JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
232 
the rising young gardeners than generally high-class gardeners 
skilled in all departments. In the average garden of to-day you 
will find its young superintendent striving, and not unsuccess¬ 
fully, to improve the various departments of the garden to a 
generally high standard ; good Grapes and other fruits are 
grown, plants and flowers are comparatively without limit, deco¬ 
rative gardening duly attended to, the vegetable garden well 
cropped, and the flower garden attractively laid out. Of course 
the appliances that the gardener of to-day has to work with are 
in his favour, but the greatest help he has is in the simplification 
of the cultural treatment of all plants under his care, and the 
tendency grows year by year to manage things in a more simple 
manner. 
Returning to the subject of Vine-growing, I may notice that 
the treatment of that fruit has been very much simplified indeed, 
with the result that a greater per-centage of high-class fruit is 
grown than at any time previously. Still, I imagine an even 
simpler and cheaper system of obtaining good Grapes should be 
pointed out. This cannot be done by saving in the vineries : 
indeed I would advocate laying out a larger amount of capital in 
the first instance than is very generally the case. Mostly the 
structures are not large enough for the profitable extension of the 
Vines, and the heating arrangements are in the majority of cases 
deficient even for the profitable heating of small houses. A saving 
effected in these I therefore consider as entailing an after loss. 
As to the important matter of border-making, I have nothing 
to say against a thorough system of drainage where required, nor 
of concreting the bottom of the borders where necessary. These 
I am particular about. I am also particular to have a material 
which the roots of the Vines would not readily pass through 
placed between the soil and the drainage. Such a material may 
be found in hard-rammed lime rubbish laid on the drainage a 
couple of inches thick. But as regards the border itself, I find 
cause for stating that there is room for simplification and economy. 
I will illustrate my meaning from cases which have occurred in 
this neighbourhood. In one instance the soil has been wheeled out 
and the borders remade three times in twenty years ; in another 
case borders made five years ago are condemned ; in another 
borders made three and four years ago are already failing to give 
satisfaction ; and lastly, borders made less than twenty years are 
destitute of any roots excepting the leading underground stems. 
Not only is there the expense of removing soil and other work 
to be included in some of these cases, but there is also the loss in 
weight of crop, which by no amount of ingenuity can be made a 
full one the first three years after border-making and planting 
young Vines. 
In each of these cases the borders had been made intelligently 
and well by good Grape-growers ; the best fibrous peat at com¬ 
mand had been secured—in two cases carted several miles ; and 
the treatment given what no one would hesitate to call correct. 
What I consider the cause of failure is this : None of the turf 
was suitable for fruit-growing. In two of the cases deficiency of 
colour in the Grapes showed that one of the main constituents of 
Grape food was altogether absent from the soil. In every case the 
ordinary soil from the several kitchen gardens would have been 
greatly preferable to these borders of turf. There would not have 
been such large bunches ; but in this border, though not by any 
means so good as turf of the right sort if it could have been 
procured, the Vines would under intelligent management have 
produced good Grapes for many years at a much less expense. 
It may be said that advice like the above is of a retrograde 
tendency, but it is not so. The number of gardeners who are 
situated on good fruit-growing soils are few in comparison with 
those who have a soil of a different character to contend with. 
Why, then, should those who can only procure turf which after a 
few years leaves the Vines in a poor condition, go to the expense 
of employing such material when they have soil on the spot which 
years of cultivation have brought to a far higher state of fertility ? 
I am surrounded by about a thousand acres of park, and out of 
that thousand acres there is only a strip of fi brae face ” I would 
use in preference to the soil of our kitchen garden. Now is the 
time when the construction of Vine borders is being considered, 
and this matter deserves a thought.— A Nor’-Easter. 
SOWING ONION SEED. 
Owing to the variation of the soil and climate it is impossible 
for the same treatment to answer in all parts for the cultivation 
of the Onion, but it is one of the best vegetables for winter use, 
and if the crop fails it proves to be a great loss ; therefore a few 
remarks upon the subject may be useful, premising that the best 
position for the beds is one that is fully exposed to the sun during 
the greater part of the day. 
[ March 23, 1882. 
