186 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. t March i, ms. 
so freely as many other Orchids. An excellent article upon the culture of this 
plant appeared in this Journal, page 297, April ISth, 1880. 
Planting Vines (J. J.). —Five rods will suffice for covering the roof, but 
you may have six if you choose, two to be 15 inches from the glass at the ends 
of the house, the others equidistant between them, which would be about 2 feet 
6 inches apart. We have seen very fine Grapes grown with the rods even closer 
than that, but care was exercised in disbudding and thinning the laterals. 
We presume you only want the Grapes for table use, not for exhibiting. Plant¬ 
ing should be done after the growth has started. The method of planting has 
been frequently described. Shake them out of the pots, spreading out the roots 
quite straight, covering them 4 or 5 inches deep in free gritty loam, and apply 
water at a temperature of 100°, afterwards maintaining a genial atmosphere 
and a night temperature of 55°. You can either plant three Vines or six as you 
choose, but they ought to have been procured and cut back to the height re¬ 
quired long ago, as has been advised repeatedly in our columns. To prune them 
now bleeding would probably ensue; you had better, therefore, simply rub off 
the buds from the upper portion of the canes, and cut off the cane so denuded of 
buds in the autumn. The lower the cane is divested of buds the better will the 
growth be during the summer. If you apply the lime with care as you suggest 
it wall do no harm whatever. For your border, will not a line of Lobelia pumila 
compacta suit you ? If you want something dwarfer sow Ionopsidium acaule 
towards the end of the present month or early in March. 
Uncovering Vine Borders (Norwich).— As you appear to be cognisant 
that the practice of covering may be beneficial or the reverse, it is a little sur¬ 
prising you did not state the condition of your Vines and the nature of the 
materials, whether fermented or not, placed on the border. We can only say 
generally what we have said before, that when fermenting material has been on 
a Vine border for some months its removal must be effected with great care, and 
should not be done until the weather is warm and settled. It is often inju¬ 
dicious to remove the whole of the covering, as the roots may have penetrated 
it, and if not they are, or ought to be, quite close to the surface, and conse¬ 
quently especially liable to be injured by hail or drought. A layer of the 
manure surfaced with turfy loam, wood ashes, and bones would afford not only 
protection to the roots, but sustenance of great value for the Vines. We have 
known instances when the injudicious removal of the covering material has re¬ 
sulted in Vines being in a worse condition than they would have been if the 
borders had not been covered at all. Placing fermenting materials on Vine 
borders is often advantageous, but it must not be placed on too soon, nor 
removed too soon, as there is assuredly danger in both these extremes. If the 
covering has not fermented, and the Vines are noc in a forward state, remove 
it as you suggest, and then as the summer advances give a dressing of manure 
if the Vines need additional support, and for keeping the roots near the surface. 
They will certainly dive down into the border if the surface is loose and dry. 
Hot-water Circulation (II. Cox). —The water will no doubt circulate 
but its movements will be slow. Instead of the cistern the ends of the pipes 
should be connected with a simple elbow or syphon, and for supplying the boiler 
a small cistern should be placed above it on a level with the highest part of the 
pipes, an inch pipe from the cistern entering the return 4-inch hot-water pipe 
close to the boiler. An air pipe should be fixed on the top of the flow-pipe at 
the part you have shown entering the cistern, on the highest point of the pipes 
in the house. If you require the cistern for supplying warm water, connect the 
pipes in it by a syphon as suggested. 
Cut Flowers in Covent Garden Market (Inquirer).— Large num¬ 
bers of the cheaper flowers seen in Covent Garden Market and about the London 
streets at this time of year, are sent there from France. You may frequently 
see sales of these, comprising Violets, Roses, Hyacinths, Snowdrops, and other 
flowers, which realise very moderate prices, and are largely purchased by hawkers 
and others. The flowers arrive in shallow boxes or baskets, no packing material 
being used, and the moisture of the foliage appears sufficient to preserve them 
in good condition, for they are often as fresh as if they had only been gathered 
a few hours. 
Names of Fruits (J.). —The Pear is Knight's Monarch undoubtedly. It 
is not easy always to name fruit from single specimens. To make sure of 
increasing this variety you might take grafts from your tree and insert them in 
another tree now. 
Names of Plants (J., Cheshire). —Sisyrinchium grandiflorum. (Subscriber). 
—1, Ilex Aquifolium, var. laurifolium ; 2, Thuia Lobbi; 3, Cupressus Lawsoniana; 
4, Abies nigra; 5, Abies excelsa; 6, Abies canadensis. 
COVENT GARDEN MARKET.—February 28th. 
Titere is no alteration in the character of business, and prices remain 
substantially the same as last,week. Trade quiet. 
FRUIT. 
s. d. s. d. 
Apples. . 4 sieve 2 0to7 0 
„ .per barrel 20 0 40 0 
Apricots. doz. 0 0 0 0 
Cherries. 4 sieve 0 0 0 0 
Chestnuts. bushel 10 0 12 0 
Currants, Black.. 
„ Red. 
Figs. 
Filberts. 
Cobs. 
Gooseberries . 
4 sieve 0 0 
4 sieve 0 0 
dozen 0 0 
tt>. 0 0 
lOOtt,. 0 0 
4 sieve 0 0 
o o 
o o 
Grapes . 
