COMMONPLACE NOTES. 



255 



Cactus forms will, late in the season, give flowers with flattish or even 

 quite flat petals instead of the orthodox twisted or recurved shape. At 

 present, therefore, it is undesirable, as it is almost impossible, to draw a 

 rigid line between the two types — Decorative and Cactus. It would be 

 better if schedule makers would for the present allow Cactus and 

 Decorative to be combined, and word their schedule somewhat thus : 

 " Cactus and Decorative Dahlias — Show, Fancy Pompon, and Singles 

 excluded," and if they wish to favour Cactus, add "True Cactus forms 

 with reflexed or twisted florets will be preferred." It costs very little to 

 add a few explanatory words in a schedule, and it saves much heart- 

 burning. 



Stable Manure. 

 It has frequently been said that when the horses or cattle have been 

 fed on brewers' grains the resulting manure has an injurious effect on 

 plant life and health. It may be so, but we cannot quite see why, and 

 nowhere can we find the matter proved. But in the case of stables 

 where Peat-moss is used instead of straw it has been over and over again 

 proved to be injurious when used in quantity unless the watering pot is 

 used with the utmost care and skill. A correspondent tells of a 

 Cucumber bed, a Mushroom bed, and a bed for early Kidney Beans. 

 " The plants started well and then withered away. . . . The soil always 

 keeps damp . . . and never seems to want water. . . . There was very 

 little straw in the manure, and that little was picked out." We feel 

 almost certain this was a case of Peat-moss manure, which is so exces- 

 sively retentive of moisture that unless the watering can is used with the 

 utmost care and discretion it turns sour and stagnant and kills the roots 

 of almost any plant. Our correspondent, however, does not think it was 

 Peat-moss, and if he be right then probably a very similar mechanical 

 condition of the manure had been brought about by the mistaken zeal 

 displayed in picking out all the straw. Add to this the possibility of the 

 horses having been fed more or less on grains, and the straw-picked 

 manure can be easily imagined to be in as retentive a condition as if 

 Peat-moss had been. 'used. 



Grape 'Madresfield Court.' 



A Fellow writes to ask why her ' Madresfield Court ' Grapes " are all 

 splitting, whole bunches going so." This is by no means an uncommon 

 complaint of this delicious Grape. It is constitutionally apt to split its 

 berries on the smallest provocation, particularly if the drainage is in the 

 slightest degree faulty. It is also a variety which requires more air than 

 almost any other, so that unless it be planted at the end of a vinery, or, 

 better still, has a house to itself, it is a very difficult Grape to manage. 

 Allowing the border to get a little on the side of too dry, and then giving 

 it a regular soaking, almost inevitably results in the splitting of a large 

 proportion of the berries and the spoiling of almost all the bunches in 

 consequence. The essentials for success with it are (1) perfect drainage ; 

 (2) plenty of air whilst ripening ; and (3) the utmost care, attention, and 

 watchfulness in watering, avoiding equally too much and too little. It is, 

 however, such a delicious grape when well grown that it thoroughly 

 deserves a house to itself whenever this is at all possible. 



