840 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 12, 1893. 
water they have to use is drawn, its temperature, and the amount of 
lime it contains ? I shall be pleased to do so, and I cannot but think 
that this would help to convince the readers of this paper that it is not 
the low temperature merely, but the combination of that and lime. I 
am led to this conclusion from the fact that the water I have for using 
in the kitchen garden is drawn from a lake fully exposed to the air and 
sun, but which contains very little lime. Rhododendrons, Azaleas, 
Heaths, Kalmias, and similar plants flourish when watered with it 
and no other water while in the garden ; but immediately they are re¬ 
moved to the conservatory, where the water is drawn from the com¬ 
panies’ mains, these plants very quickly turn a yellow sickly colour. 
Frequently they have to be shaken out of the old soil and repotted 
before they can be restored to their former health. 
The water from the pond is surface water, as there are no natural 
springs to feed it, and in the winter, while many hundreds of people are 
skating on it (for it is some 9 acres in extent), it is used in its cold 
state ; yet the plants flourish. Does not this point to the absence of 
lime, and substantiate what I have suggested above 1 I am speaking of 
stove and greenhouse plants, but the same applies to Chrysanthemums 
and other plants outside. My neighbours have been complaining this 
summer about the pale yellow colour of their Chrysanthemums ; all of 
them attribute it to being compelled to use the water from the mains 
after exhausting their store of soft rain water.—T. A. 
Your correspondent Mr. Dunn (page 317) is certainly to be con¬ 
gratulated on the ingenious manner in which he conducts his case in 
this discussion, but I fear his ingenuity will avail him very little. In 
his first communication he modestly sweeps the entire field of practical 
horticulturists out of existence by declaring in bold tones—any person 
who watered his plants with water from the tap or pump were verily 
killing them ; again, that it was quite impossible to keep plants clear of 
insect pests by the use of the “ obnoxious drug ; ” finally winding up 
his remarks by challenging anybody to prove by practical demonstra¬ 
tion that his ideas were other than correct. 
Judging from his last communication he has obviously been reduced 
to his last shot, and that a harmless one. Mr. Dunn has evidently been 
hunting through his library for instances bearing on the point, and 
comes forward with a few brief sentences, selected most judiciously 
from the works of three well-known men, but unfortunately they do not 
assist him in the least degree, as neither of those authors would venture 
to make such a sweeping assertion as your correspondent has done. 
When I look round me and see the splendid results achieved by 
practical men in every branch of gardening, who use water such as I 
have described for eight months in the year, I require no further proofs, 
from authorities great or small. When I can see better produce grown 
by the advocates of soft water, then, and only then, shall I be ready to 
change my line of front. This question is one of the small number of 
“ old-fashioned ideas ” dying a hard death in the ranks of the garden¬ 
ing community. 
It would be interesting to know how many gardeners have had to 
rely on tap or well water throughout the past summer, and equally 
valuable to know how their plants are looking in consequence. Mr. 
Molyneux has evidently been using it with good results, like hundreds 
of other growers. Where a man’s living depends on the value of the 
crop he produces he is bound to look about him pretty smartly in these 
days for the means of achieving the best results. As a body the 
market-growing community produce as good crops with tap or well 
water as, I think, Mr. Dunn has seen. In his zeal to make a showy case 
for his hobby he has allowed himself to be carried past the post of 
modern teaching and practice.—J. B. R. 
ON AN EXPERIMENT WITH SHANKING GRAPES. 
My communication (page 238) coupled with the Editor’s footnote 
appended thereto, has had precisely the efifect I most desired to see— 
namely, the commencement of a controversy that must be both interest¬ 
ing and profitable to Grape-growers, successful or otherwise. Con¬ 
troversies of any kind are not much in my line, but I will endeavour to 
reply to your correspondents to the best of my ability, merely premising 
that what 1 have to say is intended to apply to summer or midseason 
Grapes only. 
“ R. P.’s ” (page 262) idea of thinning the bunches on every other 
Vine is identical with my own, but I was over-ruled in the matter, and 
in this instance I do not regret it. The fiat went forth that by this 
experiment the Vines were to be “ mended or ended.” If “ R. P.” refers 
to my notes he will see I used the word “ borders ” in connection with 
the use of liquid manure. 
I do not agree with “ F. G.” (page 263) in excluding the sun’s rays 
from the Vine border during the summer months. Mr. H. W. Ward’s note 
of interrogation attached to the word “ magnificent ” on the same page 
is not surprising, but to judge by the sturdy nut-brown canes and large 
stout leaves, the Vines have to all appearance been equal to the occasion. 
I have all along practised the system Mr. Ward advocates of bringing 
up new rods in place of the old ones with their long barren spurs. 
In reply to Mr. Roberts (page 263), the drainage was rectified at the 
time the roots were lifted. Mr. S. T. Wright’s views on the same page 
coincide with my own as to the use of manures. 
Mr. Abbey’s exhaustive article on page 292 is in some respects a 
revelation to me, but beyond stating that the variety left unthinned 
last year was Black Hamburgh, I will only say that I am a gainer by 
its perusal. Mr. Young’s and Mr. Stephen Castle’s notes (page 315) 
afford additional proof of the complexity of this subject. 
