83 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 81,1819. 
the first week in April, if the ground is dry enough to work well, 
it is pulled to pieces with the horse hoe until well pulverised. 
Drills are then struck out with the plough about 2 feet apart. The 
Potatoes are planted about 1 foot apart in these, and covered with 
a Burghley cultivator, a kind of light Canterbury hoe. Nothing 
more is done until the crop is dug, beyond keeping the ground 
clear of weeds and earthing up with the plough at the usual time. 
By this means we secure a heavy crop of fair-sized tubers of 
splendid quality even in such wet seasons as last year. 
The varieties we find the best here are Magnum Bonum, which 
is fit for use from October to June, and is almost disease-proof 
with us. Snowdrop, from August to October, is the great favourite, 
and keeps well until after Christmas. It is not such a heavy 
cropper as Magnum Bonum, but is rather better in quality, and is 
one of the best varieties for exhibition purposes, being of even 
form, clear in the skin, and not open to the objection fairly urged 
against many, that they are of no use to eat. This should dis¬ 
qualify them in my opinion, for of what use is a Potato if it can¬ 
not be eaten ? One of the best looking varieties, and about the 
worst I ever tasted, is International. It is next to impossible to 
eat it in most instances, and yet only a few weeks since I saw it 
recommended to the public for field culture. The writer, however, 
did not say anything about its cooking qualities. We tried a few 
rows of Victoria here last season, but they were nearly all diseased 
when dug up. This shows it is not to depended on in a bad season, 
although in dry seasons we have found it very good.—W. H. Divers, 
Ketton Hall Gardens, Stamford. 
THE COLOUR AND FLAVOUR OF GRAPES. 
During the past four years I have only had one house from 
which to cut Grapes of all varieties with any prospect of winning a 
first prize, and I will just note one or two of the lessons forced on 
me during this time. The Vines in this house were eleven 
Muscat of Alexandria, one Black Hamburgh, two Alicante, one 
Madresfield Court, one Mrs. Pince, one Alnwick Seedling, one 
Gros Maroc, two Gros Colman, and two Lady Downe’s. It is a 
span-roofed house with one side facing S.W., and the Muscats are 
all planted on that side. 
To grow them perfectly this collection should have three houses 
at least, as there are a good many difficulties in growing them 
all together. The greatest difficulty perhaps is with Madresfield 
Court and Black Hamburgh, which require abundance of air just 
when the.Muscats require driving rather sharply. The first-named 
has a habit of cracking if kept close and moist, and the latter is apt 
to turn to a rather brilliant scarlet after it has become nearly black. 
We are obliged then to make a sort of compromise, with the result 
of having the Muscats rather smaller in berry than we should like 
to see them, and the Madresfield Court and Black Hambugh rather 
inclined to a brownish shade. The other varieties of black Grapes, 
too, all suffer more or less from the atmosphere necessary for the 
second swelling of the Muscats. 
Now I come to a point I wish to note. The berries of all the 
black varieties with perhaps the exception of the Black Hamburgh 
swell to a very large size, but none of them is as black as I should 
wish to see them. The flavour, however, is excellent and the skins 
are very thin ; indeed, Gros Colman will scarcely bear its own 
weight when laid down, and in flavour it is as good as a great many 
Black Hamburghs I have tasted. I used to have an idea that the 
best coloured Grapes were the best flavoured, but there certainly 
are exceptions. My friend, Mr. Stephen Castle, if my memory 
does not deceive me, said some time ago that the flavour of Grapes 
was contained in the skin only, but here are some with scarcely any 
skin and yet possessing excellent flavour. The Black Hamburgh 
and Madresfield Court are now removed from this house, and most 
of the other black varieties will follow when they can be spared, it 
being intended to train the Muscats from one side to the other. 
In another house heated only with a flue, and that not in a 
sound condition, and where there was no heat applied till the 
Grapes commenced colouring, and abundance of air was given 
throughout the season, Gros Colman and even Mrs. Pince were 
perfectly black. . The berries were not so large as in the other 
house ; the skin is quite thick and the flavour will bear no com¬ 
parison. Here, then, is a repetition of the old lesson. To colour 
black Grapes you must give them abundance of air and not too 
much heat. Muscats will do with comparatively more heat and less 
air during the second swelling. 
