May 2, 1895. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
379 
potash, and other inorganic elements—nitrates mnst form, or 
nitric acid and ammonia chemically unite with their bases, and the 
plants will make good use of them under the essential surrounding 
conditions.— G. Abbey. 
MODERN GRAPE GROWING. 
{Continued from 'page 54.1.') 
Raising the Vines. 
Most people who only require a few Vines will buy their plants 
ready grown, and unless they are adepts at raising them, and have the 
convenience to do so, this is the better plan ; but for those who wish to 
raise their own, I will describe the method of doing it. 
The usual and best method is to insert single eyes or buds from ripe 
wood of one year’s growth. The wood should be cut straight across on 
the upper side of the eye, and almost close to it; then take the piece of 
wood in the left hand, with the eye downwards, and, commencing 
just below the part opposite to the eye, make a slanting cut from 
1 to inch in length, and after cutting a very small piece off the thin 
wedge-shaped portion at the bottom, to prevent any raggedness, the eye 
is ready for insertion. Small pots, 3 to 4 inches in diameter, are used 
for the purpose, and a single eye is placed in each. The soil used should 
be mostly loam, but if a little good leaf mould is mixed with it the 
Tooting process will be facilitated. 
The soil should be placed loosely in the pots without any pressing, 
heaping it up above the rims ; then take each cutting, and insert it 
straight down the centre of a pot, and with the two thumbs placed one 
on either side of the cutting press the soil firmly down, adding more if 
necessary, and leaving the eye covered to the depth of half an inch, and 
also leaving half an inch space in the top of the pot for watering. The 
soil, of course, should be in good working condition, neither too wet nor 
too dry, and rather erring on the side of dryness. The time for this 
operation is as soon as the leaves have fallen, or between the middle of 
December and the middle of January. 
A temperature of 55° to 60° by fire heat is sufficient, and though 
they may be plunged as long as they remain in these small pots to pre¬ 
vent too rapid changes in the way of moisture and temperature, they 
shonld not be subjected to a great amount of bottom heat. The leaves 
will generally commence to grow first, and then there will be a stop in 
the upper portion till the roots have started. When they show signs of 
making a second start at the top the roots will probably have reached the 
sides of the pots, and the young plants will be in the best possible con¬ 
dition for removing into pots of a larger size, say 6 or 7-inch. It is very 
important to have the soil in good condition for this shift, and it should 
be in the house for several days before the operation takes place. 
A good substantial loam, with a little admixture of bone dust is all 
that is required. Care should be taken not to break the balls, but after 
securing the drainage and placing a handful of soil at the bottom of the 
pot the ball containing the young plant should be placed in the centre 
with its surface an inch below the rim. The new soil is then pressed 
rather firmly with a potting stick in the space between the ball and the 
side of the pot, finishing by leaving about three-quarters of an inch space 
at the top for watering. The upper half inch of soil should not be 
pressed but left loose, and do not be too particular about making it 
very fine and level. The whole process is but the work of a minute, and 
any longer time spent about it is only mischievous. 
There is no reason why the young plants should be injured in the 
least by this repotting, but there must be no taking them to the potting- 
shed and no cold soil used, and, what is of equal importance, there must 
be no coddling or nursing as if they were so many invalids who had under¬ 
gone the amputation of some of their limbs. The plants as they are potted 
should be arranged on a bed of ashes, sand, or gravel, not boards or slate, 
and be kept continually in a light position. As regards air and tem¬ 
peratures, they should be treated exactly the same as 1 shall recommend 
for permanent Vines. In a few weeks they will be ready for their final 
shift into 11 or 12-inch pots, and this is done in much the same way as 
the former shift, but adding a few half-inch bones as well as the bone- 
dust to the loam. 
The best plan of training is on wires, fixed to the roof of a small 
house or pit, with not less than an 8-feet rafter. About Midsummer Day 
they should be stopped, and any growth made at the end after this 
should be kept checked, leaving a leaf at a time if this is found necessary, 
and keeping the laterals pinched in to one leaf. The stems will now 
thicken, and the buds become plump. It is of no consequence if 
one or two buds burst near the top, as that portion will be cut off ; but 
if too many are inclined to burst, then a little lengthening must be 
allowed to take place to prevent this happening. 
Now these directions are of no use to anyone who will not follow 
them thoroughly. This hard stopping will not answer if you are growing 
the young Vines on the stewing system, as so many people do. Treat 
them, as I have said before, the same way as I recommend for permanent 
Vines, never syringe them, and never shut them up with a high 
temperature or a saturated atmosphere. By September, or as soon as 
the wood begins turning a little brown, the laterals may be entirely 
removed as far as the partial ripening condition extends, following it up 
as it is seen there is no danger of the eyes bursting, finally cutting off 
the unripe portion of stem at the top, and you will be rewarded with 
plump brown eyes while the principal leaves are still green. 
