetida and Pseudacorus, with the handsome garden 

 sorts. 



Salvia patens, with fulgens and splendens. 



Mimulus cardinalis and the Musk plant. 



Objects of great beauty and valne will be readily produced 

 from amongst tlia crowd of gorgeous new plants at our large 

 establishments. Fruit and vegetable crosses are particularly 

 desirable. 



The above list must be, of course, considered as suggestive 

 only and explanatory, showing what may, and probably can, be 

 done in future seasons. To produce the crosses enumerated 

 would be the work of from one to several years, but who knows 

 but one or other may even turn up this very season ? — E. Tee- 

 VOK Claeee. 



SELECTIONS OF VINES AND EDUCATING 

 THE ROOTS. 



I HATE read Mr. Abbey's article a,t page 65, and I think 

 Chaouch, or the Turkish Sweetwater, is quite worthy of being 

 grown amongst the rest ; it is the favourite Grape at Constan- 

 tinople, a good grower, with handsome foliage, and is sure to 

 attract the eye upon entering a vinery. The bunches are large 

 and showy, and the berries large, oval, bright amber-coloured. 

 As regards flavour, grown in a house with Lidy Downe's, Bureh- 

 ardt's Pxinoe [Aramou], Black Tokay, or Alicante, West'^i St. 

 Peter's, Foster's White Seedling, and Trebbiano, this Grape 

 was preferred by my visitors. Such has been my experience 

 •with it when grafted upon an American stock. It is also a 

 good pot Vine, and hangs well. 



In the list of Frontignans, the Early Golden, or Salamon's 

 Frontignau, should not be omitted ; it ripens as early as the 

 Smyrna Frontignan, or, to give this its Levant name, Isaker 

 Daisiko, and is first-rate in flavour and appearance. The ladies 

 say, " What lovely Grapes !" Next comes the Primavis Fron- 

 tignan, which is an offspring of Chasselas Musque, known to 

 some as JosHng's Si. Alban's, one of the finest of all Grapes 

 when in perfeoiion. The Primavis has large berries and 

 bunches of the same high exquisite flavour as its parent, and 

 the Vine is vigorous and fruitful. These two do not require so 

 much heat as the Troveren, and the three varieties named are 

 the cream of the Frontignans, a class of Grapes having no 

 equal when grafted and planted in inside borders, or grown in 

 pots plunged, suitable for forcing or midseason supply. All 

 the Frontignans named are croquant, or crackling, a quality 

 much admired by the French. 



Lady Downe's, like its twin sister, Foster's White Seedling, 

 forces well. Although generally spoken of as a late Grape, 

 so highly does it stand with me, that it is used for early 

 and late work. As to Birbarossa, or Gros Guillaume, I urge 

 the planting of grafted Vines only, these being worked on the 

 Frankenthal, or better on the wild American stock, planting in 

 inside borders not filled with manure, and in a heat a little 

 above that of a Muscat house. Then this Grape will give 

 every satisfaction, and be very fine both in bunch and berry. 

 Allowed to hang till spring, it is one of the very best black 

 Grapes grown ; no Grape keeps longer than this, and it never 

 shanks. Its noble bunches, weighing C or 7 lbs. each, might 

 easily be mistaken for well-grown Hamburghs. Gros Colman 

 is not mentioned. It is a noble Grape in bunch and berry, 

 sure to attract attention at the dessert. Being a late Grape it 



should be left hanging as long as possible ; iu fact, do not cut 

 it until the berries show symptoms of shrivelling. 



As to educating the roots of the Vine, as Mr. Thomson so 

 ably points out at page 61, all reflective readers will agree that 

 it is of great importance. In planting Vines which I have 

 purchased from time to time, I have had to contend with the 

 difficulty of disentangling two or three leading roots, which, 

 when uncoiled from the pot, would be 3 or more feet in length. 

