18 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
July an m 
The plan is an admirable one for a small park, as can be seen 
in the engraving (fig. G, page 21), reduced from a copy of the 
original plan kindly supplied by Miss Wilkinson, and the work 
has been carried out in a satisfactory manner. The greater portion 
has been sown with grass, and a close green sward has been 
already obtained. The paths are excellent, an important point 
in a park of this kind ; some old trees remain from the former 
gardens, but more shrubs are required, especially in the boundary 
borders. 
BLOOM ON GRAPES. 
A thick coat of bloom gives the finish to Grapes. Without it 
they present a polished unnatural appearance ; with it intact the 
colour, being good, black Grapes especially, may be said to be per¬ 
fection. Once it is lost it cannot be made good in any way, Nature 
in this case defying all attempts at imitation. This being so, it 
behoves all would-be successful growers, exhibitors or otherwise, to 
be very careful how they act, every care being taken not to rub the 
berries with the scissors, hand, or head at any time after they have 
commenced their first swelling. Syringing the foliage after the 
flowering period is usually fatal to the bloom, as, if it does not 
actually wash much of it off, it leaves a stain behind that nothing 
can erase or hide. All this is well-w’orn, oft-repcated information, 
but there are other agencies at work in the matter, either for good 
or ill, not quite so well understood. For instance, there are a few 
varieties rarely seen carrying a good coat of bloom, this being very 
marked in the case of Gros Guillaume among black, and Mrs. Pear¬ 
son among white Grapes. Why the bloom should be so thin in the 
former case and almost absent from the berries of Mrs. Pearson is 
one of those things not easily accounted for. I shall not attempt it, 
but if any reader of the Journal of Horticulture can give a satis¬ 
factory explanation of this enigma I hope he will do so. 
As far as the generality of varieties are concerned, it is my 
belief that what favours thorough ripening and colouring, the two 
conditions not being altogether inseparable, also promotes, in most 
cases, the formation of a thick coat of bloom. As I attempted to 
prove on page 1, a good circulation of air night and day is necessary 
to insure perfect colouring and ripening of Grapes, and I am also of 
opinion that the same conditions are equally necessary to promote 
the formation of bloom. When a stagnant, moist atmosphere is 
maintained the bloom will be very thin and unsatisfactory, abund¬ 
ance of fresh warm air being best calculated to create and preserve 
the bloom as we like to see it. At Longleat for many years past 
very much more air, both at top and bottom ventilators, is admitted, 
without lowering the temperatures more greatly than is often the 
case, and the thickness of bloom on the Grapes has always been 
most marked. Mr. W. Taylor, when at Longleat, and since, always 
prided himself upon the beautiful bloom his Grapes invariably carry, 
but whether he will endorse my theory I am not able to state. 
It is possible to so treat Grapes as to have them with a good 
coat of bloom only to lose it in a few minutes. Nor is this all. 
The loss of bloom by exudation is also soon followed by the decay 
of the berries, and it would thus really appear that the bloom is 
not merely for appearance sake, but is really needed as an aid 
to keeping. If this is not so, what is the cause of Grapes that 
have lost their bloom, owing to faulty ventilation, keeping so 
badly ? Destroy the bloom and the berries may absorb moisture 
through their skins } preserve it, and we have one good preventive 
of sudden decay. This commits me to the endosmose theory, 
against which I have previously argued, but we live and learn, and 
I fail to see why we should not recant our errors, especially if we 
can do any good by so doing. Too much moisture in the atmo¬ 
sphere undoubtedly causes cracking of the berries in some instances, 
and where it does not act so suddenly it yet gradually destroys the 
bloom, and with it, therefore, the Grape’s first line of defence. From 
the present time onwards the greatest care ought to be taken to 
prevent a sudden rise in the temperature of a house of Grapes. 
Few gardeners probably realise how cold the berries always are, 
whether there is fire heat in the house or not, but if they will 
gather one and place it against their cheek they will then better 
understand how it is warm moisture so quickly condenses on them. 
Neglect to give sufficient air to prevent this condensation of 
moisture, and in a short space of time it will commence to trickle 
down the berries, carrying the bloom with it. Even if air is given 
freely just in time to prevent running, but not condensation, the 
bloom is yet loosened from its hold, and the moisture finds its 
way inwards, rapid and wholesale decay of the skins being the 
consequence. 
