488 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 6,1883. 
a cool temperature, they leave nothing to be desired in colour or flavour. 
So well has this variety succeeded at Chiswick under this treatment that 
Mr. Barron intends grafting a number of the Vines there with it, and the 
merits of this handsome Grape will unquestionably soon cause its culture 
to be greatly extended. For market it is very useful when well coloured, 
as its appearance is excellent, and it is, moreover, of good weight.” 
- In reference to the Vanilla Glowing Wild in the United 
States, Mr. A. H. Curtiss, the well-known Florida botanist, in a sketch 
of an exploration, furnished to the Florida Dispatch, says :—“During 
another cruise I penetrated the borders of the Everglades, at a point 
about thirty miles east of Cape Sable. The mainland shore was there 
skirted with a light forest of Mahogany and other tropical trees. 
Following a creek which issued from it, we soon emerged into a 
round fresh-water lagoon, about a mile in diameter, in the centre of 
which was a beautiful round island. A creek emptying into it from the 
north I call Vanilla Creek, because on its banks grows the only Vanilla 
ever found in the United States. This species (Vanilla planifolia') is a 
thick, fleshy, leafless vine, which runs rampant among weeds and bushes, 
simulating, as it were, a slender green snake in its colour, form, and 
curves. This little creek is one of the small outlets of the Everglades ; 
it has cut a channel through the underlying coral rock, and is bordered 
with a low growth of Saw Grass and Mangroves only a few feet in 
height.” 
THE UNITED HORTICULTURAL BENEFIT AND 
PROVIDENT SOCIETY. 
In reply to your correspondent, “A Canadian Subscriber,” there is no 
provision made in the rules for the election of members beyond the limits 
of the United Kingdom. The only reference is in rule 15, where it says 
that if a member leaves the United Kingdom he cannot receive sick pay 
until he returns, and then he must previously obtain a medical certificate 
showing the state of his health before he becomes eligible. The member 
to which reference is made, and who resides in America but continues his 
payments, formerly resided in England and hopes to do so again. 
There is one feature in the rules of this Society which gives it a promi¬ 
nent claim above some of our more popular benefit societies, and that 
is, supposing a member from adverse or other unforeseen circumstances 
is unable to continue his payments, so that at the end of twelve months 
his account with the Society is closed, the question is then, What becomes 
of the balance of his deposit ? It remains as he left it until he attains 
the age of sixty years, when he can claim the whole of the deposit 
standing in his name, unless in the interval he dies, when the person 
nominated by him receives it. The interest of his deposit after he ceases 
his subscription is carried forward to the benevolent fund. I think all 
will admit this is a boon unknown in the majority of similar societies.— 
J. F. McEleoy, The Gardens, Moray Lodge, Camp den Hill, Kensington. 
LATE BLACK GRAPES. 
The season has again come round for taking stock and 
comparing the best kinds of late Grapes. Your correspondents, 
Mr. Thomson and “S.” (see pages 435 and 437) have done good 
service in drawing attention to the subject. Undoubtedly Gros 
Colman is the grandest and most noble-looking Grape in culti¬ 
vation. When grown in a Muscat house and treated to the 
temperature suitable for growing first-dabs Muscats and allowed 
to hang long enough, the flavour leaves little to be desired; but 
with us, when treated to a high temperature, it never finishes 
off with the same jet black colour which is produced upon those 
grown in a cooler house. 
Mr. Thomson's list of varieties is a small one; nevertheless, 
with the exception of Madresfield Court, it contains all the best 
kinds in use from July until the end of the year, but those who 
must keep up a supply of Grapes through March and April 
cannot well dispense with Lady Downe’s"Seedling. So highly 
is this Grape esteemed by my employers, that anything short 
of '200 bunches would not be enough for spring I’equirements, 
and these are never touched until the Mrs. Pince’s, Barbarossa 
(Gros Guillaume), and Gros Colman are done. 
Like “ S., ’ 1 have only a very moderate opinion of Gros 
Maroc. The Messrs. Rivers say they grew this Grape thirty 
years before sending it out, and in my opinion we should be 
no worse off for late Grapes had they grown it another thirty 
before putting it into the hands of 'cultivators. The same 
remark is applicable to Cooper’s Late Black. I have grown 
these two in the same house for the last three years, but fail 
to see any difference between them either in wood, leaves, or 
fruit, and although they produce handsome bunches and berries 
covered with splendid bloom, I have never found them fit to eat 
where other sor s can be had. Their skin is thick and tough, 
flesh dry and deficient in flavour, and with me they commence 
shrivelling before Martinmas (November 11th). 
Alnwick Seedling is another new Grape that has precisely the 
same good looks and faults. These we have decided to discard, 
and will for the future depend upon West’s St. Peter’s, Mrs. Pince’s 
Muscat, Barbarossa (Gros Guillaume), Gros Uolman, and Lady 
Downe’s Seedling for our winter and spring supply. With this. 
