176 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 27, 1891. 
and general treatment as to ventilating should be the same as I will 
recommend for the first year they are planted in the border. I advise 
stopping them when they are about 6 feet high, and the laterals should 
be stopped to one joint. These will break again, and should be stopped 
so as to leave another joint. The Vines growing in the full blaze of the 
sun will soon become brown and show signs of ripening, and then the 
whole of the lateral branches may be cut off, care being taken not to 
injure the leaves that come from the main stem, as these have to 
support the buds that will produce the fruit next year. 
When the leaves are acquiring an autumnal tint, or showing any 
sign of being fairly ripened, about September they may be removed 
outside against a wall, left there until the approach of frost, and then 
be removed to a house where they can be kept cool. The roots should 
never be allowed to get dry during the season of rest, nor should they 
have too much water. 
It is of great importance to prepare a good border, one that will 
last a gocd number of years. The top 4 or 5 inches should be taken 
off an old pasture with not too much grass on it, 1 bushel of bones, 
and 1 of bonemeal to every four loads of soil; add plenty of lime rubbish 
and oystershells and some horse droppings or cowdung. Many make 
the borders too rich ; it is a great mistake because you can always give 
manure as a top-dressing. 
Mix the quantities together, and the same compost will do for pot 
Vines. A border about 3 feet deep is quite enough, and the bottom of 
the border should be concreted, and plenty of drainage used. Some 
situations are suitable without it, but as a rule the Vine likes plenty 
•of drainage. One foot of rubble is not too much, and then over that 
place a layer of turf with the grass side downwards, filling in with 
the compost. 
The border being in readiness, the Vines may be planted at any 
time during spring, say about April or May, and about 4 feet apart, 
spreading the roots out their full length, not leaving them in a 
ball, and cover them about 6 inches deep, as it is bad practice to plant 
too deep. Care must be taken that the Vines do not sustain a check, as 
the progress of the Vine depends a great deal on this. When planted 
a little water should be given to settle the soil about the roots. It is a 
general practice when the Vines begin growing to rub off all the eyes 
from the shoots but one or two in case of accident. 
Do not prune the Vines at planting time, but allow them to break, 
and then rub the buds off to the part where you want the young canes 
to start from. The best practice is to let as many canes grow as you 
can the first year, as this will give abundance of roots, and the more 
roots the more vigour in the Vines the next season. Allow the 
house to get full of foliage without crowding, so that they w T ill have 
plenty of sun. As the shoots appear they should be carefully trained 
to the trellis 18 inches from the glass. If the spur method is to be 
adopted then only one shoot should be encouraged after the first season’s 
growth, and it should be allowed to reach the top of the house without 
stopping. Admit air in sufficient quantities according to the weather, 
so that the shoots do not become drawn and weakly—say a temperature 
about 65°, rising to 70°. As the plants advance in growth give liberal 
supplies of water, syringing twice a day in fine bright weather to induce 
vigorous growth, also to keep red spider in check and the foliage 
clean. 
By the middle of September the wood will be getting ripe; if not, 
fire heat must be given, so that the temperature may stand at about 
70° to 75° till all the shoots assume a brown colour. As the wood begins 
to ripen both air and water must be gradually reduced, until the latter 
is entirely dispensed with. The second year is a good time to prove the 
varieties with one bunch each, but not to overcrop, as it is a bad plan 
to overcrop youDg Vines. For the future the canes should be shortened 
each year, leaving 3 or 4 feet of new wood till the length of the house 
is reached, leaving spurs from 2 to 3 feet apart. The leading shoots I 
always allow to remain, and grow to the top of the house and down 
the back wall before stopping. The side shoots I usually stop at 
two or three leaves beyond the bunch, the sub-laterals at the first 
leaf, and if there is plenty of room two or three more, and then we 
insure healthy root action, 'which is necessary for the proper finishing 
of the fruits. 
When the house is full of foliage stop every lateral as soon as it 
shows. By that time the Vines will be in bloom, and will require a dry 
temperature, rising 75° to 80° by day, or even 90° to 95°, with plenty of 
sun and air. This is particularly necessary with Muscats. The Vines 
should be gently tapped to disperse the pollen, as they set better. 
After the berries are set commence thinning as soon as possible, and to 
do this will require practice. Do not handle the berries or prick them 
with the point of the scissors, or you will spoil the appearance of the 
bunches. At the same time clear all dead flowers out of the bunches, 
or the water from syringing will stain the berries. After the fruits 
begin to colour syringing must cease. Some gardeners never syringe 
after the fruit is set, but I am obliged to do so to prevent the increase of 
red spider. Have plenty of moisture in the house, and admit plenty of air 
when a temperature can be maintained of 80° to 83° by day and 70° by 
night. 
Soakings of tepid liquid manure, not too strong, every two or three 
weeks from the time they are set till they begin colouring, are advisable 
for established Vines. I have also used sulphate of ammonia with good 
resrrlts two or three times a year. Never water the borders with liquid 
manure without opening the ventilators, as the steam rising from liquid 
manure is liable to cause rust. 
