November 15, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



379 



Mr. Black haa potted moat of Mr. Foreshaw's exhibition plants 

 for the last three years." He says the plant in question was 

 purchased by him from Messrs. Veitch in October, 1871 (two 

 small plants in 60-6ized pots), and was grown-on from that 

 date in the same house and place in which I saw it. He 

 further says that he has known Mr. Black for " many years 

 and the situations he has held as gardener, but never knew 

 him to have a single plant of Dioniea under bia care, and that 

 the treatment Mr. Black gave to me is entirely without practi- 

 cal experience." 



My answer is that in the summer of 1876 I visited my friend 

 Mr. L. Black of Fulwood, near Preston, and amongst other small 

 places he took me, through the kindness of Mr. Payne, to look 

 at Mr. Foreshaw's plants. The pan of Venus's Fly-trap struck 

 me at once as an example of s kilful management. Thinking it 

 would interest the readers of the Journal I wrote to Mr. Black 

 asking him to obtain me some notes on its culture from the 

 gardener, with whom I had no personal acquaintance. Mr.Black 

 wrote me to say that the gardener who exhibited it at Preston 

 this summer was not the same whom I saw last year, but he 

 stated that the plants were considerably stronger than when 

 I saw them. He also gave me the information that has been 

 already published in this Journal. Mr. Black's own words are 

 these, alluding to the Dionaaa muscipula, " I have had to do 

 with the plant ; in fact, I have potted nearly all Mr. Fore- 

 shaw's exhibition plants (the owner of the Fly-trap) for the 

 last three years, consequently I' can give you all the pros and 

 cons." I have known Mr. Black for nearly twenty years, and 

 do not think he would have made this statement unless it 

 was true, especially as he knew I wanted the information in 

 order to publish it for the benefit of others ; if he has 

 done so the responsibility is his, not mine. — J. Dou«las, 

 hoxford Hall Gardens, 



GRAPES CRACKING. 



In " J. S. W.'s " otherwise interesting paper on this subject 

 I think he is a little inconsistent when he blames me and my 

 theory for not preventing his Grapes oracking, and yet takes 

 particular pains to tell us he has made no attempt to carry 

 the said theory into practice. I do not suppose for a moment 

 that I could manage " J. IS. W.'s " Grapes better than he can 

 himself, taking all points into account ; but I do think I could 

 stop the crackiDg, although the cure in the first attempt might 

 be nearly as bad as the disease, as I have distinctly shown it 

 was with me in one case of overdoing it. 



I think the last paragraph but one in " J. S. W.'s " paper 

 rather strengthens my recommendation to take off a few leaves 

 to diminish the flow of sap. It runs thus — " It is a curious 

 fact that in the case of the Vine at the end of the house 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." 



Has it never struck " J. S. W." that half a dozen leaves on 

 the Vine at the end of the house where they get so much direct 

 sunlight, will probably elaborate more nutriment than double 

 the number of leaves would do in the middle of the house 

 where they are crowded and partly shaded by other leaves ? 

 Mere area of foliage, however luxuriant, is not worth reckoning 

 unless it is exposed to the light. I do not place any value at 

 all on the sunlight reaching the berries of black Grapes, but 

 I do place great value on it reaching the foliage, as amoug 

 other things it makes the pumping apparatus work much 

 faster ; it puts on more steam power, as it were— sometimes, 

 indeed, too much, as in the case of " J. S. W.'s" Vine at the 

 end of the house. 



As this subject is an interesting one and is not yet by any 

 means exhausted, I will jot down a few other thoughts con- 

 cerning it which occur to me at the moment. 



Saturation of soil does not cause cracking unless it haa been 

 preceded by comparative dryness, and even then oracking 

 would not occur were there little or no foliage on the Vines. 

 When the border haa been allowed to approach dryneas so 

 that the berries have ceased swelling and the skin has com- 

 menced hardening, and water has afterwards been applied 

 while the foliage waa still vigorous and able to take it up, the 

 berry would be very likely to start swelling afreBh, and if the 

 skin had become so much hardened as to have lost its elasticity 

 of course it would crack. I consider it a very great mistake 

 to cease watering when colouring commences. I like to see 

 black Grapes, perfectly green leaves, and hard brown wood all 



at the same time, and then it looks well for another year. 

