274 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September 24, 1885. 
this will leave a border on each side 4 feet 9 inches deep. The front border 
need not be raised, as the trees in two or three years will require all the 
head-room they can have ; but the back border should be raised about 12 
inches above the surface, and supported by the brick or boarded edge to the 
path; for the sides of the path must be supported with boards or a 4-inch 
brick wall. The earth must be kept from the boards forming the back wall 
by a 4-inch brick wall. It will be found a great improvement (for which. I 
am indebted to a friend) to divide the back border into two terraces by rais¬ 
ing the hack half 12 inches, building a 4-inch brick-wall, and filling it with 
earth, so that the back row of trees is elevated, and thus escapes any shade 
given by the front row ; the effect also is very good. Now, as everything 
depends on these borders—for there must be no benches and no shelves— 
care must be taken to make their surface firm, yet the soil rather loose 
underneath : loose materials, such as lime-rubbish from old walls, and road- 
sand, may be laid on them about 6 inches deep ; these materials may then 
have a coat of loam 2 or 3 inches deep, which should be removed to 
level hard surface; you thus have two borders, not too far from the glass, 
and on which your orchard will thrive admirably. It is now well ascertained 
that it is better to encourage the roots to come to the surface by rich surface 
dressings in summer than to allow them to root through the apertures at the 
bottom of the pot; hence the advantage of a hard border, which does not 
encourage excessive rooting below. It will appear odd to read about trees 
thriving on instoad of in a border ; but when I explain that this is to be an 
orchard in pots, it will not seem so contrary to our usual garden-culture. 
A Span-eoofed Obchabd House. —Similar details to those already 
given apply to the span-roof house, but the following particulars are useful: 
—A small span-roofed house is so simple in its character that any self- 
taught builder or amateur may erect one. The way to do it is as follows :— 
Two rows of oak posts, 5 inches by 3 and 7 feet long, should be firmly fixed 
2 feet in the ground ; 5 feet out, 14 feet row from row, and 5 feet apart in the 
rows. On each of these rows should be firmly nailed a plate 4 inches by 2, 
to receive the lower ends of the rafters, which may be nailed on as directed 
for the lean-to house. The rafters should be 8 feet long and 3 inches by 1J ; 
they can be bought at any sawmill, planed and chamfered, for 10s. or 12s. 
per 100 feet. The ridge-board should be 5 inches by 1, to which the upper 
ends of the two rows of rafters, after being sloped, should be nailed. As 
the glass cannot he made to fit on the plate at bottom, a drip-board, 5 inches 
by 1, placed sloping to receive the lower ends of the pieces of glass, must be 
fixed on the plate the full length of the house. On the ridge-board a small 
ledge must be nailed for the upper ends of the pieces of glass to rest on. On 
the upper edge of the ridge-board a cap, 3 inches by 1, should be nailed, to 
shoot off the water and prevent its entrance at the ridge. 
Estimates of the cost of orchard houses are given in the work referred to. 
EFFECT OF EARLY PRUNING ON VINES. 
Wh AT has become of our friend “A Thinker?” is a question fre¬ 
quently put to me of late, and all that I can suggest is that he is taking 
a long vacation. This we will not begrudge him, always providing he 
returns with plenty of fresh thoughts wherewith to interest and instruct 
us. By way of furnishing him and other readers with a little food for 
thought, I shall put into shape some ideas of my own on the subject of 
partially pruning Grape Vines while yet they are in full leaf. Perhaps it 
would have been better for me to have waited till I could have written more 
authoritatively, but, on the other hand, an early discussion of the whole 
subject may materially benefit and instruct numerous readers of this 
Journal who, perhaps, have never previously had their thoughts directed 
into the channels I propose to take them. 
Grapes have been exhibited this season more largely than ever, at 
least such is my opinion, and in nearly every case the bunches will have 
been cut with a proportion, large or small according to the taste of the 
exhibitor, of the lateral growth attached. The consequence is many 
laterals have undergone a severe summer pruning, and according to the 
advocates of early shortening of the laterals, this should result in the for¬ 
mation of plump buds, which in due course would give extra fine bunches. 
According to my experience, however, the reverse is most frequently the 
case, and instead of better bunches, the next that are produced on that 
particular spur will be much smaller than usual. During the past three 
seasons I can truthfully assert that wherever I cut a bunch for exhibition 
purposes, none were available for a similar purpose the following year; 
and in the case of some partially renovated Vines of Muscat of Alexandria, 
some of the spurs from which show bunches had been cut broke badly the 
following spring, and completely failed to produce bunches. It is true 
the Vines in this case were in poor condition, principally on account of 
being overcropped so soon after they had been lifted, and in the case of 
some Black Hamburghs in the next house, and which had recovered their 
vigour more quickly, total failure did not occur. As a rule Vines that 
produce Grapes fit for exhibition are in good health, or perhaps we should 
have had others writing in the same strain as myself, and it may yet 
turn out that I am by no means singular in my experience. The idea 
prevails that the character of the bunches to be produced next season is 
determined this autumD, and so, doubtless, it is; but I am by no means 
convinced that those beautiful plump buds we all so much admire have a 
fine bunch or bunches in embryo already stored in them. It seems to me 
that the bunch-forming matter is rather stored in the wood about the 
buds. In proof of this, witness how frequently the closely spurred, and 
unduly closely spurred I should say, rods produce bunches, and that, 
too, from buds that previously gave no signs of being in existence. Ali 
the best placed leaves cn the laterals contribute their quota to the forma¬ 
tion of a store of bunch-producing sap, some being deposited in the young 
wood and the remainder in the main stem, and this, if I remember 
rightly, was to a certain extent demonstrated some time ago in the pages 
of the Journal of Horticulture. Thus, if we cut a show bunch we also 
remove important factors in next year’s success; but, on the other hand, if 
my theory is wrong, this severe shortening ought to prove beneficial, the 
two, three, or four reserved joints perfecting extra plump buds. 
