464 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ June 4, 1885. 
It is a great mistake to allow the temperature to rise to 85° or more in 
the morning before admitting air, and then suddenly open the ventilators 
widely at the top or bottom, so that the temperature falls quickly. The 
ventilators should always be opened a little by the time the temperature 
begins rising by sun heat, and this should be increased as it gets warmer, 
and on no account should air be admitted to lower the temperature. If 
85° or 90° is the day temperature admit sufficient to prevent it going 
above these figures, and always study which way the wind is blowing 
before the ventilators are opened. When the wind is either very strong 
or cold do not open the front ventilators, but work the top ones only. In 
closing them in the afternoons of fine days it is an advantage to allow 
the temperature to rise higher than it was before, but this can be over¬ 
done. To close the house at 2 p.m. and raise the temperature to 100° or 
105° might scald the leaves, and it would certainly scald the berries as 
well as making the leaves very flaccid : but should closing be deferred 
until 3 P.M. or later, and the temperature only reach 90°, no harm but 
good will be the result. On days when cloud and sunshine are alternate 
much running about must be done to regulate the ventilation according 
to the outside temperatures. I approve of reducing the ventilation by 
degrees in the after part of the day. It is an excellent plan to allow 
some of the back ventilators to remain open a little throughout the night, 
but this practice should not begin until May, and applies more especially 
to Vines advanced in fruiting. 
Disbudding .—When pruning in winter two or more eyes or buds will 
be allowed to remain cn each spur, and as only one of these will be 
required to form a branch one or more must be taken off if all grow. 
These are allowed to grow too long sometimes with the view of seeing 
which one is likely to bear the finest bunch, but where anything of this 
kind is under consideration do nut fail to break off the shoot which is not 
required as soon as this can be seen, and the very weak ones may be 
taken at a very early stage of their development. Young rods producing 
shoots for the first time generally break into growth at every bud, and 
as these are always much closer together than the shoots ought to be 
permanently they must be disbudded very freely. From 1 foot to 
15 inches is a suitable distance for the side shoots to be apart, and they 
should be disbudded to this scale. 
Stopping the Shoots .—At this season the shoots grow very fast, and 
those only a few inches in length to-day maybe a foot or more in a week, 
and stopping should always take place before much superfluous growth 
has been formed. It is always a safe plan to stop all the side shoots at 
one joint or leaf beyond the bunch, and this should be done almost as 
soon as it is seen where the bunch is situated. When stopping requires 
to be done the Vines may be looked over almost daily, and each shoot as 
it gains the size indicated should have the point pinched off. Healthy 
Vines will soon push out a new leader, and this must again be stopped at 
one leaf beyond the first, and may go on for two or three times, when 
growth should be restricted to this point. 
Tying-in the Young Wood .—Much care must be exercised in doing 
this, as when the shoots are growing straight up or in an opposite direc¬ 
tion to the way they will be ultimately tied there is great danger of 
breaking them. Tying, as a rule, must not begin until after stopping 
has been performed, and unless the shoots come naturally into position do 
not try to bring them down all at once, but bend them a little, give them 
a long tie, and in a few days draw them down a little further, and in 
about ten days or so and at the third tying they may be secured in their 
position for the seasoD. Never use twine for the young wood. It cuts 
through the shoots and injures them. Soft matting or, best of all, raffia 
grass, should be used. As heavy bunches may have to depend on this 
for their support use strong pieces which will not give way before the 
bunches are cut. Never tie two shoots close to each other, and allow the 
next two to be very far apart, but all should be tied-in, straight out, 
upwards or downwards, to avoid crowding and to fill the space evenly. 
Syringing .—This is not now practised so much as it was at one time. 
Years ago the majority of Vines were syringed up to the time the fruit 
began colouring, and sometimes after that, but of late syringing has 
mainly been confined to the period between the Vines starting into growth 
and the opening of the blooms. When syringed during this time it has a 
tendency to make them start into growth more freely, but syringing must 
only be done on fine bright days, and not at all when the Vines are 
flowering. Always use water the same temperature as the house for the 
purpose, and where there are insects of any kind on the Vines we advise 
their being frequently syringed from the time the fruit is formed until it 
begins colouring. When syringed in this way the fruit may not have 
such a fine bloom as it might have if not syringed, but it is much better 
to have Vines and Grapes free from insects than finely bloomed but 
repulsive fruits. Where syringing is done frequently the interior of the 
house will always be moist, and this is right, as a humid atmosphere 
must always be maintained in houses in which Grapes are swelling, and 
if syringing does not supply this the surface of the floor or pathways 
should be damped twice or three times daily. 
When in Bloom .—As I have said above, at this time syringing must 
be discontinued, and a very dry atmosphere should be maintained during 
that period. At mid-day, or indeed a number of times every day, the 
rods can be sharply shaken to agitate the bunches and cause the pollen to 
be distributed. This is espeoially an advantage in the case of Muscat 
varieties, and every kind is benefited by it. When a proper “set ” is not 
secured some of the berries swell to their full size, but others remain 
quite small and stoneless, and this disfigures the bunches as well as being 
unprofitable. 
