April 26, 1888. J 
335 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
FACTS ABOUT GRAPES. 
GROS COLMAN, 
As far as appearance goes this is one of the noblest Grapes in 
■cultivation, and it is almost needless to add it sells readily in con- 
aequence. It is also one of the best keepers, hanging or remaining 
plump when bottled longer than the Alicante, although it does not 
equal Lady Downe’s in this respect. When well grown it is the 
■finest black Grape, and the berries, besides being large, are firm and 
fleshy. Unfortunately, if eaten before March or April, the quality 
13 very unpleasant, and not one in a thousand can honestly say they 
like the peculiar and what has been aptly termed Ivy-like flavour, 
which only long hanging seems to change. Mr. S. Castle of the 
West Lynn Vineyard usually succeeds remarkably well with the 
Gros Colman, and he first drew my attention to the fact that long 
keeping greatly improves its quality, the berries he kindly sent me 
last spring .and also those we had at the time being much better 
than I had previously tasted. With us it thrives admirably at the 
shadiest end of a house of mixed varieties, no difficulty being ex¬ 
perienced in securing plenty of bunches to select from, nor in 
effecting a good set. To do justice to it the rods ought to be fully 
4 feet apart, and even this space scarcely admits of the proper 
development of the laterals. I hold that not less than three 
primary leaves, or those partially formed before the laterals are 
stopped, should be beyond each bunch, but it is useless to leave 
these if there is not room for them to grow out properly. 
Plenty succeed with Gros Colman up to a certain point. The 
bunches may be large and the berries large and regular, but it is 
the finishing that tells the tale of wrong treatment somewhere. 
More often than not it is the premature loss of foliage that may 
■safely be blamed for this failure. In other instance's the foliage 
may be sound enough, and yet the berries remain nearer red than 
black in colour, this perhaps being the result either of overcropping 
or too much heat, or both together. I find that Gros Colman will 
■not finish off properly nearly so many bunches, nor quite so great a 
weight of Grapes, as a Vine of Black Alicante of the same age and 
vigour. It is the weight that tries the Vines rather than the 
number of bunches, and when deciding how many bunches can 
safely be left on a rod the relative weights of each variety ought to 
be taken into consideration. Nor can any general rule as to the 
number of bunches each Vine should bear be laid down, so much 
-depending upon the state of the border, the quantity of roots to be 
found near the surface, and the treatment given. With us Gros 
Colman retains its foliage admirably, but then ours is a renovated 
vinery with plenty of heavy wooden rafters and sashbars, this 
being very different to the modern structures, which have very 
much more glass surface exposed. Those houses constructed of 
iron and wood are very light and elegant in appearance, but they 
are the worst to manage. It is in these that red spider is most 
troublesome, the foliage also being more liable to burn. In such 
houses Gros Colman ought to be lightly shaded, this being accom¬ 
plished either with the aid of doubled fish nets or by thin lime 
water lightly Syringed over the roof as often as necessary. Gros 
-Colman is one of the first to show colour in the berries ; but when it 
is found the rest are much quicker in finishing, those in charge are 
apt to think something is wrong, and, speaking from experience, 
be tempted to put on more fire heat or give less air, as the case may 
be. No greater mistake can be made, as, if not hurried, being also 
kept well supplied with moisture and liquid manure at the roots, 
the colouring will go on all the while the foliage lasts, or say till 
November. The best bunches of Gros Colman I have yet seen 
were shown by Mr. Jennings, Farnborough Grange Gardens, at the 
last Beading Chrysanthemum Show. They were grand bunches 
and beautifully finished, and were not cut from overcropped or 
much-forced Vines. 
LADY DOWNE’S. 
If allowed to grow only one late black Grape this should be 
the variety. It is the very best for potting and keeping till new 
Grapes are available, added to which it is of good quality any time 
during the winter and spring months. As a rule the bunches are 
not large or showy, the majority ranging from 1 to 2 lbs. in weight, 
but the berries are of good size, very solid, crisp, and refreshing. 
A vigorous Vine is capable of perfecting a good bunch on nearly 
-every uncrowded lateral, and if not given too much fire heat no 
■difficulty will be experienced in properly finishing the crop. With 
us the berries are not large, but they are usually as black as they 
■can well be. Unlike the Alicante, the best bunches are formed on 
the laterals from old -wood rather than the young rods, and close 
pruning may safely be practised. 