Autumn is the best time for preparing the ground for the 
reception of the seeds in spring. A good dressing of lime should 
be mixed with the soil, for, as well as destroying the numerous 
vermin, it keeps the ground open. Manure from the fowl yard is 
one of the best for Onions. It is very easy to make firm beds on 
heavy soil, but not so easy to do so on light land. 
Heavy soil is not always the best to grow Onions in, as good 
crops are often obtained from light land. When preparing the 
beds for sowing care should be taken that they are rendered firm ; 
after that the surface should be well raked and then firmed again, 
sowing the seed and once more making the land firm. The seeds 
are often destroyed before germination, but to prevent that it is 
a good plan to steep the seeds in a liquid first, paraffin oil being 
very suitable, for no insect will touch them after that, and they 
seldom fail to germinate. Sowing in drills is a much better way 
than sowing broadcast, as the young plants may be easily thinned 
and transplanted at regular distances where needed, and the 
ground can be more readily kept clean. For good keeping varie¬ 
ties Deptford, Strasburg, and Williams’s Magnum Bonum may 
be sown, Danver’s Yellow and Brown Globe for early use, and 
Silver-skinned for pickling.—G. G. 
SPRING FLOWERS. 
Omphalodes verna in our wild garden is a mass of its lovely 
blue flowers. It is early this season, but it has been a very mild 
winter. This plant ought to have a place m all gardens, and it 
needs only to be left alone when once established where it can 
have light and air. It soon covers large spaces, and partial shade 
is no detriment to its well doiDg. Another charming plant is the 
Spring Snowflake (Leucojum vernum), now beautiful and fragrant. 
Nordmannia cordifolia is another of those early-flowering plants 
that should have a place in all gardens and in open spaces in the 
shrubbery. It is now in great beauty in sheltered positions. 
The flowers commence expanding as soon as the spike appears 
above the ground. It is very beautiful before the leaves are fully 
developed, after that it becomes coarse and has the appearance of 
a Symphytum. When once established it increases rapidly. A 
native plant seldom seen is the Spring Figwort (Scrophularia ver- 
nalis). At this time it is very interesting in the wild garden. 
Scilla bifolia and S. bifolia alba are lovely in contrast in beds and 
borders. They increase rapidly, and deserve more attention than 
they are at present receiving. Where it is desired to increase 
them it is good practice to do it after they have matured their 
growth.— Verna. 
ROSE CUTTINGS FAILING. 
Will some of the Rose-growing readers of the Journal of 
Horticulture let us know how Rose cuttings inserted last autumn 
have succeeded with them this winter? I inserted a batch of 
cuttings towards the end of September last in a cold pit facing 
south, with a good dressing of leaf soil and river sand well worked 
with the soil. Strong cuttings 9 inches to a foot long were em¬ 
ployed and inserted 6 inches in the ground and trodden firmly in. 
In November I placed some spare lights over them to throw off 
any excess of moisture, having previously spread sand an inch 
deep over the whole bed to keep them moist without watering. 
I began to congratulate myself on my success, as they all started 
vigorously, but now they are nearly all dead. There has always 
been a good circulation of air in the bed. 
I inserted another batch about the middle of October. They 
did not start into growth for a long time after the others, but they 
now seem to be dying in the same way. Anolher lot was inserted 
near a north wall without any protection. They are looking very 
well at present, but I expect to lose them similarly. 
A few days ago I visited a friend who makes Rose culture a 
hobby. He had inserted a batch of two or three thousand early 
in September in a south border, and they seemed as though every 
cutting had struck, but now they have nearly all died like mine. 
He thought if they had been covered with glass it would have 
saved them. Perhaps mine were encouraged to grow too early 
by being covered, although not kept close. I think the rema-k- 
ably mild winter has something to do with it, and should like to 
have opinions respecting it.—W, M. 
Protecting Early Potatoes. —This morning we had 2° of frost 
here rather unexpectedly, owing to a change of the wind to the north¬ 
west and a clear sky. My early Potatoes I knew were above ground, 
especially “ Eight Weeks,” Beauty of Hebron, Cleopatra, Ashleaf, and 
Veitch’s Ashleaf. The sun promised at G a.m. to rise brilliantly, and 
I knew, from old experience, the early rays would intensify the mis¬ 
chief the frost might do. So I procured some short stable manure 