The thought may occur to some that, owing to the small number of 
laterals on the Vines that are subject to this severe shortening, the subject 
is hardly worth consideration, but I venture to think differently for 
several reasons. For instance, immense quantities of Grapes are sent to 
the markets, and naturally fruiterers prefer to have them with a piece of 
lateral growth attached ; this, besides improving the appearance of the 
bunches, also rendering them more easy to pack or display in the windows. 
It follows that the majority of the laterals producing the bunches sent to 
the markets by some growers, are necessarily shortened, and this may 
slowly—but I believe most surely—lead to the ruin of the Vines, or at any 
rate to an ultimate material reduction in the weight of the crops result¬ 
ing. This season my attention was called to an occurrence strongly 
corroborative of much that I have advanced above. The Vines in the 
centre of a large house, wholly planted with Muscat of Alexandria, broke 
very weakly and irregularly to the no small consternation of those in 
charge ; but thanks to the extraordinary vigour of the Vines, they gradually 
righted themselves, and a good crop is now hanging on them. It was a 
lesson that will not be thrown away upon those responsible, and who 
happened to be intelligent men. From what I could learn the rods, in the 
centre of the house especially, had last season been rather heavily 
cropped, and in order to lighten the weight a considerable number of 
bunches were cut and packed for market. All were cut as if for exhib:- 
tion, and that would appear to be the only solution of the mystery; at 
any rate, not much wood will again be sent away from that vinery till 
such times as the leaves are fallen. _ ... 
It does not follow that because I am of opinion that it is most injurious 
to severely shorten the laterals before the leaves are fallen, I would also 
condemn the practice of lightly shortening them. On the contrary, I feel 
confident that a judicious thinning-out of the sub-laterals and a moderate 
pruning of the laterals is a wise practice, and in this I am supported by 
one of the best gardeners I have ever met. He recently informed me 
that many years ago he practised early shortening of the laterals, some of 
his experiments tending to surprise most superficial observers. After the 
bunches are fully matured there is less need of so much foliage beyond them, 
the leaves say beyond the fifth or sixth joint from the rods merely storing up 
food that will eventually be cut away. All the Vines under my charge, both 
in early and late houses, now have the laterals shortened to about 12 or 14 
inches in length, this leaving either five or six principal leaves, while all 
the sublaterals are cut clean away. In this manner, and with the 
assistance of fire heat, the best portion of the young wood will be 
thoroughly ripened, most of it, in fact, be’ng now (September 16th) as 
hard as nails. It is the best ripened wood that produces the handsomest 
bunches, and it is the best ripened rods that will remain much the longest 
in good bearing order. While the Vines are growing strongly, this early 
shortening and thinning-out, if resorted to, would end in the premature 
pushing out of many back buds, but directly they cease to grow to any 
appreciable extent, then the pruning may be commenced, the shortening 
being gradually completed.—W. Igqulden. 
NEPENTHES NORTHIANA. 
Amongst the numerous beautiful and cleverly executed pictures in 
Miss M. North’s gallery at Kew is one that may be termed of historical 
interest, for it led to the introduction of one of the most handsome Pitcher 
Plants in cultivation. This represents a Nepenthes, which was named by 
Sir Joseph Hooker in honour of this distinguished lady artist, N. Northi 
ana, and the exhibition of this painting induced Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, 
Chelsea, with their customary enterprise, to send out a collector with the 
special object of finding and improving it. This, after some trouble, he 
succeeded in doing, and four or five years since it made its appearance 
in the unique collection of Pitcher Plants at Chelsea. The species is a 
native of Borneo, the head-quarters of the Nepenthes, and was found 
growing upon the limestone mountains in the neighbourhood of Sarawak t 
where several other members of the genus are also found, and another of 
Miss North’s pictures (377) reprerents an undescribed species from the 
same district. 
N. Northiana is remarkable for the size of its pitchers, being second 
only to N. Kajah in this respect, some of the largest having been found 
16 inches in length and 5 inches in diameter. The pitchers are also very 
bold in form, with a broad grooved margin somewhat like N. Veitchi, 
the inner and outer surfaces being green, handsomely spotted and streaked 
with rich crimson. The form and markings are accurately shown in the 
woodcut (fig. 44), kindly lent by the introducers of the plant. 
THE TALL-GROWING LOBELIAS. 
The tall-growing Lobelias are not so often seen in gardens as they 
deserve, for not only are they amongst our showiest plants, but the ease 
with which they may be grown, and their bright colours, render them 
most invaluable for outdoor autumn gardening. It will no doubt be all 
the better if they are planted in damp low-lying situations, excepting the 
Tupa group, as they are essentially moisture-loving plants ; but this is not 
altogether imperative, for provided they are well supplied with water during 
