July 24, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
75 
stems will force their way, and they look extremely pretty waving to 
and fro in a gentle breeze. It is a native of California, growing abun¬ 
dantly on the western slopes of the lesser hills. 
B. CONGESTA. —With its white variety alba this is most suitable for 
growing with the last-named. Planted together they grow happily, and 
as they flower at the same time they look very charming. The flowers 
of these are in dense heads; the typical form purple and more vigorous 
than alba, but if plenty of sand is put about the latter it will progress 
in a favourable paanner. B. congesta increases much more rapidly than 
B. coccinea, but it will be years before it would elbow its weaker con¬ 
gener out of the way. 
Pretty Face. —Such is the common name by which Calliprora 
lutea is known, and the name, though fanciful, expresses truth. Two 
years since the ensuing autumn I planted six bulbs in a dry sand border, 
enriched with leaf soil and decayed manure, and these have at the 
present time fifteen strong scapes of flowers umbellate at the top. To 
those who know it not I may say the flowers are nearly an inch across, 
like golden stars, the colour being deep yellow, with a medial brown 
nerve to each perianth division. They last a long time in beauty, and 
are to one bulbophile at least very attractive. It is a native of Cali¬ 
fornia, abounding on sandy hillsides of the Sierra Nevada, &c., and by 
the leading American botanists is named Brodima ixioides, Mr. Baker 
named it Milla ixioides. Bindley was, I think, responsible for the name 
of Calliprora lutea. 
Campanula pebsicifolia alba plena. —One of the finest border 
flowers under cultivation, very floriferous, of good habit, and the indi¬ 
vidual flowers little models of beauty, of Camellia-like form, and about 
or 2 inches across, each furnished with a convenient stalk, so pretty 
upon and so serviceable of the plants. “ Cut and come again ” may well 
be applied to this plant, and yet what hosts of the gardening fraternity 
are not even aware of its existence. I meet with many even in this age 
of hardy flowers who, standing before it, somewhat astonishingly ask, 
“ What lovely thing is this ?” and as a rule they gladly form a closer and 
practical acquaintanc with it. Most easily propagated it should be grown 
largely and serve its day and generation as it can well do. Every shoot 
sent up from the bottom will root if pricked in sandy soil in a shady 
place.—T. 
COLOUBING GBAPES. 
This is an old theme, concerning which there has been much 
written from time to time, and possibly on that account it may 
be thought by many that he who ventures to revert to the matter 
through the pages of any horticultural paper is at a loss for a 
subject. However, I shall make no apology, feeling well assured 
that, although the great majority of experienced men have nothing 
further to learn on the matter, there are many who have, and to 
whom a few practical hints and suggestions will, we doubt not, 
be acceptable. Whenever there is a deficiency of colour in ripe 
Grapes there is always a cause. In some cases it is due to a com¬ 
bination of evils, and as a matter of course it follows that if the 
best results are desired, the evils—which are always preventible 
—must be rigorously avoided, or when they present themselves 
given no quarter. Very fruitful sources of bad colouring are the 
following—viz., overcropping, insufficient ventilation, a too high 
and dry temperature, dryness at the roots, and last, though not 
least, red spider. 
It will thus be seen that there are what we may call four 
primary causes of bad colouring, and perhaps it would be as well 
to notice each of them sej)arately. First as to overcropping. The 
question arises as to what is and what is not sufficient fruit for 
a Vine to be allowed to ripen. To many this is rather perplexing, 
and well it may be, seeing that it is a matter upon which no 
definite rule can be laid down To be brief, however, it may be said 
that a Vine should never cease to produce young wood and leaves 
from the time it starts into growth till after the fruit is fully 
ripe, or, in fact, to the end of the season. If it does, the most 
probable cause is to be found in there having been too many 
bunches left on the Vines. Therefore, when leaf and wood 
growth is impeded, even if it be in the middle of the season, 
there should be no hesitation about lightening the ci’pp by 
cutting out more bunches. 
Ventilation is a matter requiring great attention, for as soon 
as the berries begin to colour air should be admitted by ventilating 
both top and bottom, night and day, increasing and reducing it ac¬ 
cording to the state of the weather. A high and dry temperature 
is productive of evil consequences, and as it is one of those things 
over which we have most control, it should receive attention if 
only for the sake of avoiding those two severe words of condem¬ 
nation—“ sheer neglect.” No hard-and-fast rule can be laid 
down regarding temperature, and it should never be attempted 
to maintain a specified number of degrees. Let the heat inside 
fluctuate with the outside temperature, always keeping the 
former, however, 5" or higher than the latter. 
