Kovemier 1, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 



Day 



of i of 



Month Week. 



1 



Th 



2 



F 



3 



S 



4 



StTN 



5 



M 



6 



To 



7 



W 



NOVEMBER 1- 



1S77 



Ail Saikts' Dai\ Krempfer died, 1716. 



23 Sunday after Trinity. 



Royal Hoiticultaral Society — Frait and Floral Com- 

 [ mittets at 11 p.m. Camerarius bam, 1534. 



Average 



Temperatnre near 



London. 



Day. 

 543 

 51.4 

 53 5 

 52.1 

 52.9 

 52 4 

 52.1 



Night 



37.9 

 37.3 

 359 

 36.6 

 37.2 

 37 9 

 36 7 



Mean, 

 46.1 

 45.8 

 447 

 41.3 

 45.0 

 44 7 

 44 4 



Snn 

 Rises. 



Sun 

 Seta. 



Moon 

 Rises. 



h. m 



1 3S 



3 4 



4 31 



5 59 



7 27 



8 54 

 10 13 



Moon 

 Seta. 



b. m. 



2 45 



2 56 



3 12 



2 29 



3 50 



4 19 

 4 59 



Moon's 

 Age. 



DayB. 

 26 



27 

 28 

 29 



O 

 1 

 2 



Clock 

 before 

 Snn. 



m. a. 



16 20 



16 21 



16 20 



16 19 



16 17 



16 15 



16 11 



Day 



of 



Year. 



305 

 S06 

 307 

 308 

 809 

 310 

 311 



From observations taken near London dariog forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week is 53.1 c 

 37.0". 



and its night temperature 



GRAPES CRACKING. 



OUR correspondents, Messrs. Taylor and 

 others, seem to think they can stop the 

 crackiag or splitting in the Madresfield 

 Court Grape. Mr. Taylor, indeed, can do it 

 instantaneously. I only -wish he -would try 

 his hand on a couple of Vines here, or re- 

 concile their vagaries in that respect with 

 his hypothesis on the subject. 



We have two Vines growing in the same 

 houso and entirely in an inside border. One 

 Vine is in the middle of the house, and the other is at the 

 west end where it has the most light. Both Vines are 

 planted in the middle of the border — that is, equidistant 

 from the front and back walls, and one is trained down 

 the rafters and the other is trained both up and down, a 

 shoot diverging each way where the stem reaches the 

 wires. Both Vines were planted in 1870, and they are 

 moderately vigorous, bat the one that is trained down- 

 wards is the strongest, and has always the finest foliage, 

 though it has not been allowed to extend an inch for 

 some five years, and the sap is forced directly into the 

 spur-trained shoots, fruiting or otherwise, and which are 

 every year stopped methodically in the usual way. The 

 Vine at the end has been allowed to extend a foot or two, 

 but otherwise it has been treated like the other ; and with 

 this exception the breadth of foliage developed on each 

 every year, and weight of crop, has been as nearly as 

 possible the same. 



And now for the " cracking." The fruit cracks less or 

 more on both Vines, but the end Vine is always much 

 the worst. This season there was not a bunch on it that 

 did not crack, some very badly; whereas on the Vine in 

 the middle of the house there was not a single bad berry, 

 so far as I am aware, and the last bunch is still hanging 

 on the Vine dead jipe and partially shrivelled; and yet 

 this Vine, according to Mr. Taylor, is just the one that 

 should have cracked berries. It is the strongest Vine, 

 has the most succulent foliage, the sap cannot go any- 

 where else but into the lateral shoots and those which 

 bear the bunches, and no attempt has been made to 

 check the growth as Mr. Taylor directs. Besides, this 

 Vine gets considerably the most water at the root, for it 

 has to take its chance with the others, chiefly Alicante 

 and Lady Downe's, and we water as copiously as most 

 people. Contrary to what it ought to do, too, the Vine at 

 the end begins generally to go off on the bottom limb 

 first, though it is the weakest, the sap turning by pre- 

 ference into the top limb in its ascent. I may just say 

 that the crop, including the Madresfield Court, has 

 coloured as well this season as I have ever known it do. 



Leaving the problem here propounded for your corre- 

 spondent to solve, I ask, in conclusion, why cracking 

 should always be supposed to be produced by the force 

 of the sap from within? Neither in the ease of the 

 Madresfield Court nor the Chasselas Musque Grape does 

 any sap flow out when bursting occurs. Before the berry 

 cracked by distension one would expect the sap to ooze 



No. 866.— Vol. XXXIII., New Series 



through the pores of the skin, as it does in the case of the 

 Lady Downe's Grape when the fruit is allowed to hang 

 on the Vine till the sap begins rising in the spring, but 

 it does not. 



To me the cracking has always appeared to be just the 

 same as that which appears on chapped hands and on 

 the lips of human beings, which is caused by external 

 cold and exposure. It is a curious fact that in the ease of 

 the Vine at the end of the house, to which I have already 

 referred, the sun shines directly on the bunches for a 

 long while every afternoon ; whereas on the other Vine, 

 where there is so little cracking, the bunches are much 

 shaded, as the Vines are trained only 2 feet asunder and 

 the foliage covers the roof entirely in every part. 



If any of your correspondents can give information on 

 this point it may throw a new light on the subject of the 

 cracking of Grape berries. — J. S. W. 



JOTTINGS ABODT APPLES. 



With hundreds of varieties to choose from, and half a 

 dozen all that are really necessary, the difficulty is not 

 to find six first-class Apples, kitchen or dessert, but 

 the varieties that will meet our wants best over the 

 longest season. An old servant is none the worse for 

 being old— the reverse. With old favourites we have 

 coupled long and tried services and other pleasant remem- 

 brances. The old Keswick as soon as ever they are big 

 enough we can either eat, bake, or boil. For use to 

 the middle of August plant sufficient of the Keswick. 

 I once in the month of August heard a person engaged 

 in the judging of kitchen Apples remark that he did not 

 like the Lord Suffield, there was no weight in them. 

 These are of the difficulties exhibitors meet with ; an 

 Apple in season — the correct thing — may or may not be 

 appreciated. For use from the middle of August to the 

 end of October plant Lord Suffield, and when it fails in 

 having a crop Apples in that district will be scarce. For 

 use from the end of October to Christmas plant Ecklin- 

 ville Seedling, and of all Apples I do not think you will 

 find a larger, or one more taking in appearance, or, of 

 more importance as a surer bearer. From Christmas to 

 the latter end of March I know of nothing superior to 

 Warner's King, it will answer all kitchen requisites. To 

 fill up the intervening space is perhaps not difficult, but 

 I am so taken up with a local Apple grown in two or 

 three places in Northumberland that I shall claim the 

 liberty of naming it. A friend (Mr. Harkness of Allen- 

 dale Town) last June sent me a present of a few as 

 sound as when pulled ; and in addition to good keeping 

 qualities they were of good size and passable for table 

 purposes. It is known as the Gateshead Lemon Pippin. 

 Two others I strongly recommend are Cellini and Manks 

 Codlin ; they crop well, in fact are of our hardiest Apples, 

 and will in a strait pass muster for eating. 



And now for dessert. I place the Early Margaret 

 first ; its blossom will stand a little frost, and it is a good 

 cropper. Follow this with Irish Peach, next Kerry 

 Pippin, and then plant to the full extent Cox's Orange 



No. 1518.— Vol. LYIII., Old Series. 



