240 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ March 25, 1886. 
Muscats .—Those now in flower will require a light temperature and 
moderately dry atmosphere, and daily attention to fertilisation to hasten 
their setting. With fine weather there is no difficulty in running the 
house up to 90° with ventilation by day, and the roots being inside or 
warm, consequently active, the night temperature may fall to 65°, or 5° 
lower on cold nights. We have had Muscats set well in a night temperature 
of less than 60°, bat the roots were in a corresponding temperature, and 
when these are warm Muscats set much bettor than when the roots are in 
an unfavourable medium. Where Vines are languid they may be relieved 
by the removal of a portion of the surplus bunches before they reach the 
flowering stage. 
Late Houses .—Vines started in good time are making rapid progress, 
and will require daily attention in disbudding, stopping, and tying before 
the points of the shoots reach the glass. Where the semi-extension system 
is practised, stop at the second or third joint beyond the bunch, and then 
allow the laterals to extend until every part of the trellis is evenly covered 
with foliage. Train the shoots, however, sufficiently wide apart to allow 
the full development of the foliage ; the leading growth miy be allowed 
to ramble along the back wall. Inside borders must have copious supplies 
of tepid water. Shut off fire heat early on bright mornings, and use the 
syringe freely during bright weather. Outside borders that were uncovered 
when the Grapes were cut and bottled, or since January, will now require 
some protection from drying winds to prevent the roots striking down in 
quest of moisture. Fresh stable lifer is the best for the purpose, as it 
will not shut off solar heat so comp'etely as heavy mulchings, and unless 
the borders are poor heavy mulchings of short manure will be best deferred 
until after the Grapes are set and swelling. 
Ripe Grapes .—The unfavourable keeping weather has been agains^ 
the keeping of Grapes, but in properly ventilated rooms they have kep*' 
satisfactorily. Examine them twice a week for decayed berries, and 
when some of the bunches have been cut the bottles should be removed 
and a general overlook effected. Lady Downe’s is keeping well, also Gros 
Colman, the latter little if at all inferior to a Black Hamburgh. Gros Colman 
is about the best abused Grape grown, on account of its poor quality, but 
started early or at the same time as mid-season varieties, and grown so as 
to ripen by the beginning of September and allowed to hang until January, 
by which time the berries will have lost their disagreeable earthy taste so 
characteristic of the otherwise fine Grape in imperfectly ripened and 
prematurely used specimens. All late Grapes require time to mature 
after ripening, but for Gros Colman it is absolutely essential. 
THE FLOWER GARDEN AND PLEASURE GROUND. 
Roses .—The weather has been very unfavourable for spring planting) 
and those planted early in the winter present a very unhealthy appearance. 
Those laid in are in the best condition, and if the first favourable oppor¬ 
tunity is taken of finally planting them, pruning at the same time, they 
will soon commence active growth. Care should be taken to preserve as 
many of the delicate newly formed fibres as possible, and any newly 
planted Rose3 will be benefited by the addition of fresh loamy compost 
to the old soil. Where they are planted in dry positions, such as against 
sunny walls or near shrubberies, plenty of short manure may be worked 
in deeply, and a surface mulching be given to these and all other newly 
planted Roses. Teas are generally supplied in pots, and now is a good 
time to plant them. See that the soil is thoroughly moistened prior to 
planting, and they will take more readily to their fresh quarters if some 
of the roots are carefully unloosened and laid into the fresh surrounding 
soil. Plants that are to produce extra fine blooms should, after pruning 
is completed, receive a liberal mulching of manure, and this will better 
retain its moisture and be less unsightly if the surface soil is first carefully 
raked or forked back and then redistributed on the top of the mulching. 
Pruning Roses .—This operation will be later than usual, but as no 
active growth has taken place, when the Roses do start the shoots will, in 
all probability, be extra strong and clean. The long well matured shoots 
on the Marfichal Niel may be laid in to their full length, tbe spray only 
being cut back, and it may be a few of the shoots if crowded or badly 
placed. Gloire de Dijon may be pruned similarly to the Hybrid Perpetuals, 
having the leading growths shortened according to their vigour by about 
one-half of their length, cutting back all straggling side shoots to within 
four joints of their base. It is the neglect of this pruning and poverty at 
the roots that spoils so many valuable trees of this popular Rose. The 
Teas should also be freely thinned out and shortened back, or otherwise 
the young growths will become weaker every season and the bloom 
correspondingly smaller. Banksians bloom the most freely when the 
growth is not very vigorous, and hard pruning ought, therefore, to be 
avoided. Lay in the leading growths, thin out the spray and that remaining 
with the fairly strong well ripened growth, and which may be lightly 
shortened, will probably produce abundance of trusses. The white variety 
is the best, being also sweet scented, while the yellow variety is the most 
robust. It is also time to prune the dwarfs and standards in the open. 
