1SS 



JOEEXAL OF HOSTICtTLTTJEE AXD COTTAGE GARDEXEB. 



[ September 6, 18G4. 



floor, and the attendant grating. We would leave the flue 

 as you propose, close to the back wall; and when you put 

 on a fire it will enable you to give air by the wooden venti- 

 lators on the north side more freely. Tou speak of a twelve- 

 inch tile flue. Is it to be covered by tiles of that width, or 

 is it to be made of earthenware pipes some 12 inches in 

 diameter? If the latter, the first 6 feet of the flue from the 

 furnace should be built of bricks in the usual way, and at the 

 end of that, and the other end of the house, there should be 

 square places of a foot left, so that the flue could be cleaned 

 without moving the round pipes. Portland cement is the 

 best material for fixing such pipes, so as to keep them smoke- 

 tight. The nert best is fine lime, putty, and sharp sand. 



Seventhly. If these two divisions were to be heated sepa- 

 rately, it would be best to place the boiler between them, .and 

 take the pipes right and left, to be worked together or 

 independently of each other. If the same flue and pipes 

 are to heat both divisions, without any valve or other 

 stoppage — that is, when you heat one house you must also 

 heat the other — then it will be best to have the stokehole, 

 flue, and boiler placed at the ertreme end of the vinery. 

 The flue and the flow-pipe there will always be warmer than 

 at the other end ; and Vines, when in a state of rest, will 

 bear more heat than Peaches will do in a similar condition. 

 Tou may safely keep a temperature of from 40° to 45° from 

 fire heat in your vinery all the winter without prematurely 

 exciting your Tines. Tou could hardly do the same thing 

 long in a Peach-house, if the temperature from fire heat 

 went much above, from 37° to 43° by fire heat. In the 

 vinery, therefore, you could keep in winter plants needing 

 the most heat; and the temperature in the Peach-house 

 you could keep lower by giving more air, and use it for 

 hardier plants. For instance : you could keep Camellias, 

 Geraniums, &c, in the vinery; Terbenas, Calceolarias, &c, 

 in the Peach-house, and yet bring forward the buds in neither 

 house much before their usual time. 



Lastly. If the Tines are thus allowed to break naturally, 

 most greenhouse and bedding plants may be kept in it from 

 the time the Tines are pruned until the fresh leaves begin 

 to impart too much shade, when a few things that delight 

 in shade — as Ferns and Begonias, might be grown on the 

 stage in summer, and tender annuals if the stems of the 

 Tines are 3 to 4 feet apart. Similar treatment, except a 

 lower temperature, may be adopted in the Peach-house 

 until the bloom is set, and before the foliage is much ex- 

 panded. If the trellis for the Peach trees extends all over 

 the roof, up to the top of the back wall, then you will grow 

 nothing- well on your stage in summer except what loves the 

 shade ; but as soon as the leaves are off the trees in the 

 autumn, you may fill your house with plants until the fresh 

 leaves of the following year make it too shady. One of the 

 best modes for combining the useful and the ornamental in 

 a Peach-house, with the roof covered by the trees, that we 

 have met with, was not having any stage, but covering the 

 back wall with Camellias, and setting plants on boards en 

 the floor in the winter. From Xovember to April the wall 

 was a beautiful sight. The shade in summer just suited 

 the Camellias, and the leaves of the Peaches were gradually 

 thinned in the end of summer to secure the ripening of the 

 buds. It would be a bad policy to have many plants in 

 either division when the fruit was ripening. 



The stage may come far enough forward to secure from 

 30 to 36 inches for a pathway between it and the raised bed 

 in front, and a moveable trellis might also be laid across 

 that bed, so that every part of the interior could be a green- 

 house in winter. This, with a little care, need interfere 

 nothing with the health or the fertility of the fruit trees. — 

 E, F. 



THE MUSCAT GRAPES. 

