266 
THE FLORIST AND TOMOLOGIST. 
[ December, 
Heliotrope flowers, both for colour and perfume, in mixed bouquets, or for 
decorative purposes. The plant here at this date is a large bush, and 
might have been 3 or 4 feet in height had it not been cut in so much for 
the flowers. Where room can be spared for it, there is no plant that I know 
of more worthy than the Heliotrope of being planted out either as a climber 
or bush in the greenhouse or conservatory. The surprising growth and 
beauty of the plant is never seen when grown in a pot; and when planted 
out-doors, the winter settles its pretensions before it arrives at any great size. 
Welbeck. William Tillery. 
ASPIDISTRA LURID A VARIEGATA. 
f PIIS plant is worthy of special recommendation for the striking effect 
of the leaves, especially when placed in the centre of a bank of 
f 1 Ferns, or on a table of Orchids where it is seen to command attention. 
The broad bands of white contrast well with the dark green of the 
older leaves, while the sap-like green of the younger ones, ribbed or 
banded with white, in which there is the slightest trace of sap-green renders 
the plant conspicuous anywhere. When well contrasted amongst a variety 
of different forms or colours, it serves a good purpose, and is a mark upon 
which the eye will rest. In this age of many-coloured leaves it should not 
therefore be neglected. Whether this is the same as others which I see in 
the continental catalogues under a different name, I am not able to say. 
Southend , Darlington. John Richardson. 
GRAPE CULTURE. 
ESUMING the remarks broken off at page 245, I observe, that the 
practice of mutilating the Vines instead of carefully pruning them, 
cannot be too severely condemned. Careful and judicious pruning, the 
result of experience and discretion, advances or retards a crop of 
Grapes very seriously, and at the same time adds very considerably to 
the expenses of production. To shave Vine rods so close as to cut off all 
lateral shoots is simply “horticultural barbarity;” to cut those laterals 
immediately beyond a plump sound bud is good practice, and productive of 
satisfactory results. To allow too many shoots to proceed from the joints 
is simply distressing the Vines unnecessarily; but to select the most 
vigorous and healthy, regulating the operation by the space which the roof 
affords, to train them carefully, so that they do not interfere with their 
neighbour’s portion of it, and to shorten the shoot at the leaf beyond where 
the bunch of bloom shows, provokes the growth of the bunches, and concen¬ 
trates the juices of the Vine upon them, without allowing it to expend itself 
unnecessarily. Thus far it will be allowed, I hope, that I have proved the 
theory of Vine culture to be simple and easy, and only requiring the amount 
