78 



CASSELL'S, POPULAR GARDENING. 



the work : this, indeed, is a very necessary condi- 

 tion of success ; and, fortunately, it is not now so 

 difficult as it was a few years ago to ohtain efficient 

 services in designing and forming rockeries which 

 shall he successful from all points of view. The 

 leading idea which should prevail everywhere is 

 naturalness allied with suitahility, avoiding all ex- 

 travagances, but boldly using every local advantage 

 to tlie utmost extent. Where water is at command, 

 it will always be found a valuable ally. A trickling 

 rill along a rocky bed will admit of the growth of 

 plants which otherwise must be excluded : such, for 

 instance, as aquatic and such bog-loving plants as 

 depend for their existence on an ever-present supply 

 of moisture. Stepping-stones, fringed and bossed 

 with suitable plants, and picturesque bridges may 

 oftentimes be advantageously introduced ; here and 

 there, too, a place may be found for a tiny pool, the 

 bed and margins of which will provide a congenial 

 home for many interesting plants, adding variety in 

 form of foliage and flowers, and so increasing the 

 pleasures of the garden, while the pool itself wiU 

 act as a foil to the quick-flowing rill, and introduce 

 the elements of peacefulness and contemplativeness 

 amid scenes of hurry and precipitancy. Such con- 

 trasts are almost always pleasing, provided they are 

 introduced judiciously. 



The construction of such large rockeries as 

 we are now referring to will rarely or never be 

 attempted by the amateur without the aid of a, 

 skilled professional gardener; and there is conse- 

 quently no necessity on this occasion to give de- 

 tailed instructions for their formation. But any 

 amateur who desires to make a successful attempt at 

 constructing a rockery of any pretensions without 

 professional aid, will find time and money well spent 

 if first of all he visits and patiently studies some of 

 the well-made artificial rockeries wilhin his reach, 

 and then devotes his summer holiday to wandering 

 among our native hills and mountains, or, still better, 

 among those of Switzerland, ascertaining how Nature 

 grows Alpine plants, and familiarising himself with 

 the principal characteristics of a natural rookery. 

 During such a ramble as we are recommending the 

 observant eye will learn many lessons which will 

 prove invaluable, and are scarcely to he acquired in 

 any other way. 



THE VINE AISTD ITS FEUIT. 



By William Coleman. 



BISEASES TO WHICH THE VINE IS SUBJECT. 



OF all the exotic f i-uits under hot-house cultm-e, the 

 vine is subject to far more diseases than any 

 ether. First and foremost stands the disease known 



to gardeners as " shanking ;" then there are mil- 

 dew, rust, scalding, bleeding, fungus on the roots, 

 warts on the leaves, and aerial roots ; but as these are 

 less difficult to deal with, and may be averted by 

 good detailed management, the first and most preva- 

 lent affection claims our earliest attention. 

 ft 



Shanking. — This perplexing enemy to grape- 

 growers puts in an appearance just when the berries 

 begin to change colour, and it continues more or 

 less active until the crop is ripe. On its first ap- 

 pearance a slender black thread is detected round the 

 stalks of the berries, further growth is arrested, the 

 stalks lose their vitality, and the berries become in- 

 tensely sour, and shrivel into what are not inaptly 

 termed vinegar berries. Sometimes a few berries in 

 every bunch shank ; at other times a whole bunch 

 goes, and in very bad cases the crop is completely 

 ruined. It is generally admitted that shanking is 

 more prevalent in late houses than in early ones, 

 where a large portion of the roots are inside, and 

 having the benefit of a genial bottom heat, get 

 thoroughly ripe, firm, and woody before the vines go 

 to rest in the autumn. 



That shanking may be caused by some sudden 

 shock or derangement of the system there is little 

 doubt. It may be that the foliage has been prema- 

 turely destroyed by red spider ; the vines may have 

 been overstrained in preceding years; checks and 

 chills may have been produced by bad ventilation ; 

 or it may be that the borders have been kept too 

 diy. One or aU of these iUs combined might pro- 

 duce severe shanking, and it is by no means impro- 

 bable that some 'of them exist at times in every 

 vinery, and contribute their share to the failure of 

 the crop ; but they are not the primary cause of 

 shanking. 



If twenty borders which produce shanked grapes 

 were examined, it would be found that the majority, 

 if not all of them, were composed of too rich ma- 

 terials containing an excess of organic matter, in 

 which the vines grow with great luxuriance, but fail 

 to ripen their wood. The roots, although plentiful, 

 would not be firm, hard, and fibiy, but soft and 

 fleshy, like those of Asparagus, and being tmripe, 

 would perish right back to the main roots in the 

 winter. The next season a new supply of young 

 roots or feeders would have to be made ; but the 

 borders being cold, rich, deep, and wet, they, would 

 be late in forming and quite incapable of maintain- 

 ing the early growth produced and supported by the 

 stored-up sap of the previous year. This, the fii-st 

 check, would take place about the time the grapes 

 a,re stoning or approaching that stage. The crop, 

 lightened by wholesale shanking, would thi-ow the . 

 vines into a long-jointed vigorous gi-owth ; the roots 



