128 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER . 
[ August 13, 1885 
house is planted with Muscat of Alexandria, and opposite to 
these all the best black sorts in cultivation are being grown. 
All made most satisfactory progress, but the Muscats grew 
much the strongest, and in nearly every instance the rods of 
these at pruning time were left 7 feet long. This season 
each rod is perfecting two large bunches, besides forming five 
stout and short-jointed canes. All the black Grapes were 
cut down to within 14 inches of the ground, and the Vines 
are carrying one or more bunches, some of which nearly 
touch the ground. Some of the bunches of Muscats weigh 
close upon 4 lbs., while Gros Maroc is about 2 lbs., Black 
Alicante 3 lbs. in weight, Madresfield Court, Alnwick Seed¬ 
ling, Mrs. Pince, Lady Downe’s, and Gros Colman being 
equally good. The Vines are cropped in this young state— 
that is to say, before they have been planted twelve months, 
by way of a check to over-luxuriance, and this in preference 
to allowing the free extension of lateral growth, which plan 
finds favour with some growers. Every Vine has a lateral 
space of about 6 feet, and this they will ultimately thinly fill, 
but at present they are somewhat closely stopped, leader as 
well as laterals, the length of each rod being about 14 feet, 
and the consequence will be the formation of grand well 
ripened rods that will receive little or no shortening back at 
pruning time. 
Another compartment is at present devoted to Tomatoes 
and fruiting Vines in pots, the latter having attained rather 
startling dimensions. One of these, a Muscat of Alexandria, 
I had the curiosity to measure. It was then fifteen months 
old, and was being fruited in a 19-inch pot. The circum¬ 
ference of the stem near the soil was 3£ inches and 2 \ inches 
at a height of 3 feet, and in addition to perfecting a heavy 
crop of Grapes had made surprisingly strong leading and 
lateral growths. The largest bunch, perfectly set, measured 
10 inches across the shoulders, 12 inches in depth, and would 
w’eigli close upon 4 lbs. Alnwick Seedling was also doing 
equally well, and this also was perfectly set. 
The third compartment is planted with Tea Roses, and 
these are now large healthy specimens, producing great 
quantities of bloom during the winter months, which fetch 
very remunerative prices. Another house is also devoted to 
Tea Roses, and these, in spite of the very hot and trying 
weather, were in the cleanest and healthiest state imaginable. 
The favourite varieties are Isabella Sprunt, Catherine Mer- 
met, Souvenir d'un Ami, Anna Ollivier, Comtesse de Nadail 
lac, Devoniensis, Jean Ducher, Madame Falcot, Marie Van 
Houtte, Perle des Jardins, Niphetos, and Souvenir d’Elise. 
The Vines in the two other useful structures from which 
Mr. Chaffin has cut many winning stands of Grapes were, 
when taken in hand by Mr. Taylor, in rather a poor plight; 
but thanks to the masterly measures adopted, are now in 
excellent condition, and bearing heavy crops of medium sized, 
well set, and otherwise perfect bunches. The borders in this 
case are outside the house, and no restriction being placed on 
the roots, these had wandered to a great distance, the prin¬ 
cipal portion being found fully 40 feet from the house. Under 
such circumstances it would have been impossible to grow 
good Grapes, and a severe shortening of the roots was prac¬ 
tised, this being done, if I remember rightly, in October, 1883, 
or while the Vines were in full leafage. A trench was cut at 
about 6 feet from the stems, nothing but woody old fibreless 
roots being found. The whole of these were unhesitatingly 
cut through and relaid in a breadth of fresh compost. The 
foliage being shaded from bright sunshine, and frequently 
syringed, was well preserved, and this was the means of in¬ 
ducing the formation of a number of rootlets on the old 
stumps, with the result of a marked improvement of the crops 
secured in 1884, and if the Vines continue to improve, as I 
have no doubt they will do, these also will perfect examples 
hard to surpass. These renovated Vines also include all the 
best black Grapes, as well as Muscat of Alexandria, and 
very serviceable they now are, affording ample proof of the 
wisdom of the apparently extra severe steps taken to recover 
them. 