I think it may be fairly concluded that the black colour of 
Grapes is in the skin only. The skin itself may be perfectly black, 
and yet if it is very thin the colour of the pulp will be visible 
through it. Query, Does the thickness of the skin and conse¬ 
quently the colour of the fruit depend almost entirely on the 
amount of air given ? In other words, Is the denser colour the re¬ 
sult of a natural effort on the part of the fruit to accommodate 
itself to a greater amount of exposure ?—Wm. Taylor. 
MASDEVALLIAS. 
In your paper of December 15th, 1888, under the heading 
“ Masdevallias ” is the following sentence :—“ Some time ago it 
was said that a titled gentleman in the north had undertaken the 
task at his own expense— i.e., of producing an illustrated mono¬ 
graph of this genus, and I believe large numbers of accurate draw¬ 
ings were prepared by a lady artist.” Perhaps a little more definite 
information about the proposed monograph would interest those of 
your readers who are collectors of this favourite genus. The 
gentleman referred to is the Marquis of Lothian, who has long 
contemplated a work of the kind, and from whose collection of 
Masdevallias at Newbattle Abbey, Dalkeith, about fifty drawings- 
have been made by myself. I also am lithographing the plates for 
the monograph. It is proposed to include coloured plates of about 
100 species (life size) with accurate descriptions of each ; the 
latter to be written by Mr. R. A. Rolfe of the Herbarium, Kew, 
with short additional notes by the Marquis of Lothian. The book 
will be issued in ten parts, each part to contain ten coloured plates 
with descriptions. The size of the work is royal folio, and the 
price of each part will be £2. Part I will probably be ready 
in a few weeks, when circulars will be issued.— Florence H. 
Woolward. 
CYPRIPE DIUMS. 
Manual of Orchidaceous Plants. Part IV. Cypripediums. 
James Yeitch & Sons, Royal Exotic Nursery, 544, King’s- 
Road, Chelsea. 
Lcs Cypripediees. By A. Godefroy-Lebeuf and N. E. Brown, 
Argenteuil, France, and J. Yeitch & Sons, Chelsea. 
Orchid literature has been recently increased by two very 
important contributions, both dealing with Cypripediums, and to 
the first of these, that by Messrs. Veitch & Sons, we will now 
devote a few remarks. This is a continuation of the excellent series 
of monographs commenced some time ago, and in which the genera 
Odontoglossum, Cattleya, Lselia, and Dendrobium have already 
been treated. Admirable as these have been, there is little doubt 
that the present one dealing with Cypripediums will rank m general 
opinion as one of the best, both in execution and interest. It is 
uniform in size with the preceding parts, contains 108 clearly 
printed pages, thirty-eight illustrations, and two coloured maps 
showing the geographical distribution of the species in the Old and 
New Worlds. A popularly written but scientifically accurate 
description of the principal characters of the genus is first given, 
the geography and culture are also summarised in a clear and 
practical manner, and then follow the descriptions of species, 
varieties, and hybrids. Under each of these much interesting 
historical and cultural information is supplied, and the majority of 
the more distinct forms are depicted, either in small single flower 
woodcut illustrations, or in full page engravings. A most im¬ 
portant section of the work is devoted to the hybrids, which are 
classified in eleven groups under the name of the hybrids which 
constituted the chief types. This must have been a work of con¬ 
siderable difficulty, and, in fact, one group is devoted to three 
hybrids— i.e., Fraseri, porphyrochlamys, and vexillarium, which are 
not referable to any of the other ten. For this section alone the 
book would be welcome to all lovers of Orchids, as no one could be 
better qualified to deal with the subject than Messrs. Yeitch and 
Sons. 
As an example of the illustrations we are enabled, by the kind¬ 
ness of the authors, to reproduce the engraving (fig 15) of Cypri- 
pedium Stonei platytienium, which is accompanied bv the following 
note :— 
“ The variety platytaenium was imported along with a lot of 
Cypripedium Stonei, from Sarawak, in 1863, by Messrs. Low & Co. 
Some of the plants of this importation were acquired by Mr. Day, 
and amongst them, unknown to himself at the time, this superb 
variety, which for several years afterwards existed as a single 
specimen, the only one ever known to have been imported. It 
flowered for the first time in Mr. Day’s collection in 1867, whence 
subsequently it became very sparingly distributed by division of 
the original plant. On the dispersion of Mr. Day’s plants at 
Stevens’ rooms in the spring of 1880, the strongest pieces that had 