Vine Enemies. —Vines are liable to both diseases and insects, and 
in both cases prevention is better than cure. Mildew is a very destructive 
disease if neglected. Painting the pipes with freshly slaked lime and 
sulphur soon destroys it. The best preventive is a well-drained border 
and a sweet healthy atmosphere. 
Shanking is a disease which often causes disappointment at the finish, 
as it attacks the stalks of the berries, eventually causing them to fall. 
In some cases it is caused by the roots being in an uncongenial or wet 
subsoil. A good preventive is a concreted bottom to the border, well 
ripening the wood and inducing healthy roots, thus preventing rank 
growth. The fruits on rank growth are very liable to shank. Rust is 
scarcely a disease, though a disfigurement. It is generally caused by 
overheating the pipes or by sulphur left on them from the previous 
year, cold draughts when the berries are setting, and watering with 
liquid manure without ventilation. Warts occasionally occur on the 
under side of the leaves, and some cultivators contend that they do 
no harm, but the leaves “cup” and are arrested in their growth. 
They are caused by the atmosphere being overcharged with moisture, 
and by insufficient ventilation. 
Some Grapes are more subject to scalding than others. It occurs 
at stoning time. Early ventilation and a cool atmosphere are the 
best preventives I know. Red spider is one of the worst enemies of 
the Vine, and if neglected scon spreads over the house, destroying the 
foliage and weakening the Vines. A dry atmosphere encourages it. 
In guarding against it, practise cleanliness, and painting the pipes 
with sulphur and milk, or sponge the leaves with softsoap water. 
Mealy bug and thrips are often introduced into vineries through 
growing plants in them, and if once they gain a footing they are 
difficult to get rid of until the foliage of the Vines falls. The best 
remedy is to paint and scrub the Vines when they are pruned, and 
brush them with methylated spirits of wine. This will destroy the 
mealy bug. 
The best varieties to grow are Black Hamburgh, Muscat of Alex¬ 
andria, Madresfield Court, Lady Downe’s, Alicante, Gros Maroc. The 
best for amateurs are Black Hamburgh and Foster’s Seedling. 
SELF-FERTILISING FLOWERS. 
A LONG list of flowers which cannot use their own pollen has been 
placed on record, as well as of plants that depend on insect or out¬ 
side agencies for the use of their own pollen. There are also flowers 
which, capable of using their own pollen in a late state of anthesis, 
are so constructed, as regards the relative maturity of stamens or pistils, 
that they may be fertilised by foreign pollen before being able to use 
their own. The records of all these make important material for 
philosophical strictures. The author of this paper has performed his 
own share in this work. 
It is a continual thought with him, however, that the facts which 
bear on self-fertilisation deserve equal prominence. It is a line in 
which there seem to be few workers. The following additions to 
others already recorded are offered, not because cases of absolute 
self-ferti'isation are unfrequent, but because the s f udy of these 
particular instances developed other facts of interest in the study of 
plant life as well worth recording as the mere fact that they are self¬ 
fertilisers. 
Symplocarpus FG3TIDTTS. —So much has been said of the relations 
between insects and flowers —even a structure so peculiarly arranged 
as the Skunk Cabbage, Symp’ocarpus feetidus, being claimed as an 
illustration of some close relation—that I devoted a hal f -day of the 
22nd of February to a thorough examination of plants growing in 
the woods and swamps within a shoit distance of my residence 
in Germantown. I gained some facts in addition to those recorded in 
the chapter on this plant in my “Flowers and Ferns of the United 
States,” vol. i., series 1, page 57 et seq., 1878. It was there shown that 
the sexual character of the plant is variable, and that the herma¬ 
phrodite condition, as distinguishing the genus and its allies from 
their monoecious relatives, was a very slender line. A difference was 
noted in the relative maturity of stamens and pistils. Sometimes the 
stamens matured before the pistils, or technically, the flowers would be 
proterandrous, at others the pistil matures days before the stamens, 
when the flowers are proterogenous. At that time I thought, as the 
result of the examination of a few flowers each season, that this 
difference was caused by the peculiarities of the season. The result 
of the examination of many flowers on the afternoon mentioned shows 
an almost equal number of both forms. Both thus existing at the 
same time and under the same conditions of temperature, the circum¬ 
stances being in fact exactly the same, shows the difference to be 
of an innate character, and tending towards an unisexuality. Indeed, 
so far as one may be jus'ified by analogy in similar cases, and in the 
absence of an actual test by marking the plants and waiting for results, 
we may risk saying of the species that it is dicecious. If this be not the 
case, it is certainly tending towards dioecism. In the one case the 
pistil pushes through the perianth, extending a full line beyond, and is 
capped by its beautiful head of stellate hair. No sign of the stamens 
is visible, though the pistil has evidently been protrude! for several 
dajs, as it has lost the little globule of moisture that envelops it on its 
first appearance. In the other case, the swelling anthers part the perianth 
segments, and exhibit the apex of the pistil mstling among the anthers. 
Finally the apex of the pistd, in company with one stamen, is protruded 
barely beyond where the pistil remains, but the stamen continues 
until the whole of the comparatively large anther extends beyond the 
