December 29, 1870. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND ICOTTAGE GARDENER. 



to my own experience here, as, perhaps, those varieties which 

 do well here may not succeed farther north. The Vines 

 being started on New Vear's-day, I cat in the first week of 

 July good bunches of Grizzly Frontignan, a Grape of delicious 

 flavour, and ready for table the first. The colour is objeoted to 

 by many, it being neither white nor black, but red. I con- 

 sider it superior to the White Frontignan. It is a good 

 cropper, but gains nothing by keeping, as, though I cut every 

 month up to the first week in September, thoBe bunches cut 

 from the same Vine in July were the best. The bunch is long 

 and tapering, but the Grape is small both in berry and bunch. 

 Royal Muscadine, a white Grape, is ready about the same time 

 as the preceding, but requires to hang a few weeks. It is like- 

 wise a good early Grape, and I shall also have to speak of it 

 in giving my late list. It is a sure fruiter, but, like the Grizzly 

 Frontignan, small. Buckland Sweetwater is a very fine useful 

 Grape of good flavour, also a good bearer. Foster's White Seed- 

 ling is a first-class Grape, and is larger than any of the preced- 

 ing ; it is also a good keeper. I likewise tried the Muscat of 

 Alexandria, but found it would not do, requiring more heat to 

 attain perfection than I could give it, as well as to hang too 

 long — say till November or December — while the greenhouse 

 plants are taken in in September. Black Hamburgh, a good 

 Grape, of excellent flavour, a fine cropper, and large in the 

 bunch and berry, with me gives way to Pope's Hamburgh 

 (Frankeuthal), a thin-skinned Grape, better-flavoured than the 

 Black Hamburgh, and as good for keeping. To show that it is 

 a good bearer I would say that on taking oharge of the Vines 

 here in 1868, I found a fine Viae, which had been planted 

 about fifteen years, in a very poor condition ; however, I en- 

 couraged it in every way possible to make plenty of wood, and 

 a Mil Hill Hamburgh next to it having died, I decided on 

 running up a rod of Pope's Hamburgh, and well it has repaid 

 me for the room. This year I cut from it twenty-four bunches 

 of excellent Grapes, the least weighing a pound, and I might 

 have had more bunches had I thought proper. 



Thus, for an early house, we have Grizzly Frontignan at the 

 warm end, Buckland Sweetwater, or Foster's White Seedling, 

 Royal Muscadine, Black Hamburgh, and Pope's Hamburgh; 

 and rather than have more varieties of black Grapes in the 

 early house I would prefer two Vines each of the Hamburgh. 



In the late house, in which it may not be convenient to keep 

 up a very strong heat, I would have Royal Musoadine, a good 

 keeper. I have now, December 10th, good bunches as fresh in 

 the berry as in September, and the flavour is excellent. Foster's 

 White Seedling is also good, and I would have Trentham 

 Black in addition to Pope's and Blaok Hamburgh, for np to 

 Christmas there is no black Grape equal to the Hamburgh. 

 On December 10th I cut excellent examples of Pope's Ham- 

 burgh. These varieties should be planted at the coolest end of 

 the house. West's St. Peter's, a rather small Grape, but good, 

 is the next for cutting for table. This is very prolific, and a good 

 keeper. I have the misfortune to have a Barbarossa [Gros Guil- 

 laume] in my late house — I say misfortune, becauEe, although 

 a fine Grape, it requires heat. With me it is small, both in 

 •berry and bunch, but will follow West's St. Peter's ; then comes 

 Lady Downe's, and lastly Alicante. I have included the last 

 two, as, though they require rather more heat than the rest, 

 they can still be grown for a crop. I would add, that though 

 this is a small list, still the varieties I have named are suffi- 

 cient to meet the requirements of those for whom this paper 

 is written. — Stephen Castle, Bent Hill Gardens, Prestwich. 



KALES OR BORECOLES. 



Your able papers of 1862 on the subject of Borecoles have 

 not borne that fruit which might have been anticipated, as will 

 he seen from the results of experiments which I carried out 

 during the last two seasons. 



Asparagus Kale. — From fourteen different seed warehouses, 

 embracing the leading wholesale and retail firms, I purchased 

 parcels of "Asparagus Borecole." In four instances Couve 

 Tronchuda was supplied, in five instances Jerusalem Kale ; 

 in three cases Bada Kale was given, in one instance Chou de 

 Milan, and in another Ragged Jacks. 



Ragged Jacks. — Under this name in two cases I received 

 Jerusalem Kale, in another a ooarse-growing purple Kale, and 

 in a fourth instance Chou de Milan. In the remaining in- 

 stances I received the true Ragged Jacks. 