Your correspondents seem to be unanimously agreed that lam putting 
forth the theory of non-thinning as a universal remedy for shanking in 
Grapes. Nothing could be further from my mind. What I said was, 
that I had no doubt that “ dispensing altogether with the scissors had 
somethmg to do with the result.” My meaning was this. I took into 
consideration the enfeebled state of the Vine roots through want of 
proper nourishment, and it occurred to me that if I spared them the 
innumerable wounds caused by thinning the bunches it might perhaps 
afford them some relief. This idea may appear to some readers rather 
far-fetched, but I think this year’s crop proves to demonstration that 
my surmise was a correct one. 
To sum up, it has been abundantly shown in these columns that 
shanking exists from a variety of causes, from impoverished borders as 
well as those in which the roots are overfed. Knowing as I do the past 
history of the Vines under my charge, and knowing also that they have 
not had to contend with such contributory causes as injudicious summer 
pruning, bad ventilating, and other evils, I can only reiterate my previously 
expressed opinion that in this case “ poverty at the root is the chief 
cause of shanking.” — Thus. Richardson, Y/te Gardens, Simonside 
Ball, South Shields. 
NEPENTHES AT CHELSEA. 
Perhaps in no other nursery in England is there such an excellent 
and complete collection of Pitcher plants as at Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons’, 
Royal Exotic Nursery, Chelsea. As with other things of which this 
firm make a speciality, the plants under the charge of Mr. Tivey are 
admirably grown. They always look clean and healthy, and the struc¬ 
ture devoted to them is one of the most attractive in the nursery. It 
has always been strange to me that Nepenthes are not more largely 
grown in private places, where they would unquestionably enhance the 
beauty of a stove. True, some cultivators experience a difficulty in in¬ 
ducing the plants to pitcher, but this is often the fault of the growers. 
If the plants are allowed to grow rampant they will not form the 
pitchers, but if they are carefully attended and the luxuriant leaders 
judiciously pinched, pitchers will be formed in abundance, always pro¬ 
viding the plants have had proper treatment in other ways. 
They are very easily grown, the temperature maintained in the 
generality of plant stoves being exactly suited to the requirements 
of Nepenthes. Sphagnum moss and good fibrous peat form the neces¬ 
sary compost, and these with water rationally applied are all that is 
required in the cultivation of Pitcher plants, and the popular name will 
no longer appear a misnomer, as it at present does, when one sees the 
miserable specimens, destitute of pitchers, growing, or rather existing, 
in many stoves throughout the country. It is, I should say, practically 
certain that if Nepenthes can be cultivated so well at Chelsea, where the 
densest and blackest of the London fogs are experienced, and which it 
is acknowledged have such an enervating effect on most plants, that 
they could be grown at least equally as well in the country, where they 
would have the manifold advantages found in pure air, and to which all 
plants are, like human beings, so thoroughly partial. 
It will doubtless be interesting to many readers to know what species 
and varieties are now looking their best, I will therefore enumerate 
a few of those which I considered most worthy of mention. The one 
figured so excellently on page 315 of the last issue of the Journal, 
N. mixta, is a beautiful hybrid with large striking pitchers, several of 
which measured 10 inches in length. The grand N. Mastersiana must still 
be placed in any collection, for with scarcely an exception it is the 
freest growing variety known. The pitchers are also of good size and 
of a rich deep red colour. N. Hookeriana carries pitchers of an entirely 
different shape to the two previously mentioned varieties, they being 
short and very broad. This variety, besides having fine bold pitchers, 
has the merit of retaining them longer than any other, the pitchers 
frequently hanging for twelve months, and being at the end of that time 
still in good condition, though deficient in colouration. N. Northiana 
is a handsome variety with bold and effective pitchers measuring 8 inches 
long and 9 inches in circumference. The ground colour of this hybrid is 
a greenish red, which is spotted and streaked with crimson. A plant of 
N. Chelsoni presented an extraordinary appearance. This example was in 
an 8-inch basket, and was carrying no less than twenty-five fully 
developed pitchers, amongst which were several 7 inches long, and as 
many or more in girth. This was the only variety I could see which 
rivalled N. Masteriana in freedom of pitchering. To N. Rafflesiana 
belongs the honour of bearing the largest pitchers, many of which are 
capable of holding nearly a pint of water. This kind also is free, 
and the plants present a really imposing sight, as I am confident 
everyone would admit on seeing them. 
N. Amesiana is a variety of much merit, with chocolate red pitchers 
of great substance, many being 8 inches long and 11 round. N. Burkei 
excellens is a handsome species which was figured at page 161 of the 
Journal for August 21st, 1890. The pitchers, in many instances, 
measured from 8 to 10 inches in length. A charming hybrid is found 
in N. Dicksoniana. Tne predominating colour is light green, which is 
profusely spotted with bright reddish crimson. The average length of 
the pitchers measured on plants of N. Dicksoniana was 9 inches, by 
which an idea may readily ne gained as to the striking nature of the 
plant. The blood-red pitchers of N. Curtisi superba are very beautiful, 
and are streaked with greenish yellow markings, which produce a unique 
and at the same time pleasing effect. 
