PROCEEDINGS. 



vii 



two other Cycnoches, one with white and the other with yel- 

 low flowers, covered thickly with minute bright*brown spots. 

 The latter smelt strongly of honey. To Mr. George, gar- 

 dener to W. Long. Esq.. M.P., Rood Ashton, Trowbridge, 

 Wilts, for a Queen Pine-apple, weighing 6 lbs. 4 ozs. 

 To Mr. Henderson, gardener to Sir George Beaumont, 

 Bart., for a fruit of the same kind of Pine-apple, weighing 

 6 lbs. 2 ozs. To J. G. Nash, Esq., of Bishop's Stortford, 

 for beautiful specimens of Muscat of Alexandria and 

 Black Hamburgh Grapes. The latter were well swelled 

 and coloured, and the Muscats were quite ripe, large, and 

 fine. The houses in which these Grapes were grown are 

 heated with brick flues. The rafters are nearly 20 feet 

 Ions', with upright sashes in front. There is a pit in the 

 middle of each filled with tan, which is renewed annually. 

 The glass is chiefly crown ; but the lower sashes of one 

 house are glazed with 16-ounce sheet. Ventilation is 

 managed by opeuing the sashes in front, and sliding down 

 those at the top. The Black Hamburgh Vines were planted 

 in 1843, and cut back in 1844, when each at once made 

 the whole of the single rod that furnishes the crop. These 

 rods are now, on an average, 5^ inches in circumference, 

 and run straight up the centre of each light, so that the 

 leaves and bunches are exposed to all the light and air 

 which the houses can furnish. The borders are admirably 

 constructed. The houses are built on the side of a low hill, 

 with a gravelly bottom. On the surface of the natural 

 ground, which was coated with concrete, the border has 

 been formed, 3+ feet deep at the back, and 2^ feet deep in 

 front, so that it slopes from back to front, where it is rounded 

 off. 2so rain can ever lodge there. It was formed with 

 burnt clay (the bottom of some old brick-kilns), loamy turf 

 from an old pasture, plasterers' rubbish, hair and trimmings 

 of hides (called fleshings) from the tan-yards, and an enor- 

 mous quantity of thoroughly rotten stable manure — the last 

 border alone consumed a barge-load of 40 tons of such 

 manure. All these materials, after being thrown together, 

 were thoroughly incorporated. They form so loose a bed 

 that a stick may be easily pushed through it to the very 

 bottom. Every November these borders receive a good 

 mulching of stable-manure, which remains to rot in the 

 succeeding summer : so that the surface is always covered 

 by a rich decaying material which absorbs heat from the 

 sun, and detains the natural dampness of the border. The 

 Vines are managed upon Mr. Crawshay's plan. 

 Certificates of Merit : To Mr. Davis, of Oak Hill, East Bar- 