Superfluous Bunches .—On a'i vigorous and healthy Vines there are 
always many of these, as some kinds, such a3 G'res Colman, will produce 
two and three bunches on every shoot, and every shoot on all hinds will 
produce one bunch at least, which is too much for the permanent crop. It 
is not always wise to cut off these superfluous bunches before the berries 
are formed, as in the case of this not being accomplished thoroughly 
probably some of what might be regarded as the second-rate bunches 
would have formed the finest berries. They can, however, be taken off as 
soon as the berries are formed, and it can be distinguished which are the 
best. The best formed and finest hunches must always remain to form 
the crop, and they should be allowed to hang as evenly all over the house 
as possible. It is unwise to allow more than one bunch to each shoot, 
and if there are two good bunches on one shoot and one slightly inferior 
on another, we would be inclined to take one of the two off and allow the 
last-mentioned one to remain. 
Weight of Crop .—This is a 'matter on which it is very difficult to 
advise accurately, and it is also one in which mistakes are most liable to 
occur. It is very seldom the crop is reduced too much, but there are 
many cases in which too great a weight is allowed to remain. There may 
be two housefuls of Vines, both the same size, but in one strong Vines, 
and in the other weak ones, and it would never do to allow the latter to 
carry as much fruit as the former. The strength of the Vines ought to be 
studied, and try and remember how the crop answered last year. If the 
Vines would have perfected more bunches allow more to remain this time, 
but if the crop did not finish well owing to its being too heavy do not 
allow the same mistake to occur this year. 
Thinning the Berries .—Never do this until the superfluous bunches 
have been removed, but proceed with it before the berries become a firm 
mass, as they generally do by the time they are about the size of peas. 
Do not handle the berries, use a little piece of forked stick in the form of the 
letter Y to touch the bunche°, and hold up the shoulders to reach the 
centre. Clip all the smallest of the berries out first, and do not reduce the 
size of the bunch by taking away the extreme berries. Beginners at the 
operation should never be trusted to do exhibition bunches. When too 
many berries are allowed to remain the bunches become firm masses before 
being fully developed, and then many of the berries split. I would 
prefer having them too thin than too thick, but a little experience and 
forethought will soon enable anyone to thin quickly and properly. Only 
sharp scissors should be used in thinning, and every berry must be cut 
clean out, but the point of the scissors must not be run into any of those 
remaining, and the stems should not be bruised or injured in any way. 
After Requirements .—These are very few, as when the bunches have 
all been thinned, the shoots tied into their places and stopped, the heavy 
part of the work has been accomplished, and those who may only have 
one vinery and get a practical man in to do the operations just noted may 
very well dispense with his services at this stage and attend to further 
requirements themselves. Shoots which continue growing must be as 
persistently stopped ; saturating the roots and attending to the ventilating 
will insure the maturing of the crop. 
Plants in Vineries .—Gardens where vineries can be given wholly to 
the Vines are the exception, and I have no doubt the majority of your 
readers are anxious to make all they can of their vineries, especially in 
spring, when so many require forwarding in genial atmospheres. We find 
'ineries excellent places for raising many seedling plants in spring, and 
the friendly shade the foliage affords is greatly in favour of the fine 
development of tender Ferns and fine-foliaged plants. These do no harm 
whatever to the Grapes or Vines throughout the spring and summer, 
but when the fruit is ripe and it is desired to keep the atmosphere dry, 
particularly in late autumn an 1 winter, plants and everything requiring 
moisture must be cleared out. One great objection to plants in vineries is 
their liability to introduce insects to the Vines, and if this is avoided there 
is no objection whatever to anything else connected with the matter.— 
J. M. 
PONTEDERIAS AT OXFORD. 
Among free-flowering exotic aquatics Pontederia (Eichornia) 
azurea deserves to be mentioned as a most desirable plane for 
those to possess who have accommodation for it. As seen in the 
Lily house in the Oxford Botanic Garden, its beauty impresses 
one beyond what can be stated in the form of a paragraph, and 
that notwithstanding the presence of a collection of the most 
lovely species of Water Lilies that can be met with in this 
country. The spacious tank in which it grows would in the 
summer months be too small to admit, to the fullest extent, of its 
luxurious growth, which is here judiciously regulated. The 
six-petalled Dowel’s are of a inch mauve colour, the upper one 
being exquisitely shaded at the base with deep violet, above 
which is displayed an inverted compressed heart-shaped marking 
of deep gamboge, and the flowei's are freely produced on spikes, 
many of them being 9 inches long; these i - ise sufficiently high 
to exhibit as lovely an example of delicate coloui-ing as would 
delight the most fastidious lover of flowers. 
There is yet another species of this plant that the Curator of 
this garden (Mr. W. H. Baxter) may well feel pi-oud of having 
this season succeeded in flowering, we believe for the first time 
since it was inti-oduced into the collection vei-y many years ago. 
And now it is not a solitary plant that has been signalled out for 
speciaj treatment with a view to achieve what has fortuitously 
happened. There are, at least, four plants that have produced 
beautiful spikes of flowers, and these, with a number of others* 
