APRIL. 



weak and unproductive that he had to get another house ready to take then- 

 place, so that at best the system can only be carried out where there are plenty 

 of hothouses at command. When Mr. Dowding was gardener at Oakhill, near 

 Barnet, I remember there was a vinery in use for forcing winter Grapes, but 

 the wood gradually dwindled smaller and got unproductive after a few years' 

 forcing. Mr. Dowding was one of the best cultivators of Grapes in a general 

 way, and everything was done that could be in protecting the borders so as to 

 insure success. Great stress is laid upon having fresh green Vine leaves in 

 the winter months for garnishing the dishes of late and early Grapes for the 

 dessert, and this, no doubt, is desirable ; but I am afraid that many cultivators 

 of early Grapes in unheated borders will have plenty of green leaves and but 

 few Grapes to garnish. 



I see at the last Meeting of the Fruit Committee of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society, that there were no early Grapes produced, although a prize was 

 offered for them, and March and April are just the months when they would 

 be useful for the dessert when the late Grapes were getting over. No Grapes 

 ripened in January and February that I have tasted yet, could be compared 

 in flavour with well-kept Muscats, West's St. Peter's, Black Tripoli, and 

 Lady Downe's Seedling. 



Respecting the different varieties of Muscats and Black Hamburgh Grapes, 

 I believe they are fewer in number than is generally supposed ; and that they 

 are so much altered by cultivation, that names have been given them when not 

 really distinct. At the great fruit show at South Kensington in November 

 last, I exhibited three bunches of Muscats of quite a different character from 

 what the Vine that bore them had formerly produced. This Vine was lifted 

 with other Muscats in the spring of 1859, from a vinery in the old kitchen 

 garden here, and planted in the new large Muscat-house with heated borders ; 

 when lifted, they were about fourteen years old, and all of the common Muscat 

 variety. In 1861 they bore a good crop, showing immense long bunches, with 

 long, oval berries, and might easily have been taken for a new variety. I have no 

 doubt but they will show this year their true form of rounder and larger berries 

 and shouldered bunches, from the Vines being now thoroughly established with 

 fresh roots. The only really distinct varieties of Muscats that I know of, and 

 that no cultivation will alter, are the Canon Hall, and Bowoocl for its free 

 setting ; the Troveren I have not fruited yet, so do not know its charac- 

 teristics. 



The different varieties of Black Hamburghs are likewise numerous ; and, 

 like the Muscats, are so much altered by good cultivation in the size of bunches 

 and berries, that old sorts often are named after the places they are grown at. 

 The distinct varieties are the Frankenthal, or Old. Dutch Hamburgh, the 

 Champion, and, perhaps, the Mill Hill, all well known by their firm flesh and 

 peculiar hammered appearance when grown large. The Black Tripoli, Pope's, 

 and the Old Black Hamburgh are types of the other class, and have their flesh 

 juicier and more vinous : they have a hammered appearance on the berries 

 when grown large. 



Where Vine leaves are much wanted in the summer for garnishing desserts 

 and for other purposes, it is an excellent plan to have two or three plants of 

 hardy Grapes on the walls to furnish a supply. We have here a very hardy 

 variety for the purpose, under the name of Vitis odoratissima, which is, I 

 suppose, the Vitis riparia of botanists, a North American sort, with deliciously 

 scented blossoms when in flower. 



Welbeck Gardens. 



William Tilleey. 



