500 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
[ Ecce nber 4, 18£4. 
yellow) and in bunch. Gros Maroc has a very prettily formed bunch not 
}.nven to shoul lering like the Alicante. The flavour here is not so good as 
Alicante, but soils have more to do wdth flavour than we are generally 
aware. Where Grapes are grown roughly or by unskilled labour this will 
be useful. I shall cut one old rod away, having a good young cane run 
up this summer, and look for good result?. This being a large-berried 
Grape, and colouring freely, will displace the Black Hamburgh for autumn 
or late work. It ought to keep well, as it has a moderate tough skin. 
Foster’s Seedling —This is worthless for market purpose, fetching 
a very low' price, even when well grown. It will furnish a very heavy crop, 
but as they do not keep, or at least improve by keeping, they must be cut. 
Buckland Sweetwater is far ahead, as the berries come so much larger. 
Golden Queen.— Grown in a Muscat heat this does well, producing 
go jd berries and crop ; but what I have now hanging are, as Mr. T. Record 
describes, of a dii-ty cloudy colour. In my case, however, it does not get 
beyond the outer skin. The flavour is very good indeed, though the skin 
is thick. It has been tasted by many persons, and all unite in saying it 
is a very superior Grape. For an early autumn noble-looking Grape this 
ranks high, as it is so rich-looking. 
Mrs Pince.— I do not grow this, but about here it must not be men¬ 
tioned with Lady Downe’s. Certainly Mrs. Pince is larger in bunch, but 
the colour is alw'ays deficient, ani it is one of the first, if not the first, to 
shrivel in the berries, 
L.4.DY Downe's as now hanging looks well. The bunches are very 
regular, as we have had to cut out but a few so-called scalded berries. 
Gros Guillaume grows very strongly here, having bunches 20 to 24 
inches long, seven bunches on a Vine, which I expect to average 6 lbs. per 
bunch, —Stephen Castle. 
LOAM. 
No garden where plants have to be cultivated in pots can be properly 
managed unless suitable loam in sufficient quantity is available. In 
gardens about towns good loam is generally a scarce and valuable com¬ 
modity, and we have known gardens attached to large estates where it 
was a difficult matter to get a good supply. Tho?e, however, who object 
to their gardeners having a necessary supply of loam should not expect 
many of the productions to be brought to the highest degree of perfection, 
as in the cultivation of many plants nothing will compensate for the 
absence of loam. Vine borders of a substantial and lasting character 
cannot be formed without it, and there are many plants grown in pots 
which are more benefited by fibrous loam than anything else, and all 
concerned should endeavour to secure a certain amount at least of the 
best loam obtainable. Only getting a wheelbarrowload or a cartload 
occasionally is a poor plan, and the best of all ways is to try to secure 
enough at one time to last all the year. 
What we term loam is the top part of grass land, generally called 
turf, and this may be cut of various thickness according to the quality of 
the land. On good old pasture the turves may sometimes be cut as much 
as 6 inches in thickness, but where the surface is comparatively new and 
fibreless a thickness of 2 inches or so will generally be suitable. The 
thicker ones may be cut about 10 inches square, and the thin ones a few' 
inches longer, but the same as the others in width. A quantity should 
be taken direct to the potting-shed, and there be stacked in a neat mound. 
More may be put under cover somewhere else, and the remainder may be 
put in the open air. In the latter case esoecially the mound should take 
the form of a stack 4 feet or 5 feet in width, and about the same in 
-height; and the top should be worked up to a sharp ridge that rain may 
be thrown off. In all cases the turves should be put up with the grass 
side downwards, as this will soon cause the grass to decay, kill all weeds, 
and convert all the green material into manure. It is sometimes reccrm- 
mended to put a layer of manure between layers of turves, but we do 
not like this plan, as sometimes the loam may be wanted without the 
manure, and it is not easy to separate them. It is always easy to mix the 
two according to the condition required at potting-time. 
Some do not cut the loam until after frost, when they think all the 
worms and insects will have gone below ; tut we have never noticed the 
advantage sutfifiently to make us particular in following out the practice. 
About a month ago we cut upwards of forty cartloads upon a hillside in 
the deer park, as it was dry then, and it was all put up in small mounds, 
grass side down, to be carted home as the weather and other work will 
allow. We do not approve of working amongst loam when it is wet, and 
all the operations connected with it should be done in dry weather. 
About towns some good loam may often be obtained where prepa¬ 
rations are beginning to build new house?, and then it may be taken 
in and stored at all seasons ; but come from where it may, all employers 
may lest assured that their gardeners are woiking under the greatest 
disadvantage if they ire compelled to dispense with •oam.—A Kitchen 
Gakdenee. 