Some will say. Why take all this trouble with Vines that are to be 
cut down 1 Well, if you wish your plants to flourish in after years you 
must grow abundance of good, hardy, medium-sized roots, and ripen them 
well. This can only be done by attending well to the upper portion pE 
the plants. The best growers for sale take particular care about all 
this, but since the demand has sprung up for a low-priced article a great 
many Vines are now sold which are necessarily grown in a cheaper 
inanner. These may look very well, and satisfy the purchasers at the 
time, but after results are not quite the same.—W m, Taylok. 
(To be continued.) , . • 
RADISHES. 
It seems at the outset about as difficult to write an intellio’ent 
paragraph concerning Radishes as to make an epic from the proceed¬ 
ings of a police court. Still Radishes have a goci deal of interest, and 
most certainly they have about them a great deal of beauty. I am now 
referring to small spring Radishes chiefly, although there are some 
of giant form that are very useful in the winter when sliced with salads, 
and merit much wider cultivation than they usually obtain. The long 
white and rose-coloured forms have almost huge roots, whilst the older 
Black Spanish Turnip, as well as tapering rooted varieties, are most 
acceptable salad elements. 
Of all early salading none seems more welcome, nor are more sweet 
and crisp, than the small coloured and early sorts. They are from a 
salad point the harbingers of spring. To many of us there has not been 
great variety, even in Radishes. We have ordered seeds from year to 
year of the mixed Turnip forms chiefly, the long tapering forms 
having got somewhat out of date. Then we have more recently 
added to our orders the pretty French Breakfast varieties, and 
there have stopped. But to Messrs. Sutton & Sons, of Reading, are 
we indebted for the eye opener as to Radish varieties they have, and of 
which such a very interesting as well as charming exhibit was made at 
the recent Drill Hall meeting. Few who saw these very pretty and 
varied samples could but feel their mouths to water, as mentally they 
crushed the delicate flesh between their teeth, as the roots were so 
soft and crisp that the most tender of molars could eat and enjoy. Here 
were some twenty-two distinct varieties, but they were not all in 
commerce. Most of them were new, and some of them had in a marked 
degree that desirable quality for forcing varieties—very short tops. 
Of the number nine were shown specially as forcing kinds, not only 
because their tops are so diminutive, but also because extra precocious. 
Then there were thirteen others having stronger leafage, seeds of which 
had been gown at the same time as the short-topped sorts, but the lattpr 
had beaten them by several days. All were raised from seeds sown on a 
warm manure bed out in the open, and in six weeks were pulle<^ in 
perfect condition. No one can say that such quick maturing does not 
indicate precocity. Here is a wrinkle also worth noting, that seeds thus 
sown on a hotbed not only germinate far more evenly, but also much 
more quickly than when sown in the open ground, so that even a bed 
for Radishes for specially early use soon repays for itself. These 
short-top varieties are so suitable for that form of culture that the bulbs 
may be set as thickly as they can stand on the ground and all will 
mature. A mat or two thrown over the bed at night is very helpful in 
retaining warmth and protecting from frost, and for that purpose a few 
stout sticks bent over the bed, or a light framework of wood, standing a 
few inches above the plants will suffice. Such a bed would do admirably 
to bring on Marrow plants after the Radishes were pulled if hand-lights 
were used to protect them for a few weeks. 
The special short-topped or forcing varieties were Earliest Frame, 
about 1^ inch long, of the Olive form, though thinner, bright red colour, 
very handsome and crisp ; a very beautiful variety this. Also Crimson 
Forcing, about 1 inch long, Olive shaped, deep rich red ; Sutton’s Car¬ 
mine, rather s’norter, of a beautiful bright carmine hue; Red Turnip, 
round, bright, and pretty. There was also a similar form having white 
tips. The French Breakfast form is also red with white tips, but 
rather more pointed in shape. Earliest of All has a pretty cerise 
coloured skin with a very tiny top ; there is also a white form of it. 
The general collection included, of stronger leaf ige. Wood’s Frame, Long 
White, and Long Violet, all very distinct; also the Scarlet Olive and 
White Olive; Scarlet Globe, rich colour, a fine variety. The Fern or 
laciniated-leaved Radish is distinct and novel, and has pretty red 
Turnip roots. Other forms were the ordinary French Breakfast, these 
white-topped, and Ruby Turnip. All serve to show that of forcing or 
early Radishes we have now a very liberal choice.—A. D. 
OLD ORCHARDS. 
In the western counties there are far too many worn-out orchards ir^ 
evidence, and I find they are nearly as plentiful in some parts of the 
midlands. Curiously enough, one of the worst I know forms part of 
what is supposed to be a model farm. It is also observable the owners 
or those in charge are beginning to wake up to the fad that something 
ought to be done towards “mending or ending’’ such a discreditable 
state of affairs. As might be expected, renovating measures, or what 
are expected to be such, vary considerably. In some instances the 
hand-saw and bill-hook are principally relied on to effect an alte.'ation 
for the better, a goodly supply of firewood being the first outebme of 
these rather drastic proceedings. Some few operators are not content 
with this ; but, in addition to letting much light and air into previously 
badly crowded trees, they also dress the stems and principal limbs with 
limewash. It occurs to some few that the roots also stand in need of 
assistance, and these either apply liquid manure, of which {Here i^ 
