242 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ March 27, 1884. 
admit that when plants are first plunged in moist hotbeds they root 
and grow rapidly, much more so in fact than if stood on the surface 
only, but the gain is not so material as at first sight appears. Vines 
in pots, Melons, Cucumbers, Figs in pots, as well as many flowering 
and fine-foliaged plants, are apparently greatly assisted by bottom 
heat such as may be generated by a mixture of leaves and stable 
manure ; but after all for various reasons it would have been better if 
less rapid or more woody growth had been formed, especially seeing 
what a check they experience when withdrawn from the beds, or if 
the bottom heat materially declines. 
If we want short jointed well-ripened Vines we do not plunge the 
pots, well knowing that those plunged form larger but much softer 
and more pithy canes. Hundreds, I may say thousands, of Melon 
plants are annually grown to no good purpose, simply because they 
receive strong bottom heat at the outset, this declining most in- 
juriously, at a time too when root heat is most necessary to assist in 
swelling and ripening the fruit. It is just the same with Cucumbers, 
only these are less liable to canker than Melons, besides yielding a 
fair crop before they collapse. Instead of taking a pride in having 
great leaves and large stems we ought rather to be satisfied with 
medium-sized healthy leaves and smaller and more woody stems, these 
being better calculated to withstand any strain or trial to which they 
may be subjected. 
I hold that the roots require no more coddling than do the stems 
and leaves, and that plants can be forced into bloom, or started into 
active growth, and will fill the pots with roots quite as well as if they 
Avere plunged. Even the chambers formed over bottom-heat pipes are 
not unfrequently wasted, especially Avhen a depth of plunging material 
is placed over them. I am aware that these chambers get very hot, 
but ia many cases it is only because the mateiials over them have 
become very dry and non-conducting, the heat from the pipes thus 
being really wasted. 
Let every pot and every mound of soil for Melons and Cucumbers 
be disposed on the surface of beds or on benches, and let the heat 
from the hot-water pipes, of which there should be plenty, serve for 
both top and bottom heat. At the very least the heat of the soil 
in the pots or mounds will never fall loAver than the temperature of 
the house, and will share in the natural heat we secure on bright 
sunny days. The best crops of Melons I have ever seen grown, and 
the heaviest crop on Vines in pots I have ever seen, and which I 
assisted to grow, never receded any assistance in the way of so-called 
bottom heat ; and further, I have ripened Montserrat Pine Apples 
heavy and perfect in eA r ery respect, that were started and finished 
without bottom heat other than that afforded by the pipes under the 
bench on which the plants stood. Too few pipes in a house is the 
reverse of economical, and to enclose part of these in order to provide 
bottom heat, this necessitating making the top heating pipes unbear¬ 
ably hot, is in my opinion a great and common mistake. It is better 
by far in such cases to provide latticed stages or iron gratings for the 
plants or heaps of soil to rest on, and let all the pipes be moderately 
heated only. When warmer weather is being experienced the dry 
heat from the pipes may prove both injurious and unnecessary, and to 
obviate this cover these stages or gratings with moss or shoit litter, 
and by keeping this regularly moistened the evaporation produced 
will prove most beneficial. Under this treatment more water will 
have to be given the plants whether fruiting or flowering, but then 
those in charge experience no difficulty in deciding when it should be 
given, and, Avhat is of equal importance, the soil in the pots will not be 
spoilt by worms. The latter alone, where they are as lively as with 
us, are enough to make anyone avoid any plunging material that 
will harbour worms. 
In propagating, again, plunging material is by no means absolutely 
necessary ; in fact, we strike more cuttings on the surface of beds and 
benches than anywhere, these including all kinds of softwooded 
plants as well as Roses, Carnations, and Bouvardias. In every case, 
however, the pots, pans, or boxes are kept at a safe distance from the 
pipes, and well shaded from bright sunshine. 
I have quite as strong an objection to plunging pots in the open, 
especially in a cold moisture-retaining material. Roses, Carnations, 
and Chrysanthemums especially, all form better-ripened growth when 
the pots are unplunged, and this is better calculated to produce the 
best blooms during the winter. During very hot and dry weather a 
little light litter may well be strewed o\ r er the pots to prevent too 
rapid evaporation, and that is the only plunging material we find it 
advantageous to use.—W. Iggulden. 
Girtford Giant Runner Bean. —There is perhaps no season of the 
year more useful than the present for bringing under the notice of readers 
anything new or special amongst vegetables. General orders are no doubt 
in most cases made out, while in the case of new and apparently expensive 
seeds it often happens they are left to after-consideration. It is quite true 
much caution is necessary, yet every season convinces me more of the 
necessity to be careful, and not to be behind others in procuring anything that 
is an improvement. This view was strengthened last season by the result 
of the trial of this Bean. I have long been a grower of this class of Beans, 
but the superiority of the Girtford Giant over others was remarkable, not 
only in appearance but in quality. In fact so much so that the others 
were much neglected by gathering so freely from this variety. So uniform 
and handsome were they that at our harvest festival we used them in 
clusters in a line amongst corn and fruits with great effect, and would 
advise any who have not given it a trial to do so.—E. B. 
