MR. W. EAELET ON LILIES OF THE VALLEY. 



21 



special purpose in any of the spring or winter months, it would 

 merely be necessary to give the proper notice to the gardener 

 before March in one year, to have any quantity of grapes in the 

 winter or spring of the following year, without much trouble and 

 at very little expense, as grapes grown from July until midwinter 

 can be grown with half the expense of those produced from De- 

 cember to June. Young cuttings struck from this vine any time 

 before March can be made to bear a good crop of fruit the fol- 

 lowing January, February, and March. Last May I planted a 

 house with little plants not a foot high, out of four-inch pots ; and 

 they are now, at the beginning of December, bearing a nice crop 

 of beautiful fruit, which will be ripe the second week in January — 

 and these grown amongst pines under very disadvantageous cir- 

 cumstances. 



It is curious that this grape, which is large, oval, and the blackest 

 of all grapes, was raised from two white grapes, the female parent, 

 the Muscat of Alexandria, having oval berries, while the male 

 parent, the Trouveren, has globose berries. It is still more curious 

 that, when grafted on its male parent with globose berries, and 

 on Graham's Muscat Muscadine, which has similar fruit, the 

 berries have in both cases undergone a complete change of form 

 in correspondence with that of the male parent, but without the 

 slightest difference of colour. 



This curious effect of the stock on the graft confirms some other 

 reports of a similar nature, one of the most singular being one 

 which has lately been recorded by Dr. Hogg, where the Marie 

 Louise pear, grafted on three different stocks, gave three very dif- 

 ferent forms of fruit, one of which only could have been referred 

 by the most practised pomologist to the parent plant*. The 

 subject is one of extreme interest, and deserves a set of carefully 

 conducted experiments by some one who has time and patience 

 to follow it out. 



IV . Preparing Lilies of the Valley for Forcing. 

 Ey Mr. W. Earley. 



As it may not be very generally known that by a very simple 

 mode of procedure the forcing-capabilities of this most deservedly 



* [Dr. Hogg has kindly shown us the specimens, which he brought from the 

 Eev. W. Kingsley's. — Ed.] 



