188 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND C0T1AGE GARDENER. 
[ Marcli 5, 1885. 
ing, so that it did not coit anything for material for roads. When I had 
almost completed the trenching a gentleman in the trade who was 
planting an avenue of trees for the managers told them that in his opinion I 
was doing the worst thing I could in bringing the chalk to the top. One 
of the managers and the superintendent spoke to me about it, as the 
outlay had been rather heavy. I told them that a year or so would decide 
which was right or wrong. I had to provide for sewage running over the 
land ; the greater part was planted with Potatoes to give time to kill the 
couch, which they did. In the third quarter of the year I began to furnish 
a supply, and after paying expenses for the quarter there was a good per¬ 
centage on the original outlay. The managers and superintendent often 
said to me afterwards, “ Mr. So-and-so ought to come down and see if 
vegetables would not grow in the chalk,” as the crops produced were 
surprising. A ton of vegetables was required every week, which I kept 
supplied after the midsummer quarter of the second year. The last half 
year I was there, after all expenses were paid connected with my work, 
there was a surplus of £98 on the right side. A profit and loss account 
was kept, the managers having the vegetables booked at the contract 
prices. Still, it is only fair to add that the ground would not have grown 
so large a quantity if it had not been for the sewage, which averaged 10,000 
gallons of water per day. 
I am now having nine acres of ground trenched for a kitchen garden 
in my present situation, part being a sandy loam and part a sour clay full 
of rushes and water. The loam is being trenched two spits deep, the first 
spit being placed at the bottom, grass upwards, then the manure, and the 
bottom spit on top. On the clay I am having the top spit burnt. Most 
of it will be planted with Potatoes this season, so as to kill the grass, and 
then at the end of the season it will he well forked up together, and no 
doubt it will make a good garden, as it has been thoroughly drained 3 feet 
deep. In some future number I may state how it answers.—C. F. P. 
THOUGHTS ON CURRENT TOPICS. 
I have been waiting week after week in the expectation that our 
great “ land reformer,” Mr. Iggulden, would favour us with a few 
trenchant, or rather trenching, observations in reply to the criticism and 
discussion he has had the honour to evoke. I have so far waited in vain, 
and can only hope he has not felt himself huried 2 or 3 feet deep, as in 
that case I should be one of many others who would without doubt feel 
that some “good material” had been “placed at the bottom.” As he 
does not believe in that system of management, I will indulge in the 
pleasant thought that he will yet come to the surface, where he has 
taught us “the best” ought to be, and I cannot help further thinking 
that it is time he wa3 “turning up” again. I will therefore wait as 
patiently as I can for another week, and in the meantime turn my 
attention to other matters. 
Vines come first, Grape culture being a subject on which gardeners 
never tire of reading, writing, and practising. Mr. Mclndoe’s letters are 
very welcome and suggestive. In his notes on page 104 he incidentally 
mentions that iron in the soil is the reverse of injurious, soil “ strongly 
impregnated” with the mineral being described as “better” for the 
Vines than was the soil previously used, and which presumably con¬ 
tained little, if any, iron; sea sand and bones, we are told, have also 
been used liberally in the Vine borders at Hutton Hall. Every Grape 
grower either does or ought to know that bones are good for Vines 
because of the large per-centage of phosphate of lime they contain ; 
but is the importance of apparently minor constituents sufficiently 
recognised P 
Mr. McIndoe’s letter set me a thinking, and I had not to ruminate 
long before the conclusion was arrived at that both iron and silica are 
essential for the support of Vines. Iron is found in every part of a well- 
nourished Vine. It is present in the wood, bark, leaves, flesh, skin, 
stones, and 'juice. It is not in large quantities, it is true, but it is still 
there, and needful. It moreover varies, being nearly absent from some 
Vines because they cannot get it, and would be better if they could. 
Silica is present in still larger quantities in every part of the Vine, the 
skin and stones containing upwards of 2j per cent. These, I believe 
are scientific facts, and as such, I think, ought not to be ignored. 
Another fact, this time a very practical one, occurs to me—namely, 
the best Black Hamburgh Grapes I ever saw, and I have seen a few, were 
the produce of a border that had more sand in its composition than I ever 
saw in any other instance of Grape culture, and the loam used was also 
■impregnated with iron. Granted that potash, lime, phosphoric acid, 
magnesia, and soda were present, would the Vines and fruit have been so 
good without the iron and the silica ? I certainly,and without any hesitation, 
vote in the negative ; and would the Hutton Hall Grapes be so fine as they 
are without the iron and sand ? Again I say No, because both are in¬ 
dispensable. It does not follow that if a plant or an animal needs only a 
little of a certain substance that little can be safely omitted. In compari¬ 
son with the bulk of food that cultivators consume salt is trifling in 
quantity, but omit that trifle for a few years and what would be their 
condition ? This may be twaddle to some readers possibly, but I have no 
objection to that ; and at least Mr. Mclndoe’s Grapes are not to be 
“ grinned at,” and his hints on culture are, to me at least, worthy of 
thought. 
I half promised an excellent friend that I would endeavour to refrain 
from dwelling so long on one subject in my mental jottings, but I find it 
impossible to confine myself within the limits of any prescribed rule how¬ 
ever desirable it may be to do so ; and I have now decided to go on in my 
own way, and those who do not like to accompany me can skip this page, 
as I fancy there is usually a pretty good threepennyworth without it. So 
now for more about Vines and Grapes. 
