JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
314 
quickly ; but if, when the fruit is swelling, there is no further 
growth—no young laterals—we have clear proof that the pressure 
of the crop is too great, and unless this pressure is relieved by 
removing some of the bunches either the fruit will fail to swell, 
ripen, or finish well, or the Vines will be injured. So long as a 
Vine continues growing with easy freedom it is not overcropped, 
let the crop be as heavy as it may, but if it ceases growing 
when the fruit is swelling it is too heavily weighted, however 
apparently light a crop. Such are the thoughts that have arisen 
from an inspection of this wondrous house of Grapes in the cele¬ 
brated Tweed Vineyard, and it may possibly be of service to some 
reader to “think aloud” on a matter which is undoubtedly of 
considerable importance. 
But to the description of this world-famed establishment. Its 
situation is undoubtedly beautiful—a depression sheltered in the 
not very remote distance by a grand range of hills. The soil, 
judging by the natural vegetation, does not appear to be of a 
particularly fertile charcter, and the surprise becomes the greater, 
and the skill of the cultivator the more striking, when we enter 
the houses and see the remarkable crops of fruit. Altogether 
there are fourteen glass structures heated by twelve boilers 
and five miles of piping. This indicates that the houses are not 
small. Two lean-to’s are each a thousand feet long, but the most 
imposing are the five grand span-roofs, each 200 feet long, 18 feet 
wide, and the same in height, with very steep roofs, having an 
angle of, perhaps, 70° or 80°, and the glass reaching almost to the 
ground. Two of these houses are planted with GrosColman, two 
with Lady Dowme’s Seedling, and one a mixed house, a great por¬ 
tion of one side being covered with the noble Duke—the Duke of 
Buccleuch, and the remainder with Black Hamburghs. A half¬ 
span house is furnished mainly with Alicantes, and some other 
large structures are occupied with a grand lot of Orchids. The 
Grapes, however, demand primary notice. The crop of the sea¬ 
son was estimated at six tons, and it is a question if that quantity 
was not considerably exceeded. 
In one house alone the crop of Gros Colman was computed at 
1000 Tbs., and in the others of the same variety at 3500 lbs., or 
nearly 3^ tons in the two structures. A pound bunch was ex¬ 
tremely difficult to find here, but hundreds must have weighed 
from 3 to 4 lbs. each—handsome well-shaped examples with huge 
berries, not angular clusters with great shoulders jutting out 
that we often see now-a-days, for the sufficient reason that such 
monstrosities cannot be packed for enduring a four-hundred-miles 
journey and arrive at their destination in the best condition for 
sale. This is a matter of vital importance, for bad packing is the 
great cause of the low prices that so many amateurs obtain for 
their produce. 
The Vines under notice are planted inside, the roots having 
access to outside borders. Many of the Vines had been parti¬ 
ally lifted in the autumn outside, the inside border having been 
surfaced with loam and dressed with H ton of Mr. Thomson’s 
manure. Into this the roots had come, forming a dense network 
of white fibres, visible enough by rubbing off a film of surface 
soil with the hand, revealing undoubtedly the secret of the ex¬ 
traordinary weight of magnificent fruit. This inside border, too, 
it may be added, was almost as hard as if it had been the drill 
ground of a regiment of soldiers ; in fact, had it been light and 
soft the millions of bristling fibres would not have been there. 
Few of the Vines are confined to one rod ; some have two, some 
three, others four or five. The house was originally planted with 
the present variety and Alicante alternately, but the latter proving 
the least satisfactory was eventually removed and the spaces 
occupied with extra rods of Gros Colman. These are trained 
about 3 feet apart, none of them at wider intervals, but many of 
them were nearer 2 than 3 feet asunder ; but then there is this 
important proviso, the laterals were not crowded. Every leaf 
had room to develope under the direct action of light, and wher¬ 
ever the sun could reach a leaf was provided to receive its rays. 
This is the great desideratum in Vine-dressing—no foliage that 
the sun cannot reach, and no great gaps between the leaves 
through which the rays pass. Stiff stilted advice for stopping the 
laterals at so many leaves beyond the bunch, neither one more 
nor less, is little short of pedantic, and the distance for training 
the rods and the laterals can be easily determined by the size of 
the leaves. 
