October 11, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



235 



The plan is briefly as follows : The soil of the old border is 

 taken out inside the house and fresh soil put in. The roots are 

 raised and placed nearer the surface. They are, I think, notched 

 at intervals ; a portion of the steins are also notched and laid in 

 the border. The Vine belonging to No. 1 rafter is laid in the 

 soil and trained up No. 2, while that belonging to No. 2 is 

 conducted underground and is trained up No. 1. Thus every 

 Vine has a fresh rafter, the layered sterns — quite 4 feet of 

 each Vine — crossing each other underground between the 

 rafters. Of the Vines so managed in August young rootB are 

 plentiful from the layered stems, especially from the young 

 canes which had been encouraged to grow ; the old stems 

 have not yet emitted roots. 



This mode of renovating Vines is well worthy of mention at 

 the present time. The preparation of young canes, the notch- 

 ing of the stems and laying a portion of them in the soil, 

 cannot fail to increase the root-action of the Vines to a very 

 considerable extent, and is the almost sure and speedy fore- 

 runner of good Grapes as at Wimbledon. 



The border inside the house is not made of the full width of 

 the house, but 3 or 4 feet furthest from the Vines contains 

 simply fermenting manure. Such manure placed in a vinery 

 at the time of starting the Vines is of great assistance to the 

 breaking of the eyes, it also promotes healthy growth after- 

 wards, adds gentle heat to the border, and as the manure 

 decays forms a rich larder of food for the Bupport of the Vines 

 •when the crop is swelling and ripening. Mr. Ollerhead'a plan, 

 I believe, is to remove the manure at the winter pruning, and 

 with it the roots which have penetrated it, placing fresh 

 manure and encouraging fresh roots yearly. If I am wrong in 

 my assumption Sir. Ollerhead muBt oblige by correcting me. 

 It is a somewhat bold course of treatment — a wholesale annual 

 root-pruning, but which will no doubt answer its purpose ad- 

 mirably — as well, indeed, with Vines as with fruit trees in 

 pots to which the practice is commonly and successfully ap- 

 plied.— J. W. 



THE EOYAL GAEDENS, HAMPTON COUKT. 



No more convincing proof of the increasing popularity of 

 Hampton Court can be needed than to witness the many 

 thousands of visitors who frequent these gardens daily. The 

 noble avenues of Lime trees verging on the banks of a pleasant 

 stream afford delightful shade from the fierce rays of a mid- 

 summer sun, and lend a charm to the numero as flower beds for 

 ■which they form a background. 



Entering the gardens from the Palace front I found the long 

 ribbon borders planted with Hemp; tall Abutilons, Cannas, 

 Tobacco, Castor Oil, Solanums, and other subtropical plants 

 forming a background, and so well do they answer the purpose 

 required of them that in many places they completely shut out 

 the wall behind them. In the front of them were Geraniums, and 

 marginal lines of Golden Chickweed and Cerastium tomentosum. 

 'These borders are about half a mile in length. The walls be- 

 hind are draped with Clematises, Honeysuckles, &c, which add 

 to the beauty of these grounds at other seasons of the year. 

