JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 18, 1883. ] 
49 
doing this was the subject of much consideration and discussion. 
Boards, slates, asphalt roofing-sheets were all under review, but 
we wanted something thinner and cheaper. My man solved the 
problem, or at least a piece of tarred brown paper he accidentally 
came across did it for him. Thick carpet paper, the kind sold for 
placing under carpets, was procured. One side was smeared with 
hot tar and thickly dusted with sand ; this side having dried, the 
sheets were turned over and other side treated similarly. Nothing 
could have answered better. They were placed on the stage, 
covered with ashes, and these surfaced with crushed shells. 
Three years have passed since then, and how long the paper- 
flooring will last I cannot tell, but no doubt for three years longer, 
and we are well satisfied with the experiment. 
In connection with the use of tar it may be well to state that it 
must never be introduced into a house with plants until it has 
thoroughly dried, for in a moist state it is dangerous. On one 
occasion towards the end of the summer a vessel of warm tar was 
placed in a Cucumber frame and left there all night to 
j try the effects of the fumes on red spider. It was 
very striking, for I believe it killed every insect, as it 
certainly did every leaf, on the plants, while the fruits 
when cut had a very pronounced tar flavour and could 
not be eaten. 
I have more to say on glass structures, but at present 
must leave the subject and describe my method of 
pruning Vines, this being, so I am told, a slight de¬ 
parture from the stereotyped practice. The vineries are 
crowded with plants, which need at the least glimpses 
of light in summer. The rods are 3 feet apart, hence 
the laterals when trained in the ordinary manner com¬ 
pletely covered the roof with foliage, and the glass was 
scarcely visible on looking upwards. This the plants 
did not like, nor were the Grapes very superior. I 
thought I should, therefore, lose little by an experi¬ 
ment first tried last year and now just repeated. 
Instead of cutting the laterals off close to the spurs 
I only removed every alternate one, and tied the others 
in lengths of a foot or more close to the main rods. 
In the spring I had such a break of strong growths as 
I never had before, and it was apparent that nine- 
tenths of them must be removed. The plan adopted 
was this :—The best bunch was selected on each lateral 
(and I had a choice of from three to six), all the rest 
of the growths being gradually rubbed off except one 
at the base. The bearing shoots were stopped, some at 
the bunch, others at one leaf beyond, and a young 
shoot from each spurred lateral kept and trained up 
the rods for the fruiting the following year. The crop 
was by far the best I ever had, the bunches hanging 
in a close row directly under the rods, and by removing 
a leaf here and there from the bunch-bearing laterals 
those for succession are now as good as I can desire 
them, while all the summer I had a comparatively light 
house for plants instead of, as before, a dark one. This, 
the Peach system of pruning, more than answered my 
expectations, and I shall follow it until it fails, which 
I am sanguine will not be this year nor next, nor the 
next after that. 
And now ye great gardeners—men who have taught 
me so much by which I have profited—have ye not 
sometimes taught too much ? Have ye, in insisting 
that Vine shoots must be stopped one leaf at least, and 
more preferably, beyond the bunch, found by full and 
fair trials that that is the only method of securing 
good Grapes ? If so your Vines are different from mine, for the 
Grapes stopped at the bunch and the leaf there preserved—none 
beyond—were quite as good as the others that were treated in the 
orthodox manner, while more light was allowed to the foliage of 
the successional laterals. Dare anyone venture to try. this out-of- 
the-way method of pruning on one Vine this year 1 I have tried 
it on a dozen ; but then I am answerable to no one if I fail, of 
which untoward result, however, I have not the remotest fear.— 
M. D. 
Lewisia kediviva. —A charming little alpine with a long fleshy 
rootstock, producing a tuft of narrow fleshy leaves, and large flowers 
like a Mesembryanthemum, of a bright magenta-rose colour, with 
a diameter of 3 to 4 inches when expanded, which it does during sun¬ 
shine. It comes from the western States of America, and is quite 
hardy with us if planted in a proper position. Mr. Backhouse of 
York places it in vertical clefts in his rockery, and it thrives well. 
If this is not done it should have a thoroughly drained position and 
sunny, and be planted in limestone chippings, crocks, and sand, with 
a little loam added, so that during the winter the fleshy rootstocks 
will be comparatively dry. L. brachycarpa is similar, but produces 
white flowers. It should be treated in the same way j mixed together 
in clumps they are very pretty.—X. 
MUSHROOM CULTURE. 
The Mushroom is grown with more or les3 success in most 
gardening establishments, and under various conditions. By way 
of adding another name to the list of successful Mushroom growers 
which have already been recorded in the Journal, I wish to men¬ 
tion that of Mr. Charles Warden of Clarendon Park Gardens, 
Salisbury, where on the flags under a step stage in a lean-to house 
are two beds which are specially worthy of notice, as demon¬ 
strating the good account to which hundreds of such places could 
be turned without in any way interfering with the special use of 
the house. These beds are about a foot deep, enclosed by boards 
of the same depth, and were spawned when the heat of the 
beds was not likely to rise above 70° or 75°, and cased over with 
soil, beaten firmly together with the back of the spade in October 
last, and then covered with clean straw which subsequently was 
damped over occasionally with tepid water from the syringe. 
The main temperature of the house being about 52°. They are 
now, as they have done for several weeks past, producing abun¬ 
dance of fine Mushrooms, many of which are 5 and 6 inches in 
diameter. Mr. Warden is equally successful in the production of 
Mushrooms in the Mushroom house proper, as in the case above 
cited, and the same remark applies to the culture of them out of 
doors, as amply testified by a small ridge (about 12 feet long) 
which was made last autumn, and from which he has recently 
gathered between 25 and 30 lbs. of excellent Mushrooms. This 
is only one of many instances resulting from the series of ex¬ 
cellent articles which appeared in the pages of the Journal 
some time since by Mr. Wright.— Visitob. 
[A sample of the Mushrooms referred to has been sent to us, 
and the specimens are very fine indeed.] 
Fig. 12.—Abutilon. (See page 46.) 
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