September 18,1890. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
241 
a magnificent appearance. This would be a grand plant for the 
wild garden or shrubbery. Some of the others are very good, 
such as T. Saundersi; but one particularly fine one, T. corallina, is 
not hardy here, while a friend informs me that none are hardy in 
Lanarkshire with him. A very beautiful plant at present in flower 
is Eryngium amethystinurn, which is, I think, the choicest of the 
genus, the whole plant being beautifully tinged with blue, while 
its habit is exceedingly good. 
The pure white Ilyacinthus candicans is rapidly increasing in 
favour in this district, and is one of the plants which would be 
decidedly missed should some untoward event or some fell disease 
banish it from our gardens. Crocuses and Colchicums are beginning 
to appear, Crocus speciosus being the only one of the former which 
has as yet expanded its beautiful blossoms ; but of the Colchicums 
we have C. autumnale, C. a. album, C. variegatum, C. lastum, and 
■C. byzantinum. It is somewhat curious that the double varieties 
of C. autumnale and C. byzantinum are later of flowering than the 
type. C. hfitum and C. byzantinum are well worthy of a place. 
The first is of a very beautiful colour, being more brilliant than 
*0. autumnale by reason of a bright rosy tinge in the inside of the 
flower. C. byzantinum is.paler in colour, but is an exquisitely 
formed flower. Although hardly coming in under the heading of 
these notes I may perhaps be allowed to note that the Gladioli 
have done wonderfully well this season. They looked very bad 
■early in the season, and one would have thought that the disease 
would have ruined them. They have overcome it wonderfully, 
and so far as I can see my losses are only two corms of Pepita, and 
some few of brenchleyensis. It appears singular that the latter 
had been left in the ground all winter, while of those planted in 
spring not one has failed but the two of Pepita already mentioned. 
This has been a splendid time for the late Phloxes, and many of 
these are so fine, and there are so many varieties, that one is almost 
bewildered in the endeavour to make a choice among them. They 
seem to be again coming into favour, and can be ill spared at this 
time in the flower borders. The Rudbeckias, Coreopsis, Heli- 
anthuses, and other yellow composites are exceedingly numerous 
in this district, where hardy flowers are becoming more appreciated ; 
hut there is still a want of front or middle row hardy flowers, and 
I have been urging upon many the necessity of looking out for 
these when purchasing flowers. 
The Journal of 11th September has just arrived, and I have 
seen with great interest the notes by “ B.” on the Montbretias. I 
am a little surprised that M. Pottsi does not flower with him. 
Within the last fortnight I have been in at least half a dozen 
gardens, where it flowered well in various soils and positions. I 
believe the secret of flowering the Montbretias to be, annually tearing 
to pieces the clump and replanting a few inches apart. The best 
clumps of M. Pottsi I have seen were growing in a stiffish damp 
soil, where they were flowering freely.—S. Arnott. 
GRAPE CULTURE FOR MARKET. 
[A paper read by Mr. J. Roberts at the meeting of the British Fruit Growers’ Association 
Brighton, September lltli, 1890.] 
Those who are old enough to carry their memories back thirty, 
-or even twenty years, will be able to recognise how greatly this 
fruit has risen in commercial value. At the date I mention you 
could have couuted all the large establishments devoted to the 
culture of Grapes for market on the fingers of both hands. The 
prices at which Grapes were then sold retail were quite prohibitive 
except to the wealthiest classes. It is only reasonable to suppose 
■that large profits resulted to the growers, but when we take into 
consideration the small structures erected, and the consequent 
small amount of produce out of them, I suspect the net results 
were not much better than they are at the present day. 
In my younger days I often had the pleasure and privilege of 
looking over the famous Garston Vineyard, when Mr. Meredith 
was at the height of his fame as a Grape grower. It was curious 
to note how Mr. Meredith gradually developed his houses from 
small lean-to structures with borders bricked in and raised entirely 
about 3 feet above the ground level to span roofs covering pro¬ 
bably a quarter of an acre of ground. This idea has been still 
further developed during recent years, until at the present we see 
houses on the ridge-and-furrow principle covering large areas of 
ground, and capable of producing tons of first-rate Grapes. 
Now the question is, Can we improve on this ridge-and-furrow 
principle in erecting houses for market Grape growing ? In a 
house of this kind your training space is confined entirely to the 
roof of the house. In erecting a house for Grape growing our 
object should be to obtain the maximum amount of training space, 
and where every leaf will be under the influence of direct light. 
