APRIL. 
89 
bunches. On one two-foot length of last year’s 
cane we counted twenty such, and on one 
six-foot cane we were told there had been 
originally forty; the bunches themselves, too, 
being remarkable for size, sturdiness, and 
vigour, although the Vines are not yet over¬ 
strong, having made but one year’s growth 
since they were planted. Though itself an 
early Grape, and perfectly adapted for 
forcing, its parents, the Bowood Muscat and 
Troveren, are both late varieties, and though 
itself jet black, both its parents are white. 
The fruit in size and character very much re¬ 
sembles the Muscat of Alexandria, but is of an 
intense black colour, and possessing an excel¬ 
lent and slightly musky flavour. 
Abergeldie Kale. —Mr. Tillery, writing 
of hardy Greens, reports that the Abergeldie, 
a dwarf variety of Early Kale, will stand any 
amount of cold. 
Australian Spinach. —The new Spinach 
of Australia, Chenopodium auricomum , is 
a tall annual plant, growing nearly 6 feet 
high; the stem being erect, branched from the 
base, channelled, and streaked with violet 
red in the solid parts; and the leaves long- 
stalked, alternate, oblong-triangular, irregu¬ 
larly lobate-dentate, and. when young bear¬ 
ing a silvery pulverulence, which disappears 
on the adult parts. The leaves, it' put at 
first in boiling water, and afterwards treated 
as an ordinary plate of Spinach, form a vege¬ 
table agreeable to the taste. Its culture is 
quite easy : The seeds are sown in April in a 
well-manured bed, for the plant is a strong 
feeder, and requires to be watered freely. 
The leaves are gathered when the plants are 
1| foot high, they push on again, and in a few 
days after, another gathering is ready, and so 
on throughout the season.—( Les Mondes.) 
Expert Propagation. —Two instances of 
special success in propagation by cuttings have 
lately been made known. The first is that of 
Chimonanthus fragrans, which Mr Bause, the 
foreman of the floral department at Chiswick, 
has succeeded in striking from cuttings of the 
just-matured young wood, put in about July, 
and kept on a bed of ashes, without bottom 
heat, under hand-lights in a temperate pro- 
pagating-house. In November the cuttings, 
when examined, were found to be callused 
but not rooted; but since that time they have 
made strong branching roots of 6 or 8 inches 
in length. The second is that of the Enkyan- 
thus quinquefloru3, of which Mr. Stan dish’s 
propagator succeeded in rooting four out of 
five cuttings formed of young wood when it 
hadjust acquired firmness. Froma note com¬ 
municated to the Gardeners' Chronicle by 
Mr. Joseph Baumann, of Ghent, it appears, 
however, that the Chimonanthus will strike 
from cuttings as easily and as quickly as 
Fuchsias do, by taking a young plant of it in 
February or early in March into a propa- 
gating-house, and when it has pushed young- 
shoots, removing them and striking them, 
just like cuttings of Fuchsias. In a few days, 
it is stated, they will emit roots. 
Hippophae rhamnoides. —A correspon¬ 
dent of the Gardeners' Chronicle draws at¬ 
tention to this as a very ornamental berry- 
bearing tree, in the following terms : — 
“ This most beautiful berry-bearing plant is 
seldom seen in fruit—a fact no doubt arising 
from ignorance of its being unisexual. Hence, 
wherever it is planted it is generally alone, 
and therefore no berries can be produced; 
moreover, it is a straggling grower, and not by 
any means a general favourite with planters. 
I had the good fortune, however, a short 
time since to pay a visit to the nursery 
of Messrs. Backhouse & Son, of York, where 
I saw a bush about 7 feet in height, and as 
much through, having its stems literally 
covered with berries. These spikes of berries, 
if I may be allowed the expression, were from 
6 to 9 inches in length; the berries them¬ 
selves are of a primrose colour underneath, 
and with a little rose colour next the sun, 
about the size of large Holly berries, and 
somewhat oval in shape. Mr. Backhouse in¬ 
formed me that he travelled a long way to 
procure the male plant many years ago, but 
the sight which the tree presents must have 
amply repaid him. The male and. female 
were planted close together, and the only 
care bestowed for this rich harvest, was 
occasionally to shake the male tree while in 
flower, thereby causing the pollen to fly off.” 
Effects of Snow on Trees during Frost. 
—In recording his experience of the frost of 
January, 1867, and its effects on Coniferous 
trees, Mr. Tillery observes:—“ I am con¬ 
vinced that heavy falls of snow lying on the 
branches of some kinds of Conifers are injurious 
to them in severe frosts, for the branches being- 
much bent, the bark, and sap-vessels get 
ruptured. This is very apparent here amongst 
some young bushy Deodar Cedars. Where 
the snow was brushed off the branches, they 
have escaped, while those not done are much 
browned, and some of the trees, I am afraid, 
are killed. All young Conifers of the heavy¬ 
leaved tender sorts ought, therefore, to be 
relieved of the snow on their branches as far 
as they can be reached, when there is an ap¬ 
pearance of intense frost.” 
Skimmia oblata. —The male plant of this 
species, of which the berried form is figured 
in our volume for 1865, proves to be the 
plant hitherto grown as S. fragrantissima. The 
parent plant of S. oblata some two or three 
years since bore a crop of berries which, no 
other Skimmia being at the time in bloom, were 
fertilised by its own pollen. In subsequent 
years this plant did not perfect its pollen ; and 
in order to secure a crop of berries required to 
be fertilised by some other kind, recourse being 
had to S. fragrantissima with full success. 
Thus the male plant only ofS. fragrantissima 
and the female (or sometimes hermaphrodite) 
only of S. oblata were supposed to be in culti- 