Others, beside myself, have doubtless found that the young 
rods rarely break evenly, many buds frequently refusing to move, 
others perhaps breaking -weakly. It is those rods freely shortened 
at the winter pruning that are the most difficult to manage, these 
■breaking strongly at the ends only. If a long straight rod is 
desired, this can best be obtained by rapid extension. Planted in a 
good border a Vine ought to reach the end of a rafter 16 feet 
long in three seasons. Newly struck Vines usually make the best 
progress, and our plan is to stop these -when about 6 feet long, 
no winter pruning being resorted to. The following summer they 
are stopped when the young cane is 7 feet long, and the third 
season finds them at the top of the house, the knife not having been 
used either season, with the exception, let me add, of the pruning 
necessary in the case of lateral growths. These summer-stopped 
unpruned rods invariably break evenly and well, especially if the 
points are well depressed or bent round prior to starting, and 
straight regularly furnished rods aie the result. Those who leave 
an extra length of rod on young Vines must, however, remember 
that they are not yet capable of sustaining a bunch at nearly every 
lateral. A bunch on every third lateral is ample for at least four 
seasons, and if more are left the Vines may be seriously crippled for 
life. 
There is one other serious defect in Lady Downe’s that I ought 
to allude to—viz., its liability to scalding, more especially during 
the stoning process. The morning sun striking full on the cold 
berries is apt to damage all those most exposed. I cannot explain 
this matter in a scientific manner, but I can prevent it, and that, 
after all, is of the greatest consequence. It is at the ends of the 
houses where all varieties of Grapes are most liable to scalding, 
this being observable in the case of any exposed to either the morn 
ing or afternoon sunshine, oblique rays evidently being more 
powerful than those falling in a more vertical direction. Where 
scalding takes place it must be anticipated by temporarily shading 
both the roof and the ends of the vineries. When it is the morn¬ 
ing sun that does the mischief, early ventilation must also be re¬ 
sorted to, and those houses with the ends facing westwards must 
not be closed till the sun has lost much of its power. Last season 
there were many complaints of serious scalding in the case of 
Muscats, Madresfield Court, and other Grapes, and nothing but 
judicious shading saved hundreds of bunches. 
To our old friend, Mr. W. Taylor, Bath, belongs the credit of 
producing much the finest bunches of Lady Downe’s I have yet 
seen, these taking first prize at Bath against any variety of black 
Grapes.—W. Iggulden. 
DAFFODILS. 
I AM watching the progress of some Daffodils which were sent 
me from Ireland about the middle of June last year. They had 
been lifted soon after flowering was well over, but before there was 
much decay of foliage. Some I placed in the border, some in the 
shrubbery, and though my garden soil is shallow and sandy, it has 
been cultivated and enriched with loam and well-decayed manure, and 
the clumps of bulbs have done well and are carrying abundance of 
buds. Onlyone sort has as yet perfectly expanded ; a graceful flower ; 
trumpet pale yellow, somewhat narrow in form, but boldly fringed ; 
perianth white ; divisions of perianth not very large, but graceful 
and star-shaped. Altogether these plants are very beautiful, and 
weire greatly admired the other day, especially some I had planted 
in a sheltered place near some Box trees. 
The heavy thunderstorms of Thursday (Primrose Day), and 
the copious but seasonable rains, sadly besmirched the golden robes 
of the ordinary Daffodils ; no border plant looking more draggled 
and utterly suppressed than the once shining Daffodil gleaming in 
the sunshine, now literally extinguished in mire. I hope to tell 
you what the others are like shortly.—A. M. B., Mid-Lincoln. 
AURICULAS. 
Tiieue is nothing pecu'iar about the present Auricula season 
except that the flowering period is later than usual. They were 
held back up to the second week in April by continued cold weather. 
A change of wind set in about the end of the second week, and 
then a sudden change too took place in the appearance of the 
plants. They grew rapidly, and the trusses developed faster than 
I ever knew them to do. We have a collection in a cold frame, 
where they were merely protected with a mat on cold nights, and 
these are producing remarkably strong trusses and better developed 
pips than those grown in a house artificially heated. I fancy if we 
trusted entirely to growing our Auriculas in cold frames we should 
not have so much trouble to disestablish the Auricula aphis (Trama 
Auriculae). This troublesome pest dislikes to be frozen in the 
pots. 
The introduction of seedling Auriculas is a very slow process 
unless the variety h.appens to be free in producing offsets. This 
may or may not be the case. I have known a stock plant grow for 
six years and never produce an offset. In a case of this kind an 
inch or so may be cut from the base of the tap root and be planted 
