430 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[November 11, 1888, 
The great difficulty experienced previously was the disinclination of the 
young growths to make any headway. To obviate this, slates about 
6 inches high standing on edge were placed on each side of the plant, thus 
warding off the winds. Upon the first signs of growth small twiggy 
sticks were placed for the slender shoots to twine round, a point of 
importance, thus providing means of support without causing a check. 
As soon as growth commenced freely water was given to the roots 
copiously, and the foliage was syringed in the evening after a hot day. 
These few hints upon the culture of this showy plant may be suggestive 
to others placed in a similar position. 
- The Ipswich Chrysanthemum Show will be held on Thurs¬ 
day and Friday, November 18th and 19th. Fifty-eight classes are 
provided, sixteen being for Chrysanthemums and other plants in pots, £15 
are for cut blooms and floral decorations, tho remainder being for fruit 
and vegetables. The prizes range from two guineas to 2s. The Hon. 
Sec. is the Rev. H. A. Berners, Harkstead Rectory, Ipswich. 
- Gardening Appointment. —Mr. Richard Weller, recently 
foreman at Balrath Burry, Kells, Co. Meath, has been appointed gardener 
to Sir Croker Barrington, Bart., Glenstal Castle, Murroe, Co. Limerick. 
- Mr. Joseph Witherspoon sends us what he calls a small 
bunch of Grapes, accompanied by a photograph of his vinery to show 
that his Red Rose boiler, which is exposed ia the house for economising 
heat, does not impair the fruitfulness of the Vines nor the quality of the 
Grapes. The photograph represents a very fine crop, and the sample 
bunch sent is in every way satisfactory. 
- “Like your correspondent, 1 Foreman,’ ” says “ T. T.,” “ I pur¬ 
chased a packet of La Favorite Melon Seed, the plants raised from 
which I placed out injframes with other varieties—viz., Hero of Lockinge 
Read’s Scarlet-flesh, and Eastnor Castle. Hero of Lockinge I consider 
one of the best for frame culture, which ripened their crop at the proper 
time. La Favorite sets its fruit very regularly, they swelled to a large 
size and netted well, but never showed any sign of ripening. I applied 
fresh lining to the frames and kept the plants dry at the root, but they 
never altered in the least, and I finally had to throw them away when the 
frames were wanted for other purposes.” 
■-Mr. W. Jupp sends the following note on making a Vine 
Border :—“ First of all, when making a Vine border, take out the 
soil to the depth of 3 feet 6 inches, then give a layer of concrete 6 inches 
deep, sloping 1 inch to a foot from back to front. The drain should run 
parallel along the front, then cross drains, which should run back to the 
main drains about 4 to 5 feet. Place over the concrete and drain about 
9 inches depth of broken brick rubbish, finishing with coarse gravel, and 
above this place turves grass downwards. The compost for Vines is of 
great importance ; a good friable loam from'pasture land is the best if it 
has been stacked about twelve months and well exposed to the sun. The 
loam must be rich and not sandy. To every eight cartloads of loam add 
one of lime rubbish, charcoal, burnt clay, decayed cow manure, and about 
three or four hundredweight of broken bones. Mix this well three or 
four times and it will form an excellent border.” 
-Noticing that the Syrian Grape is objected to by one of our 
correspondents, “ G." writes:—“I wish to state that this Grape, when 
well grown, is noble both in bunch and berry, and there are many of the 
keeping Grapes that are worse in flavour. Of late white Grapes it cer¬ 
tainly is far above the others. Ripened up to a pale yellow or amber it 
has a firm crackling flesh, very much appreciated by some, and the 
quality is certainly surpassing that of Trebbiano and Calabrian Raisin. 
Gros Colman is not to be named in the same category with the Syrian, 
which is devoid of that earthy taste so characteristic of the Gros Colman, 
and not entirely absent from Gros Maroc and Gros Guillaume. In large 
bunches Syrian is not seen at its best, nor any Grape for that matter, but 
if allowed to carry only medium sized bunches, and not overcropped, the 
oval berries become very fine in size, ripen of a fine yellow or amber, and 
the quality is good. The flavour is not, of course, equal to Muscats, yet 
it bears comparison with any Grape classed as late, and of the thick- 
skinned order. For Christmas there is no nobler white Grape than the 
Syrian.” 