The kind of house I advocate for free-growing kinds such as 
Alicante and Hamburghs, is a span-roof—as large as you like—but 
not less than 100 feet long by 40 or 50 feet wide. The sides must 
be carried up in glass not less thau 8 feet, nor more than 10 feet 
high. On these sides I would put a roof at an angle of about 35°. 
I should then wire the house at each end about 16 inches from the 
glass, and at distances of 5 feet I would carry wires vertically from 
the roof to within 3 feet of the ground right through the body of 
the house from one end to the other. Space must of course be left 
for a pathway up the centre of house, allowing head room 6 feet 
high. You can make a house of this description as large as you 
please, and you can also build it on the ridge and-furrow principle, 
but it will be useless for the method of training I am advocating 
unless the sides are of the height I mentioned, 8 or 10 feet. 
The amount of training space gained in a house wired on this 
principle is nearly threefold over the roof alone, and consequently 
a treble amount of Grapes. I should only advocate this method of 
culture for free growing black kinds, as it is not adapted for giving 
the best results in the culture of Muscats or any choice white kind. 
Someone may say there would be a deficiency of light under this 
system of erecting and furnishing a vinery, but you must remember 
the roof must be kept clear of foliage. All that is wanted to pro • 
duce good foliage is perpendicular light, and Vine foliage produced 
10 feet from the glass is often better and holds its vitality longer 
than when grown within 2 feet of the glass. With a clear pathway 
through the centre of the house you will be able to step into each 
avenue of foliage, and much of the details of culture will be easily 
attended to without the aid of steps and other hindrances. It will 
require a large number of Vines to plant a house of this description, 
and as I have commenced with the structure first, I w T ill go on and 
describe the planting before I refer to soils and other matters 
necessary to secure success. In my own practice I have always 
planted a double set of Vines, every alternate plant being a super¬ 
numerary, to be cut out or regrown after it has served the purpose 
for which it was planted. I plant at 2 feet, which allows the per¬ 
manent Vine 4 feet of space. For planting purposes I like a well 
ripened yearling cane that has never been checked in its growth 
beyond the stopping necessary to keep it short-jointed. I have an 
objection to planting Vines in a green state owing to the difficulty 
of getting them ripened at the base or near the border. 
In most things a good start is half the battle, but in Vine¬ 
growing it is everything, as a young Vine that does not get well 
away the first season of planting may as well be cast away at once, 
as they rarely ever make vigorous growth afterwards. The 
way I deal with the supernumerary Vines is to _ allow them 
to have a 10 or 12 feet lead over the permanent Vines. After 
they have made a growth of from 12 to 16 feet I stop them, and 
when once stopped I make them burst the end or what would be 
the dormant winter bud. This strengthens and solidifies them 
considerably, and at the same time keeps them short-jointed, and 
brings them into an early ripened condition for fruiting. After 
the first stopping the process is repeated, when an additional 10 or 
12 feet of growth has been made. This stopping may be necessary 
several times during the season of growth, according to the 
strength and vigour of the Vines. The permanent Vines are 
treated in exactly the same manner, except that they get their first 
stopping when 6 or 8 feet of growth has been made. The object 
with the latter should be to get a well-ripened cane down to the 
ground. The second season of growth the supernumerary rods 
would be cut back to the first stopping in the previous year, which 
would allow from 12 to 15 feet of young rod for fruiting. The 
permanent rods are pruned to 3 or 4 feet, according to their 
strength. All the growths on the supernumeraries is rubbed off 
up to the point where the permanent Vines catch them in height, 
which would be about 4 feet from the base. This allows the side 
growths on the permanent rods to have free development. The 
same system is pursued each succeeding year—that is, the per¬ 
manent rods are following the supernumeraries until such time as 
the latter can be dispensed with altogether ; or the process can be 
repeated by cutting down the supernumeraries and giving them a 
year’s growth, and then allow them to fruit again, cutting away 
a portion of the lower growths of the permanent Vines to give 
room for the renewed vigour of the old supernumeraries. By 
adopting this double method of planting a large house is quickly 
furnished with bearing wood, and the Vines can be kept in healthy 
and fruitful condition for many years. 
Soils. 
A free and healthy root run is an absolute necessity in the 
production of decent Grapes. Formerly heavy expenditure was 
often incurred in forming Vine borders, but where a man has to get 
a quick profit on the capital invested in his structures and heating ; 
in fact, the scale on which Grapes are produced at the present day 
forbids a man from taking out half an acre of earth 3 or 4 feet deep 
to fill it up again at very heavy cost with turfy loam, which in a 
few years will get into a condition as unfavourable to free root 
action as the original bed of soil it replaced. 