OECHID NOTES. 
Spot on Cypeipedium SpicERiANuivr. — This beautiful 
Cypripedium is very liable to become spotted and blotched on 
its foliage. Some plants that recently came under my notice 
were very badly disfigured, which twelve months ago were in the 
most perfect health. The appearance of the plants prompted 
me to inquire the cause, which was considered to be due to a 
superabundance of water on the foliage. Further, that imported 
plants of this variety would not bear constant watering over the 
foliage after becoming established and subject to artificial treat¬ 
ment to the same extent as seedlings raised at home. Judging 
from the vigorous healthy clean foliage of the seedlings there 
was certainly some grounds for the above opinion. After duly 
considering this subject and the treatment the plants have 
received, my experience leads me to the opposite conclusion, not 
as regards seedlings, for I have had no experience with them, 
but with imported plant-"'. When the plants were first imported 
it was stated that they were found growing upon rocks, and that 
water run over the rocks sufficient to keep the soil or moss in 
which they were growing constantly wet. The impression 
gained at the time was that very little soil really existed about 
the roots of the plants, and that they clung firmly to the rockp. 
These remarks w'ere our chief guide in the cultivation of this 
plant. First provision w'as made by having the pots in which 
they were to be grown nearly filled with drainage, so that a 
small quantity of soil only should be given fur the roots to grow 
in. The compost employed at first was sphagnum moss and 
charcoal in small pieces, and the plants were watered over the 
foliage frequently, in fact every time water was applied, and the 
moss was kept thoroughly wet. The plants were well elevated 
above the rim of the pots, to give them every chance of rooting 
outside the pot, and clinging to it if they wished. They grew 
well, and the following season were given larger pots, and upon 
turning them out, not only had the roots commenced clinging to 
the small pots, but to the crocks employed for drainage. In 
repotting, the same provision was made for liberal drainage, and 
a small quantity of equal portions of living moss and peat fibre, 
the small particles of soil being shaken out. Charcoal was freely 
used, and in lumps of a larger size. It must be mentioned that 
every portion of the old moss was removed, and the roots washed 
in tepid water before they were again repotted. Watering was 
done on the same principle as before, and the plants have thriven 
well, with not a single blotch upon their foliage, and the scapes 
produced bore two flowers each, which I fully believe this 
grand Cypripedium will do annually under good and proper 
treatment. 
1 strongly recommend potting to be done annually, and every 
particle of the old compost removed from amongst the roots. It 
maybe asked. Is this really necessary ? and my reply is that it 
is impossible otherwise to keep the material used as a compost in 
good condition and sweet. It is certain if the conditions given 
us, those under which it thrives in its native home, are correct — 
and we have every reason to believe they are—the material about 
the roots is always sweet. 
What has this to do with spot upon the foliage ? it may be 
asked; but I hope to show that it has more to do with it than 
may appear to be the case. It clearly shows that if a limited 
quantity of soil is given as a medium for the roots, and that 
retained in a sweet healthy condition with abundance of drainage, 
watering over the foliage will not cause it to become disfigured 
by spot. It occurred to me that the plants that were badly 
spotted were not growing in sweet material, but that it had 
become close and inclined to be sour, as if the peat used had 
not been good. Some of the plants were potted in loam, and 
were less spotted than those in peat. The fibre of loam is 
decidedly preferable to bad peat, but it should be removed 
annually, as it becomes sour from the enormous supply of water 
required during the year. Again, cold water applied to the plants 
overhead is almost sure to cause spot, more especially so if the 
soil about the roots is not in the best condition. I have proved 
that water many degrees colder than the house in which the 
plants are growing will cause spot on Cypripediums. I remember 
taking charge a few years ago of a number of plants of such 
varieties as 0. villosum, C. barbatum, and others growing in the 
stove, and which were badly spotted, and I soon discovered it 
was due to the soil about the roots being in bad condition, and 
the plants being liberally supplied with cold water over the 
foliage. The plants w-ere turned out—though it was autumn— 
and repotted in fresh material, using as little as possible, and 
afterwards supplied with water at the temperature of the house. 
The plants afterwards made clean foliage and grew well, free 
from spot, and when I left them two and a half years later they 
were clean healthy plants. I would advise those having spotted 
plants of this Cypripedium to turn them out carefully and repot 
them under the conlitions detailed, and grow them in a warm 
house during the summer, and keep them cooler during the 
winter, say in a temperature of 50'" to 5.5°, according to the 
w'eather, and supply them with water accordingly, giving a less 
bountiful supply than is needed during the s'animer.—W. B. 
L.ELIA Dayana. —This is a small-growing species that makes 
itself quite at home at the warmest end of the Odontoglossum 