The borders of the large new house being wholly inside, 
they naturally require, and do already receive, great quanti¬ 
ties of water; but supplying this, instead of being a laborious 
operation, is, by an ingenious contrivance of Mr. Taylor’s, 
quite an easy matter. On the upper side of the houses two 
immense tubs are fixed, both of which hold several hogsheads 
of water, and one or both of these can be heated by a minia¬ 
ture boiler, to which they are simply connected by a flow-and- 
return pipe. A good supply of water is constantly at hand or 
running in, and at a most trifling cost for fuel the whole can 
he heated to the temperature suited to the borders, and which 
is conveyed to the different houses through small connecting 
pipes and distributed with a portable hose. Then, when liquid 
manure is required, this can also be added to the water in the 
large tubs and duly run through the houses, and, on the 
whole a more labour-saving invention could not well be added 
to this or other establishments requiring plentiful supplies of 
warm water. That Mr. Chaffin’s vinery will eventually be¬ 
come famous I have not the slightest doubt, and all who are 
acquainted with Mr. Taylor will join with me in wishing him 
complete success.—W. I. 
TEACHINGS OF THE DROUGHT. 
The lengthened and excessive drought of the present season 
has brought its own lessons, which are worthy of attention. On 
a couple of these lessons only I would ask permission to say 
something, and both of these have been learned long ago by old- 
fashioned gardeners, though perhaps not so much taken to heart 
nowadays as they ought to be by the younger men. The one is 
that we cannot succeed in a season like the present unless a 
system of deep cultivation is carried out; and the other, that 
farmyard manure is a necessity in this country, whatever it may 
be in other more favoured lands. 
We might have imagined that the benefit of a deep tilth well 
cultivated would in itself be so apparent that this old-fashioned 
practice would never be called in question. However, it has been 
more than oDce considered an unnecessary feature of garden 
management. However, those who have for any length of time 
systematically abstained from cultivating their subsoils, or done 
nothing to make a good subsoil, must have had enlightenment on 
the subject in the present year. In our own case we have certain 
borders and portions of ground which are never trenched, and 
certain quarters which are duly trenched, and without exception 
the different treatment the soils receive in these several portions 
have been as faithfully indicated by the behaviour of the crops 
as if each had been labelled. And it is not so much a question 
of degree—the crop on the dug portions just a little worse than 
that on the trenched ground—but a question of success and 
failure; for crops have just been as good on trenched ground 
this year as in previous years. Peas, Beans, Potatoes, young 
Strawberries, Onions, &c., we have never had better. But, on 
the other hand, Peas, Potatoes, and very old plantations of 
Strawberries have been failures on dug ground. Fruit trees tell 
the same tale, and so do flowers. Roses though short-lived have 
been fine; Dahlias, in some places making no growth, are here 
making marvellous plants for the time of year. In only one case 
have we employed water, and that for the latest sowing of Peas, 
the ground in this instance having been moistened in order to 
insure the germination of the seed and again when the young 
plants were a few inches high. In the case of these and all 
other vegetables which have been sown or planted we have merely 
taken the precaution of sowing or planting deep enough for the 
seeds or roots to get at once out of reach of the dried upper 
strata of soil. The roots have naturally kept where the moisture 
was most abundant. 
A somewhat curious phenomenon is apparent in the case of 
trenched ground as compared with ground which has been merely 
dug, and it is this. In the case of the dug ground the soil became 
absolutely dry from the surface downwards, while in the case of 
ground regularly trenched, with the exception of about a couple 
of inches on the surface, the soil underneath did not become dry 
to any appreciable extent. In both instances the hoe was duly 
employed, and no doubt in the latter case it may be presumed to 
have played an important part in conserving the moisture in the 
soil, although in the former it had no apparent effect. 
The use of farmyard manure may be said to be not so much a 
gardener’s question as one for the farmers, and that is so. But 
at the same time there can be no doubt that gardeners are 
inclining more and more to the employment of so-called artificial 
manures, and against an enlightened use of these we have nothing 
