804 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ April 16, 1885. 
the surface and sift a little sand over it; by so doing the operator 
can easily discern where the seeds fall, and so avoid overcrowding, 
for many hundreds of seedlings are lost by the non-observance of 
this matter. Sowings may be made from the first week in 
February till the middle or end of April. The earliest sown are now 
making their third leaf, and will be ready for pricking off in a few 
days, an operation which will need skilful hands and ever-watchful 
eyes. A temperature of 50° by night and 60° by day (and con¬ 
siderably higher if by sun heat) will suit them. The seeds need not 
be covered with soil ; but to prevent it becoming dry frequently they 
may be kept in the dark for the first three weeks after sowing. 
Avoid a too brisk heat, which will often ruin a batch, or tends to 
weaken them. 
Another mode of propagation is by cuttings, an operation attended 
with considerable difficulty and ofttimes with loss, owing to the very 
succulent nature of the stems or new growth. The earliest tubers to 
start will, according to their size and strength, be producing growths 
somewhat freely, the longest of which will be from 3 to 6 inches. 
There is therefore not a moment to be lost, since this is the only 
means of increasing the stock of choice named sorts, save that of 
cutting the tubers wherever a break is visible and placing them in 
sand for a week or so. This, however, must be done just as the 
breaks are pushing, and, where the tubers are large and numerous 
breaks are produced around the apex, it will be the more easily 
acccomplished. The cuttings should be placed singly in 2^-inchpots, 
using soil similar to that prescribed for the seeds. If possible secure 
a piece of bark from the tuber with each cutting, and failing this 
take the cutting as low as possible. Where the cuttings or growths 
are produced from the hollow crown there is not that chance of 
securing bark as there is when the breaks are produced, as they are 
in some varieties in quantity from around the top of the tubers. As 
these cuttings are most impatient of undue moisture the following 
rule will be found both simple and reliable. Insert the cuttings as 
early in the day as possible ; place them in the propagating case, and 
keep it close, in a temperature of about 60° ; remove the lights 
towards the evening and give a thorough watering, leaving the lights 
off all the first night to allow the tops to become thoroughly dry ; 
replace the lights in the morning, and keep the case close and shaded 
from sun. Avoid wetting the foliage after this until they are rooted ; 
any that require water should be taken out singly and watered 
thoroughly. By being plunged in cocoanut-fibre refuse they remain 
sufficiently moist for some days after the first watering.—J. 
DUKE OF BUCCIjEUCH GRAPE. 
GRAPES CRACKING. 
When I stated in my last/communication that I thought 
Mr. Thomson made a mistake in recommending the Duke as 
an early Grape, I certainly in no way meant to imply that he 
wilfully intended to mislead or do anything but what was 
honourable and straightforward. The fact that the Black 
Hamburgh is acknowledged to be the best early Grape, and 
as Mr Thomson stated in his circu'ar, “the Duke ripens three 
weeks before that variety,” naturally led Grape-growers who 
were guided by his statement to the conclusion that it would be 
a desirable acquisition for early forcing. Therefore many gar¬ 
deners planted it in small early vineries—just the sort of houses 
of all others it should never have been placed in, hence the 
many recorded failures and unjust verdicts that have been given 
against it. 
I am grateful to Mr. Thomson for supplying the information 
to prove that splitting or cracking of Grapes originates with 
the loots. I admit his argument reads plausibly and convincing, 
but facts are stubborn. Mr. Thomson tells us “certain plants that 
are vigorous rooters and growers are more likely than those less 
so to send up a larger quantity of sap. This I have found a 
special characteristic of the Duke. When the growth of the Vine 
is allowed to extend in foliage and branch much of this great 
tow of sap is appropriated; when not so appropriated the 
attractive power of the fruit secures a greater share than its 
skm can hold, and it splits.” Now if the fruit secures more 
sap than its skin can contain, how does Mr. Thomson account 
lor the tact that not one drop of this said to be surplus sap 
oozes out through the apertures P I can understand sap flowing 
Horn the roots and splitting the berries in such cases as that so 
graphically described by Mr. Thomson himself in his “ Practical 
Treatise on the Grape Vine.” “ About the 15th of April the 
1150 * n ^’ nes > an d some of the berries that were 
a little shrivelled suddenly got plump, while others that had 
shown no signs of shrivelling burst their skins, and the sap of 
t go V me that had forced^ itself into them began to drip from 
them. To stop the bursting of the berries I made an incision 
m the lateral on which they hung betwixt it and the parent 
stem of the Vine. This drew off the sap, and no more berrie 3 
burst.” 