Vines trained on this principle, with a firm border netted with 
roots, like a bed of couch, having an abundant supply of proper food, 
bear such crops as some persons who fail conceive incredible. For 
example, on a portion of one rod the foliage of which covered a 
space of 6 feet by 3, there were ten bunches of Grapes that I am 
positive weighed in the aggregate more than 20 tbs. I willingly 
excuse anyone who may conceive this to be an error in judg¬ 
ing weights. I have made no mistake for all that, but have 
[ April 19, 1883. 
recorded an absolute fact; indeed, I have no doubt that the crop 
within the space named weighed 25 lbs. This is Grape-growing, 
for the berries were as fine as the bunches and the crop. Gros 
Colman is the variety still under notice. I will now state, what 
to many will be still more difficult to admit, that on a similar 
space in another house there was about the same weight of that 
magnificent Grape the noble Duke; but more of this anon. 
Less imposing, but not less remarkable, was a house of Lady 
Downe’s containing two thousand bunches that would weigh as 
many pounds, shapely as if cast in moulds, and in the best possible 
condition for quick and safe packing, while the berries were as 
regular and fine as the bunches were symmetrical. As every¬ 
body, presumably, has not yet seen Mr. Barron’s new work on the 
Vine, the engraving, fig. 75, will show the character of the en¬ 
gravings, and at the same time that of Lady Downe’s Grapes as 
grown by Mr. Thomson, for the bunches represented were grown 
at Clovenfords. “What! two bunches on one lateral!” does 
someone exclaim with horror. Yes. Why not two pretty bunches 
weighing 2 lbs. each instead of one awkward cluster weighing 
4 lbs. ? The cultivator of the Grapes figured knows why. He 
knows that while one sample would not be more exhausting to 
the Vine than the other, this compact pair will reach London in 
better condition than one ill-formed cluster of the same weight 
would, and realise more money. And as to the dread of two 
bunches on one lateral, it must be remembered that some Vines 
will carry these more easily and safely than others will a crop 
at the rate of one bunch of the same size to two laterals. The 
question of cropping is a question of the condition and constitu¬ 
tion of the Vine. A weak, ill-supported, immatured rod can no 
more carry a weight of Grapes equal to a rod of the opposite 
character than a worn-out cab horse, value 30s., can draw a load 
equal to that of a strong well-conditioned brewers’ dray animal 
value £100. 
I have more to say about Clovenfords, but when I shall say it 
nobody knows, for when these notes appear I expect to be among 
the Belgians, and they are, to use a not over-elegant yet ex¬ 
pressive phrase, such “jolly good fellows,” that there is a little 
uncertainty when I shall get “back to old England again.”— 
J. Wright. 
LILY OF THE VALLEY—HOME-GROWN CLUMPS. 
The details of growing Lily of the Valley for early forcing 
have been given several times in the pages of this Journal during 
the past few years. However, I may briefly state that our 
“ clumps ” are not forced until they have passed a season in pots. 
We grew them for several years in pots, and under this system 
have them full of flower spikes and foliage. I send a specimen 
of the foliage of plants just going out of flower (our latest batch), 
and which I think the Editor will bear me out in saying ought to 
produce fine spikes next year.—B. P. Brotherston. 
[We have never seen such stout dark green foliage, which re¬ 
sembles that of the Eucharis. The leaves before us measure 9 inches 
long, and as nearly as possible 4 inches wide, the leafstalks 
being three-quarters of an inch in circumference. Each of the 
faded spikes of flowers contains eighteen bells. Certainly such 
vigorous plants “ought to produce fine spikes next year.”] 
GHENT INTERNATIONAL SHOW. 
April 14th to 22nd 
Every five years horticulturists from almost every nation in 
Europe assemble in Ghent, and plants from nearly every clime are 
arranged in the casino and gardens, forming the Quinquennial Exhi¬ 
bitions that have long enjoyed such wide celebrity. These famous 
Shows are held under the auspices of the Royal Agricultural and 
Horticultural Society of Ghent, which was formed fifty-five years ago, 
and held its first Show of fifty plants in a smoke room. The progress 
that has been made by the Society, and the work it was established 
to promote, has been marvellous. From the very small beginning that 
was made truly great results have been achieved. The pioneers of 
the organisation were few, and we believe not powerful, except by 
their capacity for labour, and the skill of subsequent adherents in 
administration, for the Society is now strong, and that it is rich is 
evident by the very large amounts that have been provided for the 
medals that constitute the prizes at these exhibitions. But in addition 
to its own funds substantial grants are made by the province of 
Flanders, the municipal authorities of Ghent, and by the Government. 
It appears to be the custom of the latter to make a grant to any 
public object to which the communal and civic authorities subscribe, 
to the extent of one-third of the amount—that is to say, should those 
authorities each subscribe 20,000 francs towards a public park, statue, 
or horticultural exhibition, the Government would grant 10,000 francs. 
We have not yet adopted this method of raising money in England 