 The flower beds have been very beautiful this year, and a brief 

 outline of a few of the most pleasing may be acceptable. A 

 bed planted with Miss Kingsbury, a very clear white variegated 

 Geranium, intermixed with Viola Blue Perfection, surrounded 

 with a double row of Iresine Herbstii, and margined with 

 ■Cerastium tomentosum, was very effective. A charming bed 

 planted in the "carpet" style also merits notice. Cables 

 were formed with Alternanthera paronychioides lined with 

 Eoheveria retusa and a narrow belt of Golden Feather, filled- 

 in with Sednm glaucum, Alternanthera, and Mesembryanthe- 

 mum cordifolium variegatum ; the corner segments were planted 

 with Alternanthera amcena, and the whole edged with Eche- 

 veria retusa. This was altogether a very attractive bed. Happy 

 Thought Geranium was here doing well, and displayed its 

 strange freak of vegetation to great advantage. It was edged 

 with Coleuees and Golden Thyme, and the trio made a very good 

 bed. Opposite the tennis court was perhaps the best arranged 

 carpet bed in the gardens. It consisted principally of ovals, 

 circles, and their segments, and was planted with Eleinia repens, 

 Alternantheras, Mesembryanthemums, and margins of Semper- 

 vivum californicum and Echeveria retusa. Many other pleasing 

 beds must be passed, but not two of the most showy. Their 

 centres consisted of large blocks of Pelargonium Bijou and Viola 

 Blue Perfection freely intermixed (Violas do well here) ; then 

 a broad belt of Iresine Lindeni surrounded with the Golden 

 Stellaria. Whether viewed from a distance or examined 



closely the arrangement was equally striking. Among the 

 best Geraniums employed here are Sir George Natchet, 

 Lucius, St. George, Waltham Seedling, Mrs. Haliburton, 

 Warrior, and Sybil. Robert Fish and Golden Harry Hieover 

 are good for edgings. The gardens and grounds were in 

 excellent order, reflecting great credit on the manager. 

 — J. W. MoOEilAN. 



FUMIGATING. 



Scarcely anything can be more important in the practice of 

 plant cultivation than the timely destruction of noxious in- 

 sects, or preferably their prevention. Soil, watering, struc- 

 tural conveniences are all rendered comparatively inert if 

 insects are permitted to become established in the houses or 

 on the plants. Those cultivators who have won honours at 

 exhibitions and have established their fame as accomplished 

 plant-growers for home decoration are thoEe who have 

 persistently waged a war of extermi- 

 nation against insect pests. Those 

 writers, too, who convey instruction in 

 plant culture find it necessary to re- 

 iterate the importance of insect pre- 

 vention or destruction. There are 

 various ways of subduing insects, but 

 one of the most familiar and effectual 

 is by fumigation. Clumsy makeshift 

 contrivances are frequently adopted in 

 the burning of tobacco or tobacco paper, 

 and when such is the case the work is 

 unpleasant, and is often deferred until 

 much injury has been done to the 

 plants. By way of making fumigating 

 a pleasant occupation Mr. Tebb has 

 produced a handy, simple, self-acting 

 apparatus which has been figured in 

 our advertising columns. This having 

 proved acceptable a smaller fumigator 

 for frames and individual plants has 

 been produced by Mr. Tebb, which is 

 shown in miniature in the accompanying figure. To retain the 

 smoke the cloth simply requires to be tied round the stem of 

 the tree. We have tried this little apparatus, and it answers 

 admirably. It consumes the tobacco paper freely yet without 

 flame, and when the draught (which can be regulated at will) 

 is adjusted by the moveable slide no further attention is 

 requisite during the process of fumigation. The fumigators 

 are made of various sizes, and are cleanly, cheap, and durable. 



Fig. 55. 

 Tebb's Fumigator. 



GEAPES CEACEING. 



In your impression of October 4th W. Harris seems puzzled 

 with the vexed question, " What causes GrapeB cracking?" I 

 have not come forward to clear-up this mystery, but I suggest 

 a little matter which, if not overlooked in his practice, is at 

 least not mentioned in his remarks — namely, the state of the 

 atmosphere. 



Our friend asks, " Why should one sort crack more than 

 another ?" Some Grapes have thin skins, others thick, and, 

 of course, the former must be more apt to yield to surrounding 

 circumstances than their more leathery-skinned neighbours. 



After describing his two unsuccessful attempts at growing 

 Madresfield Court Grape without cracking he says, " Certainly 

 everything was done to lessen the flow of sap to the berries, 

 &e." Was he equally careful to facilitate the flow of sap from 

 the berries ? Was he sure the atmosphere was not too moist ? 



I am quite of opinion, though others may think differently, 

 that the amount of moisture in the atmosphere of a house has 

 more to do with the cracking of GrapeB than either the amount 

 of water supplied to the roots or the amount of foliage de- 

 veloped on the Vine. I have under my charge a house in tha 

 centre of which there is a pit once used for Pines, but now 

 filled with ashes for the purpose of standing Ferns on. In 

 this house there is growing together Muscat of Alexandria, 

 Mrs. Pince, Black Hamburgh, and Foster's White Seedling. I 

 found that the latter variety cracked very much, but instead of 

 cutting the shoots half through to cure it I took every plant 

 out of the house as soon as the Hamburghs began to colour, 

 and have done the same thing every year since, and have now 

 no cracked berries, not even in this remarkably dull, sunless 

 season, and in a locality, too, where about 14 inches of rain 

 has fallen from the beginning of June to the end of Septem- 