 These are often not attainable if there is any stint of water. 



Saturation of atmosphere will cause cracking, especially if 

 it is accompanied with a sudden rise of temperature so as to 

 produoe condensation on the fruit. We know that the berries 

 can be made to swell tremendously in such an atmosphere, 

 but if it does not cause them to crack they swell at the expense 

 of colour and quality. 



In my experience cracking and shanking are not contem- 

 porary to any extent. An odd berry of course may be found 

 to support the opposite theory, and the one evil may follow 

 the other speedily from altered circumstances, though the 

 alteration may not be visible to many people. Too little foliage 

 aa compared with the weight of fruit will cause shanking or 

 imperfeot colouring, and a superabundance of foliage on such 

 Vines as are predisposed to have cracked berries will very 

 likely make them crack. — W. Taylob. 



It ia said, I know not on what good grounds, that Grapes 

 out of doora do not crack. I never grew them, but I think it 

 improbable. Plums and Pears certainly do crack, and I think 

 that most people must have noticed that thia occurs when a 

 dry atmosphere is succeeded by a very moist one. I think the 

 analogy holds good with Grapes under glass. This year we 

 had, when soma Trentham Black Grapes were half coloured, 

 bright and dry weather. Of course atmospheric moisture hail 

 been discontinued in the house as far as it was under our 

 control. This was followed by several days' rain and cloud, 

 with excessive, atmospheric moisture. One morning on looking 

 up I saw dozens of berries cracked, with the juice quite fresh; 

 they had all cracked iu the night. It occurred to me that if 

 I could keep the air drier it would probably prove a remedy. 

 I immediately had the fires lit, although in the end of July, 

 and put the top ventilators open night and day. The next 

 morning there were only two or three more berries cracked, 

 and after that it ceased. Some three weeks afterwards we had 

 another spell of dry weather, and then again rain and damp. 

 Some other Grapes on other Vines cracked, and were again 

 stopped in the same manner. 



I am much inclined to think, therefore, that a sudden change 

 from a dry to a moist atmosphere is the true cause of Grapes 

 cracking, and that they could be brought under control by fire 

 heat with top ventilation. I hope some of our more expe- 

 rienced growers may be induced to experiment in this direction 

 and state the benefit of their experience.— J. R. B. 



THE CARNATION AND PICOTEE. 



Two or three months ago a list was given of the best varie- 

 ties of these plants, and also some descriptions of the best 

 houses in which to flower them. The season we have just 

 passed through may be said to be very exceptional. Letters 

 are before us from growers in districts wide apart from each 

 other, and all agree in saying that the season has been the 

 worst they have ever known. This applies principally to the 

 midland and northern districts. The growers were not able 

 to layer the grass until the very last week in August and 

 later, and even at that time it was not in good condition. 

 The result of this is that much of the stock is not yet rooted, 

 and some good varieties that we expeoted to be sent out this 

 season will have to stand over until next year. As I expected, 

 the choice collection of Mr. Ben Simonite at Sheffield has 

 suffered very muoh, and he is also late with his plants. The 

 growers about Manchester are quite as late, and as we go 

 further north the difficulties of the situation are more nume- 

 rous. Down south the elements have been more propitious. 

 I waa able to layer the largest portion of our plants by the 

 first week in August, and when the layers were taken off they 

 were all rooted except about twenty or thirty pairs. These 

 have also been taken off and potted, but they are treated 

 differently from those that have roots attached to them. 



The best place for layers which have been potted (one in a 

 small 60 or two in a large 60) is a common garden frame. I 

 plunge the pots to the rim in cocoa-nut fibre refuse, and give 

 abundance of ventilation whenever the weather ia suitable. 

 The plants require just sufficient water to keep the soil moist, 

 and it ought not to be applied to the foliage. This year, owing 

 to the layers not rooting well, we found it necessary to place 

 a number of those that had no roots in a gentle bottom heat, 

 keeping the glass lights close for a week until the layers had 

 emitted roots ; after thia time more air ia admitted, and during 

 calm nights when the dew is falling the lights are removed, 