Lemons. 
Melons. 
Nectarines. 
Oranges . 
Peaches . 
Pears,kitchen .. 
dessert . 
Pine Apples, English 
Raspberries. 
Strawberries .... 
s. d. s. d 
It. 2 0 to 6 0 
case 10 0 20 0 
each 00 00 
dozen 0 0 
0 0 
100 6 0 10 0 
dozen 0 
dozen 1 
dozen 1 
tt>. 1 
lb. 0 
oz. 1 
VEGETABLES. 
d. S. d. 
0 to 4 0 
0 30 0 
0 0 
2 0 
Artichokes. dozen 2 
Asparagus, French bundle 25 
Beans,Kidney .... 100 2 0 
Beet,Red. dozen l 0 
Broccoli. bundle 0 9 16 
Brussels Sprouts.. 4 sieve 16 2 0 
Cabbage. dozen o 6 10 
Capsicums. 100 1 6 2 0 
Carrots . bunch 0 4 0 0 
Cauliflowers. dozen 2 0 3 0 
Celery . bundle l 6 2 0 
Coleworts....doz. bunches 2 0 4 0 
Cucumbers. each o 9 13 
Endive. dozen i o 2 0 
Fennel. bunch o 3 0 0 
G rlic . tt. 0 6 0 0 
Herbs . bunch o 2 0 0 
Leeks. bunch 0 8 0 4 
Lettuces .. score 1 
Mushrooms .punnet I 
Mustard* Cress .. punnet 0 
Onions. bushel 2 
Parsley. doz.bunches 3 
Parsnips. dozen 1 
Peas . quart 0 
Potatoes. cwt. 6 
Kidney. cwt. 6 
Radishes.... doz.bunches 1 
Rhubarb. bundle 0 
Salsafy. bundle 1 
Scorzonera . bundle 1 
Seakale . basket 1 
Shallots. ft,, o 
Spinach . bushel 3 
Tomatoes . lb. l 
Turnips . bunch 0 
d. 8 . d 
Otol 6 
0 16 
2 
0 S 
0 8 
2 0 
POULTRY AND PIGEON CHRONICLE. 
INDICATIONS OF FERTILITY OR BARRENNESS 
OF SOILS. 
{Continued frontpage 166.) 
All clay soils, as a rule, unmixed, are too tenacious to be 
fertile ; all unmixed siliciousjsoils are too loose and hollow to be 
fertile ; and all unmixed chalk soil—that is, a soil of carbonate of 
lime only, is too pure to be fertile. Many persons, without due 
consideration, may suppose from these simple observations that a 
mixture also of the three before-named soils would not be fertile ; 
yet a mixture of certain proportions of these kinds of soils before 
named constitutes the medium by which the fertilising properties 
contained in them are rendered active. The mixture for all prac¬ 
tical purposes becomes a new soil, possessing new powers of ab- 
sorbing*and utilising moisture, and all which is requisite is to 
apply a quantity of both animal and vegetable matter in a decom¬ 
posed condition, and in the future to carefully return as much of 
fertilising matter as are removed in the growth of our crops* 
Fertile land usually shows that its consistency is of a medium 
nature between sand and clay, or between chalk and alluvium, 
with sufficient adhesiveness to retain moisture, and sufficiently 
porous to allow such moisture when excessive to pass freely away 
into the subsoil. 
In viewing cultivated districts the appearance of the surface 
may be deceptive and often deemed barren, especially in the case 
of useful and productive land when too wet, therefore no man 
can fully estimate the actual capabilities until draining has been 
effectually carried out. General bad management, not only as 
regards the deficiency of manure, its foulness with couch, but also 
the tillage of the land conducted during unseasonable weather 
and imperfect tillage in various respects, are damaging factors in 
estimating the value of the soil for rental or purchase. We have 
often seen lands really fertile, which, when badly managed, have 
baked on the surface like cement, and the crops in consequence 
by no means representing the natural power of the soil. 
All mere surface appearances are liable to fluctuation from 
sundry causes, such as temperature, drought, too great a rainfall, 
lack of manure, and cultivation ; they scarcely ever remain the 
same for a few weeks together. On the contrary, if a man takes 
into consideration the description of the herbage, knows what it 
is when he sees it, and can name it, and at the same time knows 
from experience that it indicates a productive soil under unfavour¬ 
able circumstances, or vice versa, he can with greater confidence 
rely on the opinion he finally forms, and which may be accepted 
as the nearest approach to a certainty. We always make it a 
practice when inspecting land for the purposes of valuation to 
make remarks respecting the herbage, the plants, weeds, and 
grasses, where they have elected to grow spontaneously, as the 
best indications usually at band to represent either barrenness or 
fertility under ordinary circumstances in the case of pasture or 
meadow land. As we have now reached a point in our subject 
when the knowledge of botany steps in to guide us to a certain 
extent ; and although we have before us the means of laying 
before our readers the botanical names as well as the commonly 
accepted names by cultivators of the soil as given by John 
Bravender, Esq., F.G.S., land surveyor, of Cirencester, in his prize 
essay, published in the Royal Agricultural Society’s Journal in 
1845, we must refer them to this capitally illustrated list of names 
