288 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Octo’oer 4, 1833. 
failed to extend to the top of the house as intended, none of 
them swelled or strengthened as I expected they would do, 
and, worse than all, the heavy cropping also greatly inter¬ 
fered with the root-action. During hot weather the foliage 
flagged and shading had to be resorted to. This flagging 
was the result of the comparative rootless state of the Yines, 
hut in spite of it we had a good crop, which finished and 
kept well, but the wood never ripened. This season the 
roots were much damaged by rats, and altogether we are not 
surprised at the poorer crop resulting. Next season other 
measures will be resorted to, but this will not interfere with 
the full crop we hope to secure. 
In the case of the Hamburghs, finding they broke fairly 
strong, and especially as they were already much crowded, 
no young rods were laid in, but the spurs, or rather laterals, 
were freely thinned out by disbudding. The crop, however, 
shanked rather badly, and after careful examination I con- 
eluded it was principally owing to the bad state of the rods, 
and later events and important advice have convinced me I 
was correct in my surmises, though not exactly comprehend¬ 
ing the way shanking resulted. In the autumn of the same 
year (1881) the rods were thinned while yet in full leafage, 
for if this operation is delayed till the winter or spring the 
wounds bleed seriously. During last year the Vines per¬ 
fected a full and good crop, and in addition formed the 
requisite number of young rods. The latter were stopped 
about half way up the roof, were not shortened at pruning 
time, and this season broke evenly and well, and have given 
us much the best Grapes we have yet had, besides Avhich 
they have perfected strong canes to the full length of the 
rafters. This autumn, or according as the bunches are cut 
from the growths preserved only on the upper halves of the 
rods are cut, the old rods will be sawn off. 
The only mistake we have made with the Hamburghs 
was in cropping too heavily this season, but I do not think 
we shall suffer for this subsequently as in the case of the 
Muscats, the Yines being vigorous both at the top and roots. 
If instead of 130 good-sized bunches in a house 24 feet by 
15 feet we had been content with 100 bunches the crop would 
really have been of greater value and no risks incurred. Is 
not the case somewhat similar in innumerable vineries ? I 
consider overcropping Grape Yines one of the worst forms 
©f “ gardeners’ greed.” —W. Iggulden. 
[We saw these Black Hamburghs two years ago, and 
they were miserable; we have seen them this year, and the 
Grapes were equal in every way to the Black Hamburghs at 
Longleat.] 
BEGONIAS AS BEDDING PLANTS. 
A correspondent, on page 270, last week, recognised the 
fact that the time-honoured Zonal Pelargoniums cannot be re¬ 
lied on for imparting brightness to the bower garden during the 
showery weather that so commonly prevails about the harvest 
period of the year; and with the object of making good the 
defect he had planted somewhat freely the fine old Gladiolus 
brenchleyensis. This is a most effective plant where it thrives, 
but unfortunately Gladioli are, generally speaking, at least as 
uncertain as bedding Pelargoniums. On these lat er p’ants let 
me say a word. Are not the newer varieties with huge trusses 
better adapted for a transient blaze of a few weeks than for 
continuing attractive over a lengthened period P Have the 
seasons changed, or were the smaller-trussing forms, such as 
Tom Thumb, Cooper’s Scarlet, Indian Yellow, and Bonfire, 
more persistent bloomers, and less liable to damage by a rainy 
day than the modern varieties that have almost driven them out 
of cultivation P Certain it is the beauty of the beds is of shorter 
duration now than was customary some twenty years ago. We 
must, however, make the best of the varieties we have, and if 
they fail, as they too often do, to give satisfaction on ac ount of 
their liability to succumb to a few showers, we must try some¬ 
thing else. 
The adaptability of Tuberous Beg< nias for bedding pur- 
po:es has been occasionally alluded to during the past few years, 
and eramples of success have bcei from time to time recorded; 
still we must recognise the fact that their employment for the 
pm-p se indicated is by no means general, and in fact they have 
not made anything like the progress that they ought to have 
made considei'ing their claims to attention, and the results that 
have been achieved by those who have been successful in their 
culture. 