I send samples of Gros Maroc, Cooper's Late Black, Alnwick. 
Seedling, Gros Colman, and a bunch of the much-abused Duke 
of Buccleuch. These have all been ripe since August. Kindly 
give the readers of the Journal the benefit of your opinionr 
upon these, and oblige—J. McIndoe, Hutton Hall Gardens, 
Guisborough. 
P.S.—i may add that Gros Maroc was grown at the warm end 1 
of a house, grafted on Barbarossa (Gros Guillaume), and 
Cooper’s Late Black in the middle grafted on West's St. Peter’s.. 
[There could not be better examples of the different varieties 
of Grapes alluded to than those submitted to us for our opinion, 
and they all furnish confirmatory evidence of the grower’s cultural, 
reputation. Gros Maroc is perfectly shrivelled, and the berries 
almost in the state of raisins. The flavour is rich, but the skin 
is thick, tough, and membranous; and there can be little doubt 
that Cooper’s Late Black is synonymous with it. Alnwick Seed¬ 
ling is delicious; and the “ much-abused Duke of Buccleuch 
would have put to confusion the most captious critic if he had 
only seen it. The berries are enormous; the skin thin, clear,, 
and the flavour excellent. This is certainly a grand Grape when, 
produced by those who, like Mr. McIndoe, know how to grow 
it. We never before saw it in December. Gros Colman is large 
and good, but deficient in colour. | 
FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
Fob many years I have not known so favourable a season for florists’' 
flowers as we are now experiencing. November, which has usually been’ 
associated with damps, fogs, and all kind of disagreeables, has been, in- 
the south at least, exceptionally fine. The temperature has not been 
high, but there has been pleuty of sunlight. The ground has not been 
soddened as of late years with excess of moisture, and those who have 
had to plant Roses (and who has not ?) have rarely found the ground so- 
workable. It has made the farmers rejoice, for it is many years since 
they had so good a “seeding” time, and a good seed bed always gives 
hopes of a good harvest. The previous weeks, too, have been favourable,, 
and altogether I think gardeners are having a good time of it. My 
observations have, however, to do with florists’ flowers in pots, and ar 
few notes on them may not be out of my place. 
Auriculas. —Last year I kept these in the same quarters as in the 
summer until the blooming time came on— i.e., under a hedge facing 
north. I have, however, this year reverted to my old plan, and about 
the beginning of the month placed the frames facing south. Latterly 
we have had some sharp hoar frosts at night, and I have therefore 
covered them with mats, which are taken off early in the day and plenty 
of air given to them. There has been singularly little green fly amongst 
them ; but where noticed it has, of course, been at once brushed off, for 
with my small collection it is better to do this than to fumigate, for 
which, as a florist of the old school, I have not much love. Autumn¬ 
blooming, that nuisance of the Auricula grower, has not been excessive. 
I have from time to time examined the pots, and where I have found my 
old enemy the woolly aphis I have brushed it all off or squeezed it. 
between my fingers. Opinions still differ as to the amount of injury it 
does, but that it cannot but be injurious to some extent I firmly believe. 
Every grower speaks of it now as existing in their collection, and its- 
mysterious dispersion is one of those insect problems about which, with* 
all the vaunted discoveries of science, we know next to nothing. 
Carnations and Picotees. —I have never seen healthier or better 
plants than this season. It was [a good season for layering, the plants 
rooted well, and are now well established in their winter quarters, a pair 
in each pot. I see no evidence of spot amongst them, and as I have- 
seen several collections this year I imagine that my experience is that of 
most growers. They should have air at all times when the weather ia 
good, green fly should be carefully watched and got rid of immediately 
that it appears, the pots should be kept clear of weeds, and, as with the- 
Auricula, water should be only sparingly given. Any decaying leaves- 
should be carefully removed, and cleanliness is the main thing to be 
looked after. 
Gladiolus. —What unaccountable things these are ! I was at my 
friend Mr. Banks’ a few weeks ago, and of all his tens of thousands of 
roots he has not one left. In a small garden near here where they have- 
grown for years the owner said to me yesterday, “ I have only one 
corm left, and that is a seedling ; ” and yet I have not, ever since I grew 
them twenty-five years ago, had so few losses or lifted such fine 
and healthy corms, and this in all parts of my garden. Fresh roots, my 
own harvested ones, spawn, seedlings—all the same. Now, why this i3- 
I cannot tell, for I have made no alteration in my culture ; but so it is- 
My corms have been taken up for some weeks. Each variety was placed 
in a pot with some of the earth attached to them, and I shall next week 
clean them off, remove the spawn, and put them away in the skeleton 
drawers in which I always store them in, place the spawn in paper bags- 
