1875. ] 
PECULIARITIES OF VINE-CULTURE. 
65 
the last two seasons, the most productive Plums that we have here, and succeed 
the same kinds grown on the south wall, those on the north being about a fortnight 
later than those on the south wall—those on the south wall ripening at the end of 
July, those on the north wall about the middle of August. When they are 
thoroughly ripe the flavour is good, being very sweet and juicy, and they can be 
used either for tarts or dessert. 
Another Plum we have grown on the same wall is Prince Englebert , which 
was figured in the Florist and Pomologist for December, 1874 ; this bears and 
ripens well, and is good enough for the dessert-table. 
Denyers Victoria is also with us a great bearer, but the fruit grown on the 
north wall is not so large nor so good in flavour as that which is grown on an east 
wall in the same garden; it is nevertheless very useful for culinary purposes. 
The Orleans Plum does well with us on the north wall. We grow both the 
Blue Imperatrice and the Ickworth Imperatrice on the same wall, but they are 
very shy bearers compared with those named above ; still, being very late varieties, 
they are worth growing, as they hang on the trees well for weeks after they are 
ripe.— William Plester, Elsenham Hall Gardens. 
PECULIARITIES OF VINE-CULTURE. 
jUKING the thousands of years that have gone by since men first grew corn 
and wine, every year has had its seed-time, its vintage, and its harvest; and 
we infer that each generation has left its laws and code of culture to the 
next, in the first instance, by act or word, and eventually by writing. 
Hence we read of the browsing of a goat first suggesting the pruning of the Vine. 
From that rude beginning, down to our own time, what changes have come over 
pruning! I once saw a celebrated Grape-grower, Mr. Crawshay, at Colney Hatch, 
Middlesex, prune his Vines so closely that they were as smooth as walking-sticks! 
He trusted to adventitious buds for a crop, and was not disappointed ; but, let me 
ask, what other plant than the Vine would have borne such cutting, and yet have 
lived and borne fruit ? 
When a plant in a pot pushes forth roots, they naturally travel outward and 
downward, and in so doing, keep feeling their way all round the pot for an 
outlet, so that one side of the feeders is always starving against a brick-earth 
pot. Now, in olden times, there were bulb-pots of great depth used, because the 
feeders of the bulbs made their way chiefly downward. The usual shape of a 
flower-pot is that of the frustum of a cone, whose greatest diameter is the same 
as its depth ; but if the health and well-being of the plant were all that we were 
concerned about, the depth might be doubled, for we see the roots of a Hyacintli- 
bulb in water shaping their course downward, although there is nothing to divert 
them from spreading. 
It seems to be an established fact that wherever water is rising in the form 
of vapour, there is always electricity. Again, we have the positive and negative of 
the earth and the air, so that at the very surface of the earth, and neither higher 
G 
