102 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
f February 7, 1889. 
fully pickel over, wireworms looked for, an! not too tenderly treated 
when found, any too strong or living roots in the turf picked out, and 
worms and grubs of every kind got rid of. After this is done the de¬ 
cayed cow manure, leaf mould, and grit are added, and the whole mixed 
up together. The heap will now be turned every day or two as to get 
the ingredients well incorporated. Being thus freely exposed to the 
air the whole will be thoroughly well sweetened before the potting time 
comes. Of course none of the soil should be sifted ; the larger pieces do 
excellently for placing over the drainage, and it will be found that the 
roots of the plants much delight in laying hold of it. 
Gladiolus. —It is a quiet time now for the grower of these beauti¬ 
ful flowers. The corms are, or ought to be, quite at rest, and the main 
point now is to look over them and consider the arrangements necessary 
for planting. It will save much time by-and-by if the number of corms 
required for each bed is considered, and the sorts to be planted on each 
arranged. I am never very particular as to planting according to 
colour. For those who like to amuse themselves by potting their 
corms first now is the time, but except the district be a very unfavour¬ 
able one I do not advise it. It may be useful in such very late varieties 
as Phoebus, Duchess of Edinburgh, and others, which rarely flower 
until all the others are past and gone. If there is frost the beds may 
be turned over and the soil exposed to the sweetening and disintegrat¬ 
ing action of the frost. 
Ranunculus. —It will soon be time now to think about planting 
the beds of these beautiful flowers (the Persian section), which are, 
alas! not nearly so much grown as they ought to be. The tubers should 
be examined in order to see that there is no mould about them. It is 
of no use to think of planting while the ground is wet, but on the first 
fine day after the beginning of February it may be done. When the 
bed is levelled rows should be drawn about 5 inches apart, and the 
tubers planted about 1£ inch deep, leaving a space of about 4 or 5 inches 
between each tuber, a little silver sand being placed around each, the 
rows closed, and the bed then lightly raked over. 
Pansies. — It has been a good winter for these also; at any rate 
where they have been in small pots there has not been any frost to 
injure them, and they do not so much mind damp as some other 
flowers. I have just potted mine in small 32’s and large 48’s ; they 
have been placed in a frame where they will be protected from frost 
and drip, and by-and-by removed to the house where I flower them. 
Mine are entirely those of the fancy class, and I have not added any 
new ones this year, as I find that there is very little novelty in them, 
and few a'-e improvements on those what we already have.—D., Deal. 
P.S. —In my article at page 45, in speaking of Mr. Bolton, it should 
read “ a nephew of Mr. Barlow,” not “ neighbour.” 
NOTES ON GRAPES. 
If Mr. Hilton’s only point of contention anent the Madresfield 
Court Grape question has been to prove that good Grapes of this variety 
can be grown without ever closing the bottom ventilators from the time 
the Grapes commenced colouring, I will assent to that dictum; to which 
I will add the additional statement, that I believe they can be grown 
still better by the attention to ventilation which I have previously 
suggested, and for reasons already given. 
Now that your correspondent has given the temperatures at which 
his late vinery was kept in a definite manner, I confess to be greatly 
surprised at them, not so much on account of the Hamburghs as the 
other varieties. To defer the starting of houses containing Lady Downe's 
and Gros Colman till April, and then to give them a night temperature 
of only 60°, and one which seldom exceeded 70° by day, seems to me to 
be somewhat akin to courting failure at the outset, as all late Grapes 
should be started by the be r inning of March if they are expected to 
ripen properly. Even then they would not be likely to do so if the 
day temperature seldom exceeded 70°; but if kept from 65° to 70° at 
night, and allowed to rise to 80° to 85" from sun heat with ventilation, 
there would then be reasonable prospect of their ripening before the 
autumn was too far advanced. 
It is surpr'sing in what different lights each individual views the 
same facts. To my mind the instances cited by Mr. Hilton, where 
Hamburghs grown under thick plated glass never coloured well except 
in bright seasons, in no way weakens the argument it was intended to 
refute, because when grown under such conditions the Vines do not get 
the benefit of what light and sun there is m dull seasons. There is a 
wide difference between growing Vines under the subdued light which 
finds its way to them through thick ribbed glass, and in giving them a 
light shade when the sun is hot at colouring time, which proceeding Mr. 
Hilton took exception to in a previous note. The excessive heat to 
which Vines are subjected at such times causes the Grapes to ripen so 
rapidly that the energies of the Vines are taxed beyond their powers to 
supply the amount of colouring matter needed ; then is the critical 
time when shading becomes beneficial by keeping the temperature more 
equable, and t hereby allowing sufficient time for the proper performance 
of each stage of the colouring process. At other stages of the Vines’ 
existence they require all the light they can get through clear glass, 
from the time the buds burst and the first tiny leaves unfold. Stronglightis 
necessary to produce thick leathery leaves and firm short-jointed shoots. 
