August 4, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
85 
the causes of this unusual occurrence, but allude to it in the hopes 
others may elucidate the mystery. It is a general complaint, espe- 
cially as regards Madresfield Court, and where many bunches are 
badly disfigured employers ought not too readily to condemn the 
gardener in charge. 
Where Grape growers are most to blame is in sticking to certain 
rules, as these, time-honoured though they may be, must be varied 
■accoiding to circumstances. For instance, many gardeners are 
under the impression it is a great mistake to shade Vines in any 
way. Such may be the case in very backward localities, but in 
l^omersetshire at any rate we indulge in no such fads. By “ we ” I 
mean those who, like myself, are not in the habit of blindly follow- 
ing old notions,. My plan directly it is seen very clear weather has 
set in any time in July or August is to lightly shade the Vines, with 
the result that if the Grapes are not quite up to Mr. Taylor’s high 
standard they will yet be found hard to surpass. Ham burghs, 
Muscats, Foster s Seedling, Buckland Sweetwater, Gros Colman, 
Gros Guillaume, Gros Maroc, Madresfield Court, and Lady Downe's 
all received a light shading, and all are benefited thereby. A heavy 
and permanent shading would be injurious, but a little thin lime- 
wash or whitening syringed lightly over the roof will usually afford 
ample shade. A heavy rain will soon remove it, and it can be 
leneaed in a few minutes. Now the Strawberry beds are cleared 
some of the bird or fish nets will beat liberty, and these loosely 
trailed over the roof wherever needed are excellent for shading the 
V mes—-much better, in fact, than limewash. It is not yet too la + e to 
use either one or the other, the month of August frequently being 
very hot and bright. J 5 
Tt is generally admitted that black Grapes colour most surely 
under a canopy of strong leaves, and I venture to assert that the 
white sorts may also be beautifully coloured under plentv of foliage. 
It we expose the bunches to the full sunshine they will colour more 
rapidly, but an observant Grape grower can easily detect these pre¬ 
maturely ripened bunches. They colour wherever the sun shines 
tun on the berries, but unless the bunches are so slung up as to well 
expose their whole length only the shoulders will be coloured, the 
remainder, especially at the back of the bunch, being very much 
onger in finishing. It is not direct sunshine white Grapes require. 
Give them time, plenty of light, and in the case of Muscats a 
rather warm temperature with air, and they will colour superbly 
i U L 6 v * ne ^ eav ® s - The light should reach them through the spaces 
e between the laterals on each rod, or, if these are somewhat 
■crowded then the laterals ought not to meet each other. Some are 
a , n er , , , 1 ™pression that white varieties are more easily coloured 
an the black sorts, but this belief is not shared by the experienced 
growers Grown and otherwise treated as well as the black varieties 
ey will finish equally well, but if overcropped and treated in a 
aphazard fashion they will be of a dirty green tinge instead of the 
rich amber we so much like to see. For instance, Foster’s Seedling 
may be so much overcropped as to be almost unrecognisable. Green 
Grapes keep badly and are rarely fit to eat. 
Although black Grapes colour best in a comparatively low tem¬ 
pera ure and plenty of front night air, this treatment may be easily 
■overdone, notably in the case of late keepers. Should the weather 
e dull and cold in August a little fire ought to be turned on, and 
it is still more necessary in September and October. A good circu- 
a ion of warm air is necessary for ripening any kind of late Grapes 
this being necessary for converting the juices into saccharine matter 
It the latter chemical change is not brought about the fruit is noi 
° n g u° < l ua ; ^y an ^ keep badly. Last year many Grapes shri¬ 
velled, owing, it was considered, and rightly so I think, to the main¬ 
tenance of a too dry atmosphere, in September especially. Those 
who persevered in damping down had little cause to complain ol 
shrivelling, and should September prove as fine and dry as it was 
ast year, it is advisable to freely damp down the late houses al 
mn S t °+t? e % a T' want plump Grapes, not raisins, and wo 
must therefore avoid the conditions that convert one into the 
,?' h ° Se to colour Gros Colman properly must keep it 
well supplied with water and liquid manure up to the last. With 
1 + of the first to colour in a mixed late house, and it con- 
L a Tni°f SWe r :lnd ^° l0Ur nearl y U P t0 November. Three months 
tikJ °m? Gra P° to be colouring, but that is the time it 
, j - us \ /f hose, then, who find theirs colouring slowly need 
-,° • + ? s P ai , 1 ' A!" an 7 rate, it is unwise to attempt to unduly hurry 
thin i 9 ? «"“£ less water or by raising the temperature higher 
than is good for the other occupants of the house.—W. Iggui.dex. 