VINE ROOTS—MANURING VINE?. 
To make it clear to all of us you will allow me to say, perhaps, that I 
put quite a different construction on Mr. Thomson’s words on the “ Root 
culture of Vines ” than is conveyed in a reply tb a correspondent on 
page 236 last week. The writer of the latter says that “ Mr. Thomson 
takes care to provide the roots before he gives top-dressings, and this is 
what everyone should do who desires a heavy crop of tine Grapes.” 
Mr. Thomson, on the contrary, said, “ Naturally the roots have the 
instinct of going where they have most to feed upon,” and he recom¬ 
mends top-dressings to be applied from the beginning, and before the 
roots are produced, with the very object of creating them. “ The moisture 
and elements of nutrition in the surface dressing will attract the roots,’’ 
he writes ; and speaking of top-dressing with “ loam and horse droppings,” 
&c., in autumn, and adding artificial manures in spring, he continues, 
“ if this process is repeated every season it will keep the roots at the 
surface in the greatest health and activity.” It is stable manure Mr. 
Thomson withholds, not artificial manures, which he says may be applied 
instead “at the first,” at least I apprehend the words “bones and other 
appropriate manures ” mean artificial manures. The note to a corre¬ 
spondent advises no artificial manures to be given till it is seen where 
the roots are. For my own part I make no distinction between artificial 
and other manures for the Vines, as both are applied for the same 
purpose. In brief, Mr. Thomson applies top-dressings to the surface of 
Vine borders to bring roots there and keep them there. I am not going 
to discuss the merits of the two systems, but I noticed Mr. Thomson’s 
article at the time because it inculcates the principle that a rich soil 
produces roots sooner than a poor one. “ At all events,” says Mr. 
Thomson, “the roots of Vines can be led to multiply themselves at the 
very surface of the border ” by the means he states. It will be remem¬ 
bered that not long ago it was stated that certain noted Vine borders had 
been filled with roots because of the poverty of the soil, so that you will 
see there are two quite opposite opinions entertained on the subject, one 
side maintaining that the way to do is to give poor soil first to produce 
mouths and feed afterwards, and the other, like Mr. D. Thomson, advising 
rich compost to be used for the same purpose. I agree with the latter.— 
Casual. 
[We are always obliged by letters that add usefully to any instructions 
that appear in our columns, and the above communication affords us the 
opportunity for explaining that the sentence relative to “ providing roots 
before giving top-dressings ” had reference solely to artificial manures, 
and not to loam and stable manure. This qualification was not needed 
for the purpose of the inquirer who sought for information, as his letter 
had reference to artificial manures only. With that explanation we have 
nothing to withdraw from our remarks on top-dressing Vine borders in 
the answer under notice. We could add much on this important subject, 
but for obvious reasons we are unable to print an exhaustive essay in the 
brief space at disposal for answering inquiries. 
The point of our advice was and is that it is practically of no use 
applying artificial manures to those portions of a Vine border which 
contain few or no fibrous roots. There are hundreds of Vine borders at 
the present moment in that state, and if hundreds of pounds worth of 
artificial manures were spread on them the bulk of the money would be 
thrown away so far as regards the Vines, which would not be appreciably 
improved, though the soil over the fibreless roots would be made richer. 
Artificial manures spread on the surface of a Vine border that contains 
only strong fibreless roots will not incite the emission of fibres from 
those roots and attract them through a mass of soil 1 or 2 feet thick, 
therefore the manure is wasted because it cannot be appropriated by the 
Vines ; but if the soil be removed down to the black roots, and these are 
covered with a top-dressing of sweet enriched loam, containing also gritty 
matter such as wood ashes, and this is kept uniformly moist by a mulch¬ 
ing of manure, then fibrous roots will form readily, and a million mouths 
be provided for appropriating the food that may be afterwards given 
where there were not a hundred before to absorb it. 
Mr. Thomson’s advice to “Apply loam and horse droppings in the 
autumn, and add artificial manures in the spring,” is exactly in accord¬ 
ance with our views on this subject; and we are convinced if he advises 
the application of artificial manures “at the first,” he presupposes the 
existence of fibrous roots not very far from them ready to turn the food 
that is given to profitable account. Much of the soil overlying the main 
fibreless portions of Vine roots is either so close and adhesive on the one 
hand, or so light and dry on the other, that it acts as a deterrent to the 
emission of fibres, and we consider the first duty of the cultivator is to 
remove such soil and add fresh, as it is vain to hope that it can be 
brought into the best condition for the Vines by the addition of artificial 
manure to the surface, however good the fertiliser may be.] 
CRANSTON’S NURSERY SICK FUND. 
The first year of the establishment of Cranston’s Nursery Sick Fund 
having expired, a general meeting of the employes was held in the seed ware- 