 The question of the difference between the several va- 

 rieties of Muscat Grapes has at length been settled by the 

 Fruit Committee of the Eoyal Horticultural Society on 

 Tuesday last. For many years there has been a. great di- 

 versity of opinion among Grape-growers as to the characters 

 of the various forms of the Muscat of Alexandria ; and by 

 way of ascertaining and determining wherein these diffe- 

 rences lay, the Fruit Committee obtained from the most 

 authentic sources the following varieties, which were all 



planted in the same house, set apart exclusively for that 

 purpose : — Muscat of Alexandria, Muscat Escholata, Barnes' 

 Muscat, Tottenham Park Muscat, Denbies Muscat, Charles- 

 worth Tokay, Tynningham Muscat, Passe Muscat, Bowood 

 Muscat, and Canon Hall Muscat. The last has always 

 been allowed to be distinct from the others, and is at once 

 known by its very large and almost round or roundish oval 

 berries. After having grown these varieties under the same 

 conditions in a Muscat vinery, and fruited them for two 

 years past, the Committee after very careful comparison 

 came to the conclusion that Muscat of Alexandria, Muscat 

 Escholata, Barnes' Muscat, Tottenham Park Muscat, Den- 

 bies Muscat, and Charlesworth Tokay, are all the same 

 variety under these different names; and that Bowood 

 Muscat, Tynningham Muscat, and Passe Muscat, differ from 

 the others in being much better setters, but that these 

 three bear a close resemblance to each other. Thus this 

 vexed question of so long standing is settled in a way and 

 through a process that can leave no farther doubt on the 

 subject. 



MY OECHAED-HOUSE— JS'o. 8. 



Afteb a two-months drought this island was suddenly 

 visited by a violent storm of wind from the north-east, ac- 

 companied by heavy rain, on Monday the 22nd ult. Many 

 visitors, during this the season, had occasion to remember 

 this date, as special excursion trips had been organised by 

 sea and by land. About three hundred (among whom was 

 this Journal's correspondent), had started early on board a 

 small steamer for Serk, eight miles distant. The morning 

 was overcast, and rain clouds were massing themselves gra- 

 dually in the eastern sky, but no one anticipated the storm of 

 wind and rain which obliged us, together with another strong 

 party of excursionists from Jersey, to seek shelter all over 

 the island, and finally to re-embark, from an open beach, in 

 crowded boats under a drenching sheet of rain. Huddled 

 together on the open deck, unable to move hand or foot, the 

 violent lurchings of the steamer (whose only safety lay in 

 its splendid pilotage), produced a succession of ludicrous 

 episodes, such as are only to be met with in "pleasure trips." 

 Many of the female excursionists had already been laid 

 prostrate on the beach after the journey out, and on their 

 return their sufferings were great indeed. I do not think 

 we were sufficiently thankful, at that dismal peiiod, for the 

 heavy rain, under which the very waves appeared to smoke. 

 The island pastures, however, burnt to a pale yellow, seemed 

 to rejoice under the welcome downpour, which was truly 

 valuable after so long a drought ; and our tanks became 

 completely filled during the night. I do not remember this 

 as having ever occurred in one night before. 



The violent gale increased during the night, and the next 

 morning the ground was strewed with leaves, and, alas ! many 

 a fine Pear and Apple. At such times one is apt to reflect 

 on what is really the best fonn for a standard fruit tree to 

 assume. That form which best obviates the risk of the 

 boughs clashing together, is not always the one most favour- 

 able to admit the sun's rays equally over the tree. In these 

 stormy isles we are not agreed on this point. Some are 

 strenuous advocates of the pyramidal form both for Pears 

 and Apples, and it certainly seems the best calculated to 

 prevent the lateral branches from rubbing together. Observe 

 a bush tree trained in that beautiful shape "en gobelet" in a 

 gale of wind. See how the branches intermingle as they 

 sway in the blast, rubbing away shoots and fruit ; but what 

 an admirable plan to admit light, warmtli, and air to all 

 parts alike ! Supports, ties, wires, have all their objections. 



In the orchard-house all was calm and fair on my return. 

 The ventilators to windward had been closed, those to lee- 

 ward were left open, and only a grateful feeling of shelter 

 and pervading moisture met me after so much exposure. 

 This was one of many moments when the protection afforded 

 by glass structures to such valuable fruit as Peaches and 

 Xectarines, then in the very height of their season, was fully 

 demonstrated. Xot only so, but it was inexpressibly delight- 

 ful to find oneself thus able to pace along the planked path 

 (a plan I strongly recommend to amateurs), heedless of the 

 raging wind and cold rain outside of the house. All the 

 beautiful fruit still hanging on the trees seemed to welcome 

 their master back. 