Vines growing under thick ribbed glass would not get the amount of 
light necessary during these stages, and the duller the season the more 
they would suffer in that respect ; and the fact of their colouring well in 
bright seasons only serves to show that the extra sunshine counteracted 
the unfavourable influence of the ribbed glass, and rendered the condi¬ 
tions under which they were grown similar to Vines grown under clear 
glass in ordinary seasons. Therefore, I think by bringing forward the 
case of Vines grown under adverse conditions Mr. Hilton has failed to 
refute my statement that Black Hamburghs colour quite as well -not 
better, as your correspondent quotes me—in dull seasons as in bright 
ones, and when failure occ.urs it is in consequence of the improper 
regulation of the elements under our control rather than from the 
weather. . 
Various opinions have been advanced from time to time by different 
cultivators as to the best means to adopt to produce well finished ex¬ 
amples of Madresfield Court Grape without being troubled with crack¬ 
ing. The attainment of this object seems to be attended with great 
difficulties in some instances, while in others, from the glowing accounts- 
we sometimes read, the ordinary treatment given to Black Hamburghs- 
when applied to this capricious favourite, is production of results that 
leave but little to be desired. These have already been numbered with 
the achievements of the past, for the writer of the short paragraph on 
page 67 of this Journal was reserved the distinction of accom¬ 
plishing such eminently satisfactory results as those there described by 
giving precisely the same treatment in the matter of watering at the- 
roots during seasons so widely different as those of 1887 and 1888. But 
such practice is scarcely advisable for the majority of the readers of 
the Journal to follow, as I venture to assert that few cultivators would, 
manage to colour the Grape in question thoroughly well during so- 
bright a season as that of 1887, if they applied no water to the roots- 
from the time the Grapes commenced colouring till they were fully 
ripe.— H. Dunkin. 
THE COLOUR AND FLAVOUR OF GRAPES. 
On seeing Mr. Taylor’s Grapes at the Crystal Palace last September- 
I was of opinion that they had been grown under too much shade. His- 
note in the Journal of last week proves to my own mind that it is so. 
Grapes grown under heavy foliage are thinner in the skin, and the- 
colour is not so deep. This makes the difference in the two houses he 
mentions ; one has large thick leathery leaves, and the other smaller and- 
not so thick. We have been in the habit of shutting out too much sun¬ 
light from most black Grapes, especially Madresfield Court. This Grape 
cannot be coloured properly under heavy shade ; the bloom may be there,, 
but the blackness of the skin will be absent. I firmly believe that more- 
Grapes are spoiled of this variety from the above cause than any other.. 
Mr. Taylor’s Grapes are splendid examples of high cultivation, with only 
a slight deficiency in colour, but I think he will find by exposing the- 
fruit to more sur. and not quite so much heat from the pipes the skins- 
will be thicker and the colour better.—J. Buby. 
KEEPING GRAPE3. 
We have often read the various items of management connected’ 
with keeping Grapes good and plump till late into the spring, but when 
all are considered the differences in management are more nominal than 
real. We have noticed, however, that great importance is attached to- 
leaving a goodly portion of wood beyond the bunch, for what reason we 
have never yet discovered or seen explained. For more than a quarter- 
of a century we have been rewarded by all the success desirable in 
keeping Grapes by the “ bottling ” method, and at all times we have cut 
the wood close to the bunch, and rubbed a little of Thomson’s styptic or 
grafting wax on the wound. Notwithstanding all that has been written 
on the deterioration of flavour by the use of bottles and water we have- 
never yet been sensible of this, and have taken pains to put fruit before- 
connoisseurs during April and May to get their verdict, which has been 
in every case satisfactory. 
The examples of late-kept Grapes which we have seen on exhibition 
tables in recent years have in the majority of cases been discreditable in 
the extreme, and no doubt the limp and shrivelled berries and dead 
footstalks of the bunches have been caused by full exposure to light - 
and too high a temperature. We hold that Grapes at the end of April 
which could be considered fit for a well-appointed dessert should be- 
plump, the bloom perfect, the footstalks green, and the flavour as good as- 
can be found in October. Proper ripening in autumn on healthy Vines is 
essential to good keeping, but we cannot see what extra length of wood, 
or any at all, beyond the bunch has to do with this. Our Lady Downe’s^ 
and Alicantes during the early part of last May were all we could desire,, 
and were only attended by a boy, little or nothing being necessary 
except adding a little water once or twice during the winter, the.- 
temperature being kept at 45° to 50°.—M. T. 
THE SEASON ON THE WELSH COAST. 
I IMAGINE that many of your readers would shrug their shoulders' 
at the bare idea of a tour through Wales during winter, and picture to- 
themselves the most dreary prospects of being snowbound and frozen up- 
and all sorts of other Arctic inconveniences. True, we can boast of 
snow, but at a most respectable distance, capping our venerable hills- 
nearly six months out of twelve. But thaf only serves to enhance the 
beauty of a wealth of bloom that cheers our valleys and lowlands,, 
when Nature generally is asleep in less favoured climes. 
At a considerable elevation in the Vale of Ffestiniog a fortnight ago 
w'hite and scarlet Rhododendrons under the influence of a clear sunny 
sky had fully expanded noble trusses, as pure and unsoiled as in May. 
I Trusses of Hydrangea were quite as fresh. Nearer the sea Fuchsias and 