ARTIFICIAL MANURES FOR DRY WEATHER. 
evprv lfni 868 *! 011 80 abn ° rma,1 y dry as the present it is well to note 
fmnnJfi • th n n? ,-T hlch J ha8 a S ood effect on vegetable life. It is 
P e in British gardens to apply water to every crop, and there¬ 
fore it is the more necessary to he prepared for drought when it 
comes. It is a pretty well known fact that artificial manures applied 
to crops in diy weather have no good effect whatever. Moisture in all 
cases is a potent factor in securing the success of these. It is not 
only potent, it is indispensable, and as a natural consequence artificial 
manures are in a dry season of generally poor effect. But this 
remark applies more immediately to the less soluble constituents of 
good manures, more especially to forms of potash, but also to phos¬ 
phates. This year I have noticed several casts in which dressings of 
nitrogenous manures have had an effect of a most marked character. 
But the manures were not applied late in the season but early, and 
the earlier the dressing the more marked has been the good effect. 
Grass for hay surfaced early with nitrate of soda has produced a 
fairly good crop. Late-dressed or unmanured fields have been very 
poor indeed. Two adjoining fields of Wheat, the one dressed late in 
April with the nitrate, the other unmanured, has all through the 
summer shown a marked difference in favour of the crop that was 
dressed. In garden crops with Onions, for instance, a dressing of 
sulphate of ammonia applied in April hae secured us a good crop, 
many of the selected plants being of as good quality as beds which 
have been regularly watered. 
The reason of these results following an early dressing of either 
of these manures in such a dry season as the present would appear to 
be, that the plants so treated begin to make a more vigorous growth 
while plenty of moisture is in the soil. Boots are more freely pro¬ 
duced, perhaps as a consequence, possibly as a matter of tops and 
roots acting the one on the other reciprocally. Doubtless also ihe 
other manurial agents of whatever nature contained in the soil is 
rendered more available to the plants, and certainly both nitrate of 
soda and sulphate of ammonia have such a strong liking for water 
that this of itself must be very beneficial. Of course I do not 
underrate the advantages to be derived from other items going to 
make up what is called good cultivation, such as a deeply worked 
soil, mulching, &c., but give these remarks merely in the way of a help 
when every little thing is needed to make crops grow.—B. 
GAILLARDIAS. 
Among choice hardy perennials Gaillardias should always be found. 
Their average is about 2 feet, though in wet seasons they will attain in 
some varieties to nearly 3 feet in fact by trenching the ground and 
manuring freely you may almost tempt them in any season to the latter 
named height. It was in the spring of 1880 that I planted a bed of these 
flowers, and among them a fair proportion of G-. grandiflora maxima, a 
variety which I note has been certificated quite recently at Kensington, 
though it has been in nurserymen’s lists for years. I did not see the 
plant which received the certificate, but the variety I grew under the 
name was at least 4.1 inches across, such flowers as these it produced 
abundantly and profusely. Without a single exception the whole of 
these attained to about ii feet high, but I did not admire them on this 
account, as they needed staking, which the others do not. 
Originally Gaillardias were confined to those colours which made 
them figure so conspicuously among other plants in the herbaceous 
border—namely, orange, crimson, and gold. Often these three predominant 
colours may be found in well defined circles in one flower, and who will 
gainsay that such a combination as this is not calculated to make up a 
flower of unsurpassed gaiety 1 It is worthy of note, too, after attending 
many exhibitions, and having exhibited these flowers among other 
hardy plants, that I have not the slightest recollection of anyone not 
appreciating them ; in fact they always seem to be foremost among the 
admired, and I doubt not when the public have become persuaded of 
their hardiness and strictly perennial character they will be much more 
largely grown than hitherto. In point of colour Gaillardias are 
evidently undergoing a change, for now among seedlings we frequently 
find gold seifs, also flowers made up of orange, and others still merging 
into canary yellow. This year I have some plants of a soft yellow, an 
exquisite flower, the general tone and aspect being such as one can 
admire unceasingly without fear of tiring ; besides, being a self-coloured 
flower, the disc is of the same colour as the florets, which is not 
usual. 
But there is yet an important point to consider in respect to these 
flowers. As regards their culture I need say but little, for any well- 
enriched border will grow them to perfection, and given full sun they 
will form a really sumptuous display in themselves. Then as to getting 
a stock of them. Well, for the matter of that, they came most freely 
from seeds, which should be sown in January, and most of the plants 
will flower during the year, provided they have the requisite attention 
and are planted out as soon as they arc established in their pots, into 
which they need placing singly when large enough to handle con¬ 
veniently. They do not, however, show themselves to advantage till the 
next season, when they spring up into large tufts and are laden with 
their flowers and buds. We must have other methods of propagating 
the best varieties—I mean the selected forms from the seedlings. We 
cannot depend on seeds for these, for there will hardly be two alike, so 
that we must resort to cuttings, divisions of the rootstock, or root 
cuttings. The latter is perhaps the best of all. Almost every 
scrap of root will grow, so that with care and discretion a stock 
of young plants may soon be obtained, and they are worth atten- 
