434 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Junj i, 1887. 
shades, such as we obtain in the useful Reisers Kroon, 
while the softer rose, purple, or crimson shades are chiefly 
traceable to T. suaveolens. The flower of the latter is of 
rather different shape also, rather shorter, less pointed, 
and more cupped than in T. Gesneriana. T. retrofiexa 
has rich yellow flowers, with petals recurving at the t ps; 
but our native species, T. sylvestris, the only Tulip found 
wild in Britain, is by no means a despicable flower, and 
is of a very clear bright yellow. Scattered through a 
border of herbaceous plants this has a pretty effect during 
May. T. fragrans, also with yellow flowers, is another 
pretty species. T. fulgens and T. elegans, both with rich 
crimson flowers, but the latter having black stamens and 
slightly recurving petals, are somewhat dwarfer than the 
others named, are of excellent colour. T. Grei^i is ex¬ 
tremely distinct from the others, very dwarf and remark¬ 
able for its beautifully marked foliage streaked and dotted 
with maroon or almost black markings; its rich scarlet 
flowers with black blotches at the base of the petals are 
also handsome. By crossing this with some of the other 
varieties it might be possible to obtain a distinct race of 
Tulips of dwarf habit and with ornamental foliage. T. 
viriditlora and T. cornuta are two of the curiosities of the 
family, the former with irregularly formed green or 
greenish-yellow flowers, and the latter with long, narrow, 
strangely twisted petals. From one or both of these the 
Parrot Tulips have sprung, and all who are interested in 
the peculiarities of floral form find something to their 
taste in these. 
These are only a few of the most distinct types of 
Tulips ; there are numbers of others with varying attrac¬ 
tions that might be added to collections of hardy plants, 
and all alike thrive best in a rich but well-drained some¬ 
what sandy soil.—L. Castle. 
OUTSIDE VINE BORDERS. 
Early Grapes are always welcome. However good the varieties 
may be they do not improve by being bottled for four or five 
months. Nevertheless, they are important, and must be grown in 
order to maintain an unbroken supply. For the production of 
early Grapes, the advantages of keeping the roots where they are 
certain to be favoured with warmth and good drainage cannot be 
over-estimated. Some may still cling to the old method of trying 
to heat an outside border with fermenting inatsx'ial, but they are 
the minority, and have lagged behind the times unless circum¬ 
stances have compelled adherence to a practice that is both un¬ 
natural and laborious. Advancement has been made in producing 
a supply of early Grapes during the last decade, and much of this 
success is due to smaller houses, combined with shallow inside 
borders. 
Late Grapes may be grown equally as well in outside as in 
inside borders ; but the object is to keep them in the most satis¬ 
factory condition after they are grown. To insure perfect bunches 
and a minimum of mouldy berries before they are bottled, inside 
borders, where the roots are under contro 1 , are necessary. Borders 
that are both inside and out are no better than outside ones in the 
accomplishment of this end. When Vines are given a preference 
of borders an undue portion of the roots go out, however good the 
treatment inside may be. The Grapes after they are well ripened 
keep well or badly in proportion to the quantity of roots they have 
outside. 
I am aware that the manner in which the fruit keeps is largely 
due to suitable atmospheric conditions and ventilating ; but decay 
cannot be averted irrespective of root moisture. The keeping of 
Grapes when the roots are in outside borders are influenced by the 
rainfall of the district. It may be argued by the advocates of out¬ 
side borders that they can be thatched or protected with b lards, 
old sashes, corrugated zinc, and so on to throw off heavy rains. 
There are objections to these methods, one being that of appear¬ 
ance, which is of no small moment in many gardening establish¬ 
ments. Such contrivances show at once that outside borders are 
not the best for late Grapes. The roots of Vines might not be in¬ 
jured in the least in an outside border left to Nature any more than 
the roots of an Apple or Pear tree, but the quality of the fruit and 
its keeping properties are influenced in a very marked degree. Out¬ 
side Vine borders, high and dry, may perhaps answer for late 
Grapes in some localities. I have not, however, been fortunate 
enough to practise in one of these districts. If too much water 
falls upon outside borders—and I take it that such is the case, or 
protection would be dispensed with—why go to the trouble and 
expense of constructing borders conjointly with those inside for 
the roots of the Vines to ramble in ? Obviously where inside 
borders cannot be made outside ones must be resorted to, and the 
coverings must be used to carry off superfluous water from the 
roots. 