In every case the centres should be well hollowed out and all useless 
spray be removed. The more weakly the growth of the trees the more 
need of severe pruning, and vice versa. Shoots of the thickness of a slate 
pencil may well be shortened to about the three buds, but stouter growth 
ought to be left from 6 inches to 15 inches in length, according to their 
vigour, while in order to secure or maintain a well balanced head, long, 
badly placed, or straggling growth should be cut with old wood attached 
back to well placed growth nearer the centre of the tree. The foregoing 
applies equally well to dwarfs as to standards, but if preferred the former 
may have the long shoots which frequently spring up from their base 
lightly shortened, brought down, and firmly fixed near the ground with the 
aid of strong pegs. Thus treated they would bloom at nearly every joint. 
During the summer more strong shoots would spring up, and these should 
take the place of those previously pegged down. 
Clematises .—Many thousands of these most showy climbers are 
annually planted, but yet we seldom meet with them in good condition, 
or at any rate after the first two or three years. They fail owing either to 
being starved at the roots or neglected altogether. They ought to be 
planted in a compost consisting of three parts good loam to one of old 
Mushroom-bed manure or a good substitute for the latter. Then if 
properly pruned and trained they rarely fail to bloom splendidly whether 
over archways, up pillars and walls, or rambling over the tops of shrubs 
much as the wild sort does in our hedgerows. All are supplied well 
established in pots, and now is a good time to plant them. It is not 
advisable to wholly shake the roots clear of the soil, but as many of them 
as possible should be carefully uncoiled and laid in the fresh soil. The 
soil should be well rammed about them, and if dry weather prevail a good 
watering should be given before the old balls of soil become very dry. 
The pruning of both young and old plants must vary according to the 
sections to which they respectively belong. Jackmanni is perhaps the 
best known ; this and others of the same type, such as Magnifies, 
Flammula, Prince of Wales, Rubella, Star of India, and Tunbridgensis 
flowering on the young growth formed the same season. Consequently 
these should be freely cut back at the present time to near where tho- 
growths last started, and in this manner the requisite number of strong 
young shoots will be obtained, and which may be trainsd to where the 
bloom is needed—3ay in a mass over a window on the trellising of a 
balcony. The Viticella type, which includes Lady Bovill, Mrs. J. Bate¬ 
man, and Thomas Moore, requires similar treatment, as these, as well as 
Lanuginosa Candida, Lady Caroline Neville, Gem, and W. Rennet, flower 
during the summer and autumn principally on the newly formed growths. 
The Patens type, which includes Lady Londesborough, Lord Londes- 
borough, Lord Derby, Miss Bateman, Sir Garnet Wolseley, Fair Rosa¬ 
mond, and Standishii; and the Florida type, this including Countess of 
Lovelace, Lucie Lemoine, and Duchess of Edinburgh, flower on the 
ripened growth formed the previous season. Consequently such should 
have all dead wood cut away, and the remainder thinned out where at all 
crowded. 
USEFUL HIVES. 
Theke is a great and totally unnecessary expenditure in 
the purchase of hives, which, good in themselves, of exquisite 
workmanship, ornate in desigu and perfect in every detail, 
present it is true a great contrast to many of the rough boxes 
if beauty alone is taken into consideration, which, however, 
care being taken to have the inside measurements correct, 
are quite as useful and much less expensive than their more 
meritricious relations. Beauty in design and work is not, it 
must be understood, despised, but as the manufacture of a 
perfectly finished hive takes much longer and requires a 
greater degree of skill in the workman than one more roughly 
completed, so much higher will the price of the former be 
than of the latter. Hive makers do not, in the majority of 
cases, taking into consideration the risks they run and the 
great outlay often necessitated, charge exorbitant prices for 
their appliances. Their prices are, it may even be said, 
moderate when we consider the time and skill bestowed upon 
the little palaces they turn out. What I desire to impress upon 
all readers interested in apiculture is, however, that we poor 
bee-keepers do not require palaces, but are quite content to 
use a hive of far less pretentions, and only require careful 
attention to detail in respect of measurement and fittings, 
and, this being given, can easily dispense with ail useless 
ornamentation or tricky devices, which, when the hive is 
untenanted seem likely to assist the bee-keeper, but when the 
attempt is made by their aid to manipulate a stock are a 
source of trouble and annoyance. In these days of keen 
competition cheap yet serviceable hive are a sine qua non in 
every apiary, and a few shillings extra outlay on a hive may 
make all the difference between a balance-sheet showing 
success and one showing failure. 
It has always appeared that one shilling for each standard 
frame is a fair price to give for a wooden hive. It is sufficient 
to ensure good workmanship and sound material, and these 
are perhaps the two essential points to which the greatest 