Mr. Thomson advocates extending the foliage and shoots as 
a preventive of splitting. This reminds me of a case I observed 
when visiting a great Grape-growing friend, who had also imbibed 
the theory that extending the foliage would be a preventive of 
berries splitting. He carried his hobby to such an extent that 
on the occasion of my visit the laterals hung in festoons from 
the wires down to the borders, but notwithstanding all these 
leaves he candidly admitted that in all his experience he never 
had so bad a case of berries splitting as was in that house then. 
Like Mr Thomson and others I at one time had a strong belief 
in the infallibility of the nicking or gimleting trick, and if it 
did not always happen to be a perfect cure, I put the failure 
down to the operation being imperfectly or clumsily performed. 
Four years ago my simple faith received a severe shock, for that 
year a great show was looming in the distance, and I determined 
that no stone should be left unturned on my part to have the 
Duke and Golden Champion well represented, and for a month 
before August 24th I carefully watched these Vines every day 
and had the laterals nicked, and it was with no small amount of 
satisfaction that I, on the day prior to the show, was enabled to 
cut two bunches from each rod without a spot or crack on the 
berries. These were duly taken to the Manchester Grand Inter¬ 
national Exhibition, and were staged under a canvas tent. A 
great quantity of rain fell on the second and third days of the 
show, the fourth was bright and hot, consequently the tents were 
saturated with moisture, soon presenting an atmosphere more 
like that of a plant stove than an exhibition tent. On removing 
these bunches the same evening I was surprised to observe the 
majority of the berries were cracked. Now this cracking could 
not by any possible means be caused by sap passing from the 
roots, for on returning home I found the remaining bunches 
left on the Vines were still without a cracked berry. Since then 
I have entirely given up the mutilating practice, and find our 
Grapes to be freer from that evil than they ever were when 
operated upon 
Mr. Thomson admits that gimleting is the result of an alarm, 
and, as is usual in such cases, some supposed remedy is resorted 
to; but with the discovery of splitting, a drier and more airy 
atmosphere is maintained, and thereby the cracking checked, 
quite as much, if not more so, by the change of atmosphere 
than by the gimleting operation. I have proved that the gimlet 
alone will not stop cracking, and I can prove, and will be pleased 
to show Mr. Thomson or anyone else interested in this question 
who will favour me with a visit next August or September, that 
splitting can be prevented without any operation whatever upon 
the laterals.— J. McIndoe. 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
Chrysanthemums to be grown for conservatory decoration or exhi¬ 
bition will now need strict attention. The more forward batch should be 
well established in 3 or 4-inch pots, and if convenient should now have a 
shift into 6-inch pots. Any of the later-struck ones, or new varieties 
that may have been added to the stock, should now be well rooted in GO’s 
and fit for a shift into 4-inch pots to insure strong plants for a fair trial 
this year. Many of the new varieties, especially the weaker-growing ones, 
form premature bloom buds on the point of the shoots when about 4 or 
6 inches high, the result chiefly from the severe propagation they undergo 
to get sufficient stock, many of which are propagated from the side shoots. 
These buds should be cut out with a sharp knife to the first stroDg leaf, so 
as to induce the growth of a side shoot. 
Many of the varieties are subject to a kind of rust that attacks the 
whole plant when in a young state. I scarcely know whether it is a 
disease or caused by insects, but none are discernible to the naked eye. 
I hope at some future time to more fully investigate it. If the plant 
from the above or any other cause is entirely blind and ceased growing, 
I should cut it down about half way and place it in a little bottom heat. 
A Cucumber frame or propagating pit would be a suitable place, when 
most times they will throw up a good strong shoot through the soil from 
the base. If the plant has still got its leaders intact, but the lower foliage 
unhealthy, crimpy, and rusty, I should advise placing in a warm vinery 
or similar place, where they could have the benefit of a little artificial 
heat to help them to grow out of it. F. A. Davis, Balmorean, and Mrs. 
J. Mahood are naturally weak growers, and I have found them subject 
to it; but it is not always confined to the weaker ones, for all the varieties 
of the Queen family have, with me, been affected at different seasons. 
Hitherto the weather has been too unkind to risk the plants out in open 
quarters, but all established p'ants should be in cold frames or pits, with 
the lights drawn off all day, and closed only late in the evening to insure 
strong sturdy growth. 
Amateurs or others with less conveniences should have all stock now 
potted separately in 60’s and kept in the coldest part of the greenhouse or 
other structure where abundance of ventilation can be given when estab¬ 
lished, and so hardened ready to be placed out of doors on a bed of coal 
ashes in a sheltered place as soon as all danger from frosts is over. If 