Buda Kale. — For this in four instances I received Jerusalem 

 Kale, in one instance Couve Tronchuda, and in the remaining 

 instances it was trne. 



Delaware Kale. — In eight cases I was supplied with Jeru- 

 salem Kale for this, and in one instance with Buda Kale, but 

 in no instance with a variety to represent a distinct Kale. 



Jerusalem Kale. — In five cases I received what Mr. Cattell, 

 of Westerham, calls Purple Jerusalem, in one case I had the 

 Purple Dwarf Curled Kale; the remainder were the Green 

 Curled Jerusalem. 



Lapland or Siberian Kale. — In one case I received Egyp- 

 tian, in another Buda, and in a third Dwarf Purple (Juried 

 Kale. 



Chou de Milan. — There was a wonderful unanimity in this. 

 Only in one instance did I get a different thing, and that was a 

 green variety of Couve Tronchuda. 



Russian Kale was a mixture of Buda and Jerusalem Kales. 



Egyptian Kale. — Very few offered this, and these seemed to 

 be cf one mind. 



Miller's Winter Kale proved to be Egyptian. 



Victoria Marrow Kale turned out to be Couve Tronchuda. 



Camberwell Kale proved to be Ragged Jacks. 



Cottagers' Kale. — There was no diversity of opinion as to 

 this. 



Acme Kale proved to be Jerusalem. 



Buceman's Hardy Winter Greens. — This differs from any- 

 thing I grew, and seems a sturdy plant, which is likely to stand 

 the severest winters, and gives plenty of green food, but I can 

 say nothing of its cookiDg qualities, not having tasted it yet. 



Curly Greens, German Greens, Scotch Kale. — There 

 appears to be a great disposition here to multiply names. I 

 had Prince of Wales, Tall Green Curled, Feathered Scotch, 

 Abergeldie, Handsworth, Superb Tall, Superb Parsley Curled, 

 Williams's Matchless, Pontefract Green Curled, Tynninghamo 

 Green Curled, Williams's Dwarf Green Curled, Veitch's Dwarf 

 Late Curled, Dwarf Curled Canadian, Moss Curled, Stuart and 

 Mein's Extra Curled, Dickson's Imperial Dwarf Curled, &c. 

 These were simply variations in the selection. Some few differ 

 in the shade of green ; but none of them possessed that pure 

 character which long ago I was taught to believe that the 

 fairies rode upon in Ireland, and to my personal knowledge 

 and experience the lads and lasses in Scotland go after, on 

 Hallowe'en, to see what luck they will have in a husband or a 

 wife. 



Having pointed out the inconsistencies which exist amongst 

 those who sell Kale seeds, I hope you will do something, either 

 in the way of illustrations, or such full explicit descriptions 

 affixed to the names as will give the seedsmen a chance of 

 starting fairly. I need not say how unsatisfactory it is to send 

 to your seedsman for one thing, and receive something the 

 opposite of what you want. I might touch upon other Kales, 

 such as the Lannilis, Flanders, Thousand-headed, Jersey, 

 Brown, Palm Kale, and many others, bnt these are not so pro- 

 minent in our seedsmen's catalogues, nor such confusion in the 

 names, so that we may leave them to be dealt with in a de- 

 scriptive list of Kales. Those I have treated of are what 

 might be termed the domestio K-iles, and it is desirable, for 

 the sake of the gardening community, seedsmen should have 

 some unanimity touching the application of their names. — 

 Amateur. 



POTATO SETS. 



On page 389 of your Journal, " Calcaria " gives his ex- 

 perience in planting Potatoes, and asks for that of some of your 

 correspondents. I will give you mine during the past season. 



I bought 6 lbs. of the Early Rose Potato from one of the 

 London nurserymen, numbering twenty-four Potatoes. Twelve 

 of them I cut into sets ; I planted them 2 feet from row to row, 

 and 1 foot from set to set. The remaining twelve I planted 

 whole, in a row 2 feet from the others. In the autumn the 

 produce from the sets was one bushel, from those I planted 

 whole not quite half a bushel ; so that had I cut the whole of 

 them, the produce would have been two bushels, instead of one 

 bushel and a half.— T. C. W., Royston. 



SETTING OP GRAPES. 



Many papers have been written on this subject, and very 

 opposite opinions expressed. I have seen a dry atmosphere, a 

 damp atmosphere, a high temperature, and plenty of air, all 

 recommended in turn to insure Grapes setting well. As is 

 known to many of your readers, I have been crossing Grapes 



■ rather extensively the last few years, and have, I think, col- 

 lected a few facts. 



I The first deduction I have made is that no treatment can be 