That these Begonias are well adapted for bedding purposes 
is beyond all question. They may not, perhaps, succeed equally 
well everywhere, but it may be said without hesitation that in 
nine cases out of ten, when failures occur, they are more the 
fault of the cultivators than of the plants. For some years past 
all the beds in a garden north of London (Mr. Law’s at South- 
gate) have been occupied with Begonias, simply because they 
give more satisfaction than any other flower. 1 have seen them 
there growing luxuriantly and laden with flowers, while they 
entailed little more trouble in management than early Potatoes. 
“ Oh !” but it may be remarked, “ what will thrive near London 
will not succeed a hundred miles away.” That may be true of 
some things, but the observation does not apply with over-power¬ 
ing force to these Begonias. Take a journey 150 miles west of 
London, and examine the beds in the beautiful flower garden of 
Sir Henry Scudamore Stanhope at Holme Lacy. From more 
than one source informa'ion has been received of the splendour 
of the Begonia beds there both last year and this. They have 
this year particularly been indisputably grand. 
Lest that test will not suffice to convince the sceptical as to 
the suitability of Begonias for outdoor culture because of the 
presumed salubrity of the climate of Herefordshire, we will go 
further afield for exampdes. Instead of 150 miles west of the 
metropolis we will go 400 miles north. Most persons have heard 
of Drumlanrig, and its manager, Mr. David Thomson, is sup¬ 
posed to know something about flower gardening. He has 
written the best work on the subject in the language, but that 
was before the Begonia epoch, and has produced some of the 
finest examples of the work in hand—flower-gardening embellish¬ 
ment, that have been seen; both at Archerfield and at Drum¬ 
lanrig his work made him famous. Would this gardener risk 
his fame by dabbling in novelties as such, and filling beds with 
plants that would not thrive ? The idea is preposterous. Yet 
lie not only employs these Begonias, but last year he planted 
the most prominent beds in the garden with them, and they 
astonished all who saw them by their vigour of growth, rich¬ 
ness, and the wonderful way in which they endured the drench¬ 
ing rains of that rainy locality, and by continuing brilliant until 
the frost destroyed them. Similar results, I am told, are pro¬ 
duced at Drummond Castle in Fifeshire; but the Drumlanrig 
test alone is quite sufficient to satisfy all who are not prejudiced 
that Tuberous Begonias rightly managed will grow and flower 
in the most satisfactory manner in the majority of flower 
gardens in this country. 
As their success m the west and north cannot be denied, it 
may be supposed by some persons who have failed in other 
districts that the moist air of the localities above instanced must 
be specially favourable to the plants. Perhaps it may be, and 
if so let the hint be turned to account in growing the pdants in 
gardens less moist. Let the surface of the beds be mulched 
and more water given, and then see what Begonias will do. It 
will, perhaps, be as well to tell what they will do—what, indeed, 
they were doing m not a naturally moist position in Kent a 
fortnight ago. 
Not unknown in connection with these beautiful flowers is 
Mr. John Laing of the Stanstead Park Nursery, Forest Hill. 
His work in improving this splendid type of a great genus of 
plants is to be seen at home. It is a brilliant result. The 
houses are ablaze with magnificent varieties, the singles with 
flowers as large as single Dahlias, and if possible more rich; the 
doubles as large as Gueidres Roses, and some as pure; while 
others equal in size, form, and colour Turban Ranunculuses. It 
is a grand display, but we will step outside to an op>en quarter 
in the nursery and see what many persons will scarcely believe 
—some twenty beds, each about 50 yards long by 4 feet wide, 
completely filled with Begonias all aglow with their handsome 
flowers. In this great mass of 30,000 to 40,000, or perhaps 50,000 
plants, scarcely a blank is to be seen, and if there is one it is, 
presumably, the result of some exceptionally fine variety having 
been taken out for ‘' stock;” but the truth is the beds are prac¬ 
tically as blankless as they are brilliant, and the result is an 
undoubted triumph of Begonias as bedding plants. 
All these plants are seedlings, and, what is more, seedlings of 
the present year. The seed was sown in January, and 150,000 
plants were first pricked out closely in very shallow boxes—that 
is, boxes not more than 2 inches deep, then transplanted more 
thinly in larger boxes, and from these transferred to the beds. 
If that does not represent the bedding-out process in its in¬ 
tegrity it would be interesting to know what does. There the 
plants will remain till they are cut by frost, and the tubers will 