Being too economical with fire heat militates greatly against 
Grapes ripening and keeping properly, and it follows the lower the 
temperatures during the night the colder the berries become. On 
no account should the whole of the top ventilators be closed during 
the night for a house of ripe or fast ripening Grapes. If the air 
is admitted by means of sliding sashes (the worst form of ventila¬ 
tion), these necessarily have to be drawn up rather closely,, in wet 
weather especially, but this difficulty may be obviated somewhat 
by having end ventilators as well as those along the front, these 
being set well open in warm wet weather especially. Our earliest 
vinery is situated in a low damp position, and the greatest diffi¬ 
culty is experienced in keeping the Grapes. Not being able to 1 
open the top lights sufficiently in all weathers we have had net- 
covered shutters for fixing in the place of the doors, these shutting 
out birds and admitting air freely. Even this will not prevent 
sudden condensation of moisture on the bunches between the top' 
running lights, and a very close look out has to be kept. Not only 
is top air given freely early on clear mornings, or not later than, 
six o’clock at this time of year, but if the lights are partially closed 
during a heavy shower of rain, they have to be opened within five 
minutes of a partial outburst of sunshine. Contrivances in the- 
shape of closely woven cotton or other material for excluding 
wasps are equally effective in preventing a good circulation of air, 
and if fixed this must be done in such a manner as to admit of the 
lights, both top and bottom, being opened if need be to their 
fullest extent. Any of those close nettings for ventilators and 
muslin bags for the bunches are simply “ traps for the unwary,’' 
and, what is very much to the purpose, can be dispensed with. We 
each season send to a nurseryman at Yeovil for a small bottle of 
wasp destroyer, and this proves an infallible remedy. Let those* 
who doubt my word try it for themselves, and then for the relief 
thank—W. Iggukden. 
BORDER CARNATIONS. 
For several years border Carnations caused me considerable 
difficulty. One reason, no doubt, was the unsuitable nature of the 
soil, and I was assured by those who had known the garden for 
many years that it was impossible to succeed with Carnations. A 
few years ago I was fortunate in discovering a detail which has- 
almost revolutionised Carnation growing here. It is a detail which 
is of quite as much importance in gardens where there is no 
difficulty in their culture as in gardens the least suitable. Instead 
of waiting and layering the grass for young stock until the summer 
is well advanced, we now layer at the earliest moment. The first 
week in July most of our outdoor stock is finished, and the results 
are these : The young growths are quite soft, and root more 
quickly than later in the year, the heat of the summer having no¬ 
doubt an important bearing on this rapidity of root formation. 
The plants when well rooted are lifted and placed into the 
beds, and have a long autumn before them—not only to become 
established, but to form large plants, which produce plenty of 
flower stems the next year. These large plants are slightly liable 
to the drying processes, which were the worst matters we had to 
contend with ; and lastly, there is no difficulty in securing plenty 
of “ grass ” from such plants much earlier in the season than it is 
possible to do from those planted in spring which had been layered 
late in the preceding year. 
There is a good illustration of the difference between early 
planted layers of the same year and plants kept in nursery lines 
until spring in a series of beds we have the present season. The 
spring-planted Carnations produce one flower stalk, and every 
individual is of small growth and much later than the plants whiclq 
layered at the same time, were at once placed into their flowering 
quarters. Several stalks are the rule with these, and plenty of 
shoots ready for layering at once. Want of time at a busy season 
no doubt deters many from attempting to carry into practice the 
experience just detailed, but I do not find the work is difficult to 
accomplish. We have about 2000 plants, and the system of layer¬ 
ing is to send one man with a penknife to slit down the layer and 
form a tongue to provide roots ; no leaves are taken off, and as a 
rule in the light soil we have to deal with it is hardly necessary to 
add any open material for inducing quick root action, so that 
securing the layers in the ground is quickly overtaken by two men 
provided with a supply of cut bracken stems with which the* 
growths are pegged down. While the soil is in a moderately 
damp state is the most suitable time. In cases where it is deemed 
necessary to apply a rooting medium nothing is better than a 
mixture of leaf soil and sand in equal proportions. Moisture is 
essential to the formation of roots, and indeed few plants suffer 
more severely than Carnations in a season of drought, so that a 
moist condition of the soil is one of not the least important items 
in their culture. 
Blooms of the new white Carnation Mrs. Muir have been for¬ 
warded and noted. I think it is destined to hold a foremost place 
among not only white varieties, but among hardy flowers. My plants 