Some time ago I had the temerity to advocate the use of liquid 
manure in winter, and some very good men regarded my observations as 
heretical. At the same time I complacently thought I was just a little in 
advance of them in the practice. Giving liquid manure to fruit borders 
during the resting period of the trees I was reminded could only make 
wet soil wetter, the Toots could not absorb the nutrient matter conveyed, 
and all “ that sort$f thing but all was lost on me, because I knew by 
the experience of years and using tons of liquid food “ after the fall of the 
leaf ” that the tank water was profitably applied to fruit trees and Vines 
in properly drained soil. When I ventured to broach the subject I was 
only acquainted with one individual who adopted the same method as a 
system, and, as I think I have said before, he produced the heaviest crops 
of Grapes that had then been recorded in this Journal ; but Mr. Mclndoe’s 
wonderful results have since been published, and what do we find that 
cultivator saying ? I will cite his exact words from the page,quoted, and 
I think there is no mistaking their significance. Here they are :—“ In 
winter, after the Vines and houses have been cleaned an annual heavy 
covering of fresh cowdung is given, and well washed in with liquid manure 
from the farm tank.” Bead those words twice ye doubting ones, and note 
the weight of the crops on page 63 ; 70 lbs. to 90 lbs. per rod, in a span- 
roofed house 34 feet wide (outside measure - ), and then produce heavier 
crops without the winter feeding before you imply the practice is simply 
born of “ vain imaginings.” It is true that Mr. Mclndoe uses Thom¬ 
son’s manure in summer as well, but if both the dressings were not good I 
fancy they would not find favour at Hutton Hall. 
But I do not agree with Mr. Mclndoe in everything. He asks on 
page 107, “ if Gros Maroc Grape is worth growing ?” and evidently thinks 
it is not, because he says, “ Its skin is like leather, and compared with 
the Black Hamburgh its flesh is anything but refreshing.” I have not 
3een, nor do I expect to see, fine examples of this Grape in March, but last 
Christmas I had it with Black Hamburgh and Black Alicante, and it was 
decidedly superior to both in every way; and “ so said all of us ” who 
compared them. As a late autumn and early winter Grape Gros Maroc 
appears to me good, inasmuch as the Hamburghs are practically over then, 
at least as regards colour, and the Alicantes have not developed quality. 
The variety in question “ was sent out as a late Grape, and as such it must 
be judged,” says your correspondent. If he means it is not worth 
growing if it is not both late and good, he must also, I think, apply the 
same ruling to Madresfield Court, which was described in the catalogue of 
a nurseryman of repute as “ late,” and as such I bought it; it was cer¬ 
tainly not late, but decidedly good, and I still think it “ worth growing.” 
Mr. Mclndoe possibly thinks differently, and I should like to hear what 
he has to say on the matter. 
J ust one more word about Grapes and I will stop. The “ two Thom¬ 
sons ” have told us how to jrune that noblest of all white varieties, the 
Duke of Buccleuch. No doubt the advice is the best that can be given 
as to affording the rods plenty of room to ripen well, and then in shortening 
the laterals to leave four or five eye3. Admitting that there is yet something 
wanting of a “ first catch your hare ” nature. How are the general run of 
gardeners who grow most other Grapes well to produce good canes and 
rods of the noble Duke ? That is what many want to know. Is the Vine 
best grafted, or on its own roots ? Does it need more or less moisture in 
the soil and atmosphere than its congeners ? or what does it want ? I 
have seen good gardeners try their best and fail, then try again, but still 
the Duke proved stubborn, and they gave up in despair. Perhaps Mr. 
Mclndoe can enlighten us, as ] have read that he has grown this splendid 
yet capricious Grape satisfactorily. And now, at last, for a change. 
Violets have naturally received attention, Mr. Beachey having 
written poetically, and Mr. Orchard practically on these delightful flowers. 
Early and deep planting in generous soil in a breezy position is the 
chief factor in insuring success ; late and shallow planting in warm places, 
such as near walls facing the south, leading to many failures. Stout 
young well-rooted runners cannot be planted too soon after the plants 
have flowered. With a deep firm root hold in good land, stout leaves 
and fine crowns follow ; but by late and shallow planting the most per¬ 
manent return is a colony of red spider. If early flowers are wanted 
never plant near a wall exposed to the sun, as the reflection of dry heat 
invites the enemy which devours the plants. But the shelter of a hedge 
or a row of espalier fruit trees is quite different, as there is then no 
reflected heat, but a stream of air filtering through which the Violet 
pest doe3 not relish. If persons would grow Violets in open quarters 
in ground prepared as for Strawberries they would have ten times more 
flowers than by planting on warm borders bounded by walls. 
No doubt, as “A Kitchen Gardener” suggests, vegetables have im¬ 
proved during late years, but I am strongly inclined to think that some 
of the old are yet as useful as the new. All the Peas but one—Duke 
of Albany—named on page 143 I saw grown last year with several others 
in rows of equal length, the pods of all of them gathered green and sold. 
I will now state that the early Pea that brought the most money was the 
true type of Dr. Hogg ; the most profitable midseason variety was 
Huntingdonian, evidently a selection from the Champion of England; 