- “ A.” desires to have the experience of growers of Roses on 
the Seedling Briar as regards the production of suckers. He finds 
the seedling Briar is just as prone after it gets a little aged to throw up 
suckers as the veritable Dog Rose on which the standard and other Roses 
are budded. “ It is the nature of the Briar to emit underground stolons 
or suckers from under ground, appearing at some little distance from the 
stem as separate plants, and these are little less determined than in the 
case of stocks taken out of hedges or raised from cuttings. This is not 
written to disparage the seedling Briar as a stock, but as showing the 
value of the Manetti as a stock where suckers are not wanted, as they only 
arise from the stem, a consequence of not removing the eyes at the time 
of inserting the Manetti cuttings.” 
- “ More than a week ago,” writes “ S. P. E. S., “ when walk¬ 
ing along a bye-way leading across some fields a few miles distant from 
a city of the midlands, I was much struck by the beautiful effect produced 
by dense masses of the golden-flowered Corn Marigold, Chrysan¬ 
themum SEGETUM, which were luxuriating amongst the root crops grow¬ 
ing in a light sandy soil. In one case they had been cleared off a portion 
of the ground, and were lying in ridge-like lines, and there apparently 
they had been allowed to remain for weeks, for the weeds amongst them, 
which had been subjected to the same treatment, were in a state of de¬ 
composition, and above the decaying mass rose the erect flower stems of 
the Marigold, bearing such a display of brilliant golden flowers as in many 
a cultivated plant would more than repay the grower for the exercise of 
no end of care and attention. I might have plucked literally loads of 
them, but I contented myself with gathering a modest handful, and now 
some of them present almost as fresh an appearance as when they were 
placed in the vase that is before me as I write.” 
- The same correspondent remarks—“ C. segetum reminds one 
very much of Helenium Douglassi, which, by the way, is one of the 
most beautiful of our hardy annuals, but I can find no record of it in any 
book that I possess, although I have on more than one occasion endea¬ 
voured to hunt it up. I have known it substituted by continental seed 
growers for Oxyura chrysanthemoides, another of Douglas’s Californian 
introductions. The Helenium will thrive almost anywhere.” 
- A correspondent, “ J.,” who has recently visited Auchen- 
DRAIN, the well-known seat of Sir Peter Coats, about seven miles from 
Ayr, remarks that—“ Under the practical skill and care of Mr. Currie, 
who has had charge there for over twenty years, the garden has long been 
known to be one of the finest in the county, and it is with a feeling of 
regret that we learn that he is about to leave for America to join his 
sons there in their increasing florist trade. We, as brethren in the trade 
will—I am sure that all who had the pleasure of knowing him will cordi¬ 
ally wish him success in his new undertaking. We learn that Sir Peter 
Coats has secured the services of an able successor in Mr. James Thomp¬ 
son, who is at present gardener to Samuel Boyd, Esq., Marchmont, Dum¬ 
fries, and for some years previously foreman under Mr. Murray, the able 
head gardener at Culzean Castle, Maybole, and under his management 
we are well assured the place will keep up its high reputation.” 
- That gardeners in Scotland know how to enjoy themselves may 
be gathered from the following paragraph entitled A Gardeners Ball 
at Perth. The ball season was inaugurated on the 29th of October, 
when the practical gardeners in the county of Perth held their third 
annual assembly in the Opera House ballroom. The hall was most ar¬ 
tistically decorated for the occasion. A prominent feature in the decora¬ 
tions was the large number of appropriate mottoes which adorned the 
walls, and which reflected great credit upon the gardeners and the friends 
who assisted them. There were fully 100 ladies and gentlemen present, 
including many from a distance, several who had recently left Perthshire 
coming from other counties. Messrs. J. Macdonald and W. M. Penny 
officiated as M.C.’s, and by their tact and good management contributed 
very much to the pleasure of the large gathering. The music was sup¬ 
plied by Mr. J. H. Miller’s Quadrille Band, and as it was augmented by 
the addition of several of the leading performers in Poole’s Diorama 
Orchestra it was more than usually good, and the programme embraced 
all the newest and most fashionable selections. The refreshments were 
purveyed by Mr. W. H. Harley of the “ Bee ” Restaurant, who catered to 
the assembly in a way that gave complete satisfaction. The entire pro¬ 
ceedings passed off with the greatest eclat, the company breaking up at an 
advanced hour in the morning, with the expectation of having another 
equally pleasant reunion next year. 
_ At the ordinary meeting of the Royal Meteorological 
Society to be held at 25, Great George Street, Westminster, on Wednes¬ 
day, the 17th inst., at 7 P.M., the following papers will be read “ The 
Gale of October 15th-16tb, 1886, over the British Islands,” by Charles 