We are slowly recognising the fact that large deep borders are 
a great mistake, for they are never filled with roots ; but the pre¬ 
valent notion that Vines need borders nearly or fully 3 feet deep 
and 12 to 18 feet wide out and inside will be a long time before it 
is generally dispelled. If all who believe in large deep borders 
could only dig up Vines, preserving every root, they would be sur¬ 
prised at the small amount in comparison to the quantity of soil 
given them to feed in. They would see the sufficiency at once of 
smaller borders, which would, I, think, result in a general adoption of 
inside borders for late Grapes. I have cleared out and reduced the 
size of inside and outside borders that contained soil enough to last 
a house of Vines for a hundred years if it had been applied to them 
as they required it for food. This the quantity of soil would have 
been ample to have remade the borders at every interval of twenty 
years during that period. What utter waste of labour and material, 
resulting entirely from a mistaken knowledge of the require¬ 
ments of Vines and the root run to which they should be allowed 
access. 
The condemnation of outside borders for late Grapes through 
the destruction of the fruit by the Vines taking up too much water, 
opens up in some respects the theory known as osmosis.” I 
thoroughly believe the theory, if such it may be called, for those 
who disbelieve it can soon put it into practice and destroy-a greater 
quantity of Grapes in a given time by the application of an excess 
of moisture inside the house than they could by pouring water on 
the border to be taken up by the roots, or even by rainfall itself. 
By the process of “ osmosis’’ the berries crack, by the other they do 
not—they practically rot. After they have cracked they mould— 
that is, the cracked portion, but if the atmosphere was suddenly 
changed from a moist to a dry one the cracked portion would 
not mould but dry up. “ Osmosis ” is arrested at once, the cells 
become stopped ; in fact, the cracked portion has the appearance of 
being callused over, and the berries remain good afterwards as long 
as suitable atmospheric conditions are maintained. This season 
some berries of Black Hamburghs that hung over a tank cracked 
early in November ; the tank was emptied, and the berries remained 
perfectly good until they were cut at Christmas, and they were 
equally as sweet as the uncracked ones ; but when the water is 
taken up by the roots from the border to an excess a dry internal 
temperature will not avert the rotting of the berries. 
I am not writing disparagingly of outside borders for Vines on 
which the fruit has to hang for two or three months after it is ripe 
without having carefully noted the perfect keeping of the fruit 
under the conditions of inside and outside borders. The falling of 
the foliage of Vines in outside borders has been unduly prolonged 
by the heavy autumn rains, and the fruit of Vines with roots outside 
have not kept well. A house of Black Hamburghs (roots inside) 
that we commenced using in November were not all cut until after 
Christmas, and we lost very few berries. They kept well, except 
being shrivelled slightly towards the last ; the flavour was very 
good, and therefore was not objectionable. The fruit of Vines in 
a late house (roots inside and out) kept badly, though well ripened 
and early. Now, in this house there are a few young Vines grow¬ 
ing amongst the old ones that have been raised by layering, and are 
carrying a few bunches for the first time, and which I do not think 
have roots outside. The fruit on these have kept well, better thin 
any in the house. The fruit of a young Vine of Alnwick Seedling 
under similar conditions has also kept well ; it cannot have many, if 
any, roots outside. I remember the roots of this vinery being 
turned out, and driven out eleven years ago, and as the roots have 
increased in quantity outside the fruit has kept worse in propor¬ 
tion. As I have said, the keeping of the fruit, all other things 
being satisfactory, depends entirely upon the autumn rainfall, for 
when we have experienced dry or moderately dry autumns the fruit 
has kept well, or the reverse if it has been a wet one. In a small 
span-roofed house for some years we had late Grapes (borders in¬ 
side), and we scarcely ever lost a berry. If I remember rightly, a 
small bunch was sent to the Journal office ten or eleven years 
ago from the same house. The fruit of one Vine in the house 
never kept we'l ; it was at the warmest end, and always produced 
the finest fruit. This was attributed to the tank at that end, but 
this was emptied with no better results. The real cause was dis- 