Dryness at the roots is, perhaps, as much the cause of bad 
colouring as anything else. When any uncertainty exists 
regarding he state of a Vine border, means should be taken to 
set all matters of doubt at rest. Outside borders are very decep¬ 
tive owing to rainfall, and it frequently happens that the surface, 
and even to a depth of 18 inches, will be quite moist when the 
bottom of the border may be dust-dry. It seems aim os un¬ 
necessary to say that this state of things should never be allowed 
to exist, but where it does it certainly should be rectified without 
delay. 
Of red spider we may say that it is almost invariably the 
natural consequence of the evils above mentioned, and if they 
were prevented there would belittle or no trouble with this insect, 
which is one of the worst to which Vines are subject. Whenever 
it does gain a hold the best remedy is sponging with soapy water- 
Of course there is no gainsaying the fact that when the fruit is- 
ripening off, and owing to a somewhat drier atmosphere which, 
ought to prevail, the avoidance of an attack of red spider is really 
very difficult. 
One other point we will slightly allude to—viz., the amount 
of foliage a Vine ought to carry. In my opinion there should be 
just sufficient to prevent the sun shining with too great a force 
on the bunches—a dense canopy, as is sometimes seen, being 
altogether unnecessary.— Et OiETEEA. 
MANUEE8. 
(^Continued from page 32.) 
[An abstract of an essay read before the Western New York Horti¬ 
cultural Society by Professor G. C. Caldwell.] 
It has been said that “commercial manures do not fill the bill.”' 
Why do they not answer ? I see but two reasons. It is either because 
we do not hit upon the right combination or mixture of such plant foods 
as they contain, or it is because of the lack of the organic matters—the 
humus or vegetable mould-forming substance which they do not contain, 
but which the stable manure does contain. If the first reason were the 
reason, there would not be the slightest difficulty in getting round it; 
any one of the half a dozen manufacturers of fertilisers in the cities 
could make to order a mixture containing nitrogen, phosphates, potash 
salts, and all the rest, in so nearly the same proportions as in stable 
manure, and in so much the same degrees of solubility, that no crop 
could tell the difference when this mixture should be offered to it. Some 
manufacturers have gone even ahead of this, and prepared dishes, 
supposed to be even better than stable manure, because containing these 
foods in just the proportions required by each crop—a principle of 
manuring that I think has been just as successful in general practice as 
it is sensible as to its theory—which is very little of either success or 
sense. 
Are we not, then, cornered by the conclusion that if we cannot get 
stable manure, and wish to do what we can to substitute for it commercial 
fertilisers, we must in some way make good the deficiency in respect to 
the organic matter ? we must keep up the condition of the soil in respect 
to its vegetable mould, in other words. This can be done in but two 
ways, so far as I see, by a liberal draft on beds of rich muck wherever 
the fruit-grower has such beds on his farm. If he has no muck beds 
then he must resort to green manuring ; in this case he will have to 
manure his farm as all other farmers do—he must rotate his crops. In 
the case of some fruits this would be no disadvantage, such as those that 
must be renewed every few years ; in the case of others, as the Apple, 
Pear, Cherry, or Grape, it would be quite otherwise ; there a course 
might be followed similar to one which is stated to have been successfully 
practised now for ten years in a vineyard in Germany, of partially 
replacing the stable manure by a mixture of a special vineyard manure 
containing soluble phosphates, potash salts, and nitrogen compounds. 
If you should use muck, and should have access to a variety of 
deposits, it is well to remember that there are very considerable 
differences in mucks. Some may contain twice as much organic matter 
as others ; it might, therefore, be very useful to make a simple examina¬ 
tion of each one, to determine which is the richest in this substance for 
which you more especially desire to use it. This test may be made by 
thoroughly drying a sample of each kind in the air, taking care to break 
up all the lumps and reduce it to as fine a condition as you can, weighing 
out a pound as carefully as possible with such means as you have, then 
heating it to redness over a hct fire on a piece of clean sheet iron, and 
finally weighing what is left; the more the sample loses by this treat¬ 
ment the richer it in all probability is in humus-forming matters. If yon 
have your choice of two mucks, one of which loses much more weight 
than the other by this treatment, the chances are that that one will do 
you the best service. 
Now as to the plant food to be used with the muck or with the green 
manure. If your substitute for stable manure is to be as nearly like the 
thing for which it is substituted as practicable, you should supply to 
the crop all three tf -the specially valuable ingredients of commercial 
fertilisers—nitrogen, phosphate, and potash salts. In a paper which I read 
in 1879 I showed that, as far as we can conclude from the very limited 
chemical data at our command, a fruit crop removes from an acre of soil 
somewhat the same quantities of these three plant foods as are carried off 
in ordinary farm-cropping. Future experience and experiment may show 
that for this crop or that one a more or less one-sided manuring may do 
better—that for one kind of fruit more than the average proportion of 
potash will give the best results—that for another phosphate is especially 
’ successful; but I do not think that as yet we have bad enough experience 
