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THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. [September, 
Finally, soils after they are procured, should either be placed in an open 
shed where the air can act freely upon them, or the stacks should be covered 
separately, so as to ensure the soil being protected from drenching rain. Nothing 
tends so much to the vigorous growth of plants as free healthy soils, and these can 
only be had by proper preparation at the proper time. Good soils are those of a 
soft, unctuous quality, which work smoothly in the hand, as compared with 
harsh stubborn soils. Get soil of that quality at the proper time, and success is 
pretty certain to crown well-directed efforts at superior cultivation.—W. P. A. 
KEEPING GRAPES IN WATER. 
S HAD ripe this year, in the month of April, a quantity of Grapes which had 
been forced in pots. The kind was Frankenthal—that best of all the 
? varieties of Hamburghs. My pot vines for next year sadly wanted more 
light. I therefore resolved to cut the crop, and place the bunches in 
bottles filled with water, containing a few pieces of charcoal. That very day it was 
done, and all were safely placed in the fruit-room, the bottles being placed in a 
slanting position, with the neck of the bottle and the bunch hanging over the 
edge of the shelves. There they kept good till all were used; and the young 
vines, which I expect to do duty next year, were transferred to their place in the 
house, there to grow and ripen their wood, which they could not have done so 
effectually in the vinery in which they were growing. But the curious part 
remains to be told. More than half the vines put forth roots in the water, and 
some of them are now two feet long, while the fresh shoots made are from six 
inches to a foot in length. Of course they are of no use, but I mention this fact,, 
as I do not remember to have heard of a similar case. 
I may mention that Grapes after being cut, keep best in a somewhat dark 
place. In a strong light evaporation goes on both from bunch and water, which 
is not so well.—J. Rust, Eridge Castle , Tunbridge Wells. 
GARDEN LITERATURE. 
® HE continuation of Mr. Wooster’s Alpine Plants (Bell and Daldy), of 
which we have previously spoken in commendatory terms, will be welcome 
f to all admirers of hardy plants. The parts now before us (10-11) con¬ 
tain well-executed figures of the pretty Saxifraga Aizoon , Silene Schafta , 
Linarici alpma , Puschkinia scilloides , Pedum Ewersii , Primula amcena , Leucojum 
vernum , Crocus Sieberi , Erythrcea aggregata , Soldanella alpina , and Hedysarum 
obscurum , all plants of interest and of ornament. 
Mr. Newman has given us in his Illustrated Natural History of British 
Butterflies,* a most interesting and valuable companion to the British 
Moths , noticed in our last year’s volume. Gardeners are much interested in 
* ^ w trated Natural History of British Butterflies. By Edward Newman, F.L.S., F.Z.S. London: 
i weecue. 