 To counteract this to some extent, I have shortened such long 

 roots and cut off the tips of others with the view of forming a 

 compact circle, the stem of the Vine being the centre, knowing 

 that the new roots are produced at the ends of the old roots in 

 the greatest quantity. In striking Vine eyes in 3-inch pots, I 

 have cut ofi the points of all the quill-like roots wlien shifting 

 into a pot only one size larger, this stopping of roots and shift- 

 ing being repeated as fast as the pots became full of roots. By 

 such means I have obtained a densely-packed ball of roots, in 

 the soil for which a small portion of bone dust (borings of 

 knife handles) was used. The shifting is discontinued when 

 the Vines are in a 10 or 12-inch pot. 



I stop my Vines when they are 6J to 7 feet high, including 

 the pot, whether they are intended for fruiting in the pot or 

 planting. I afterwards reduce the height to, say, 5 feet, and 

 thus I obtain fine plump eyes, sure to crop well, and the short- 

 ening aids the lower ones very much, Vines grown in soil 

 with a large proportion of manure make stout canes, which 

 please the eye, accompanied with large soft roots ; but canes of 

 less size and smaller harder roots are by far the best for all 

 purposes. — E. M. W., Fir View, near She_ffield. 



VARIEGATED KALE. 



If fltuess for its purpose constitutes one of the chief beauties 

 of a thing, it is equally correct that a suitable position has 

 much influence in causing us to view it favourably. To varie- 

 gated Eale this reasoning applies with as much force as to any- 

 thing; it is only a kind of Winter Greens, and planted in the 

 kitchen garden with others of its class, it is not likely to strike 

 one as possessing any very extraordinary merit beyond the 

 common run of culinary vegetables. But select plants after 

 the true colour of the foliage is apparent, arrange them skilfully 

 in groups placed in such a position that the first view is ob- 

 tained at some distance from them, and with suitable surround- 

 ings they are striking objects, producing an effect of such 

 singular beauty as to render them valuable adjuncts for decora- 

 tive purposes during a period of the year when bright-coloured 

 hardy plants are scarce. 



When the beds of a flower garden are arranged for the winter 

 months with dwarf shrubs, some masses of variegated Eale 

 might be introduced with good eiiect ; but otherwise I would 

 prefer seeing them as I did lately at Buxted Park — not in the 

 flower garden, but in occasional groups away among the shrubs 

 on the lawns, where the bright colours and curious foliage were 

 seen with the best possible effect. Uniform in height and size, 

 the plants had their colours so charmingly diversified as to 

 reward one for the closer inspection which their singular ap- 

 pearance invited. Some of them had splendid rosettes of a 

 bright crimson, others were of a delicate pink, and others had 

 foliage of almost a black tint, rendered still more striking by 

 the crimson frill sirrrounding it. Interspersed among these 

 were others having white and yellowish white leaves, in some 

 instances mottled and splashed with delicate green. 



To those who are unacquainted with these pretty plants it 

 will thus be evident that they possess sufiioient variety of colour 

 to produce bright variegated masses, which, while they har- 

 monise with the shrubs, tend materially to relieve their mono- 

 tonous greenery. — Edwaed Luckhuest. 



RAISING AND PLANTING EARLY PEAS. 



Beading an article on this subject in No. 518 of The Jouenul 

 OF HoETicuLTUEE, by Mr. E. Mackellar, induces me to describe 

 a successful mode that I have adopted here for several seasons 

 for raising our first crop of Peas. 



According to the number of rows of Peas required, I select 

 paling rails about three-quarters of an inch thick, between 

 ■i and 5 inches broad, and 12 feet in length. This is almost in- 

 variably the width of a border having a southern exposure. 

 Then I take three pieces of the same kind of rails from G to 

 8 inches iu length, and have a notch cut out thus— V ; iu this 

 the other two rails are placed edge-to-edge. Three of the 

 notched pieces are snflicient — viz., one at each end and one in 



