THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
April 8. ' 
18 
for the Indians declare it to be flavourless when grown 
there. 
This last-named tuber would probably thrive in England, 
and deserves to be enquired for. 
VINES UNDER GLASS. 
(Continued from vol. vii. p. 352.) 
In pursuance of this subject, opened as above, we may 
turn attention to Greenhouse Vines; and in order to meet 
the majority of cases and extreme difficulties, let us sup¬ 
pose that the cultivator lias but one small bouse, and 
that beneath bis vines be lias a collection of in-door 
plants in pots. There are thousands of cases of this 
kind in Britain, and out of many scores which we have 
inspected in our day, we can scarcely count a dozen in 
which the joint culture of vines and plants was 
thoroughly successful. This points at once to the dif¬ 
ficulty of the thing; and, indeed, amateurs perhaps seek 
more frequently advice on this head than any other. 
Greenhouse vines are generally in full leaf by the 
middle of April, and from the period of the first stop¬ 
ping to the completion of thinning in the berry, the 
cultivator requires free access to his vines. Now we all 
know that the shelves of houses of this character are 
generally crammed almost to suffocation with the pot 
tribes; and not unfrequently do we see a few pet plants, 
as ericas, geraniums, petunias, fuchsias, roses, &c., &c., 
under a process of high staking and culture for the ex¬ 
hibition tables at the nearest great flower show. Here, 
then, is a medley mixture of objects; and here the 
collective virtue of the climates of the Cape, the Brazils, 
Chili, the south of Europe, and Syria, have to be com¬ 
bined in a mere band-box. Such being the position of 
affairs, the cultivator should lose no time, as soon as the 
middle of March is come, in weeding out all surplus pot 
plants, in order that justice may be done to the various 
processes of disbudding, stopping, thinning the berry, 
and training; for so sure as the pot-plants are crammed 
thickly, so certainly will abuse or neglect take place, 
both in the vines and the plants. 
Now, since few persons thus situated desire to have 
all their pot-plants in bloom in the spring and early 
portion of the summer, a classification of the plants 
becomes necessary; most of those for an autumn display 
may be placed in some temporary shelter until the vine 
processes before alluded to have been carried out, when 
a fresh arrangement may again be made. 
As to shelter, of course cold-pits or frames will be 
capital, but many do not possess such, or if they do, can 
scarcely spare them, so heavy a demand existing for 
those in the production of culinary matters. Those, 
therefore, who cannot command such things, might 
manage very well by obtaining some covering materials, 
at once transparent and waterproof, and suspending it 
on poles or rafters in some corner well protected from 
the north and east. Common garden mats would do for 
the sides, and we would sink the ground nearly half-a- 
yard below the ordinary level; taking at the same time 
proper precaution against lodgments of water. Such a 
place might, being firmly built, become a permanent 
portion of the gardening structures; for we have found 
such a thing useful the whole year. The selection of 
plants, and the operations requisite, we leave to our 
most experienced helpmates, Messrs. Appleby and Eish, 
who will teach us all something when they grapple with 
the subject. 
A few remarks will now be offered as peculiarly 
attaching to the culture of Greenhouse Vines. In the first 
place, a more free circulation of air becomes necessary 
than in the true vinery ; and this not only to prevent the 
pot-plants “ drawing,” but to disperse foul gases of all 
kinds, which are ever floating in the air where crowded 
collections of plants of heterogeneous character and 
habit are commingled together. We strongly suspect that 
the air of such small houses is more corrupted by far 
than the generality of cultivators are aware of ; we have, 
before now, breathed an atmosphere in such places 
which strongly brought to mind the once famous, or 
rather infamous, black-hole of Calcutta. If there be any 
propriety in ventilating night and day in any garden 
structures, it is surely in these. There can be little 
doubt that the nakedness of stem, and inequality of the 
shoots, which we so frequently find in the greenhouse 
vinery, is attributable to the great temptation that exists 
in the months of March and April to indulge in un¬ 
warranted temperatures for the sake of obtaining early 
flowers. Those who are about to build houses for these 
double purposes, will do well to make a provision for | 
border heating, as in that practice will be found a 
remedy for the imbecile and lanky condition too fre¬ 
quently observable. 
Another point; atmospheric moisture. This, during 
much of the year, is very likely to exist in excess; for, 
it must be remembered, that every flower-pot is a kind 
of evaporating pan of slow but continuous action. And 
here our attention is attracted to the occasional applica¬ 
tion of fire-heat, whether in April or August, in the day, 
for other purposes than heat. It should be observed by 
the manager that 00°, without air, will draw the plants 
more than 70° with a liberal circulation, and this on 
account of accumulation of atmospheric moisture. 
R. Errington. 
(To be continued.) 
ARRANGING FLOWER-GARDENS AND 
BOUQUETS. 
There are some gardeners who enjoy the reputation 
of being thought masters in the places where they serve, 
and their employers are looked upon merely as so many 
bankers, who transact the money business of Cabbage & 
Co. And prime ministers get the credit of being as much 
the masters of Queens, Kings, and Emperors, as the said 
firm are of being those of easy gentlemen in the country. 
For very many years previous to the revolution of 1848, 
Prince Metternich is said to have been the chief ruling 
power in Austria, if not all over Germany, and one 
feature of that immense sway comes within the range of 
The Cottage Gardener. He was a great promoter of gar¬ 
dening and botany, and other brandies of art and natural 
history. I have heard it said that the late Emperor of 
Austria devoted a certain sum of money, every year, to 
defray the expenses of a number of intelligent young 
men from his dominions, to travel and reside in other 
countries for a time, in search of useful information, and 
that he appointed them to various posts on their return 
home. A young gentleman, who came over to England 
thus so far provided for, is among my own personal ac¬ 
quaintances. To the profession of a gardener he added 
that of a gardening artist, could take plans of anything, 
and make portraits of trees, flowers, &c., and lay out and 
plant new gardens to auy extent. Among other things 
he did while in this country, was to take plans, for his 
own private portfolio, of as many of the villa seats round 
London as he could find access to. I asked him one 
day what he intended to do with such and such plans ! 
of places, that appeared to me to be little better than 
a mass of confusion. “ That is just the reason why 
I take so much pains to fix them in my memory,” was 
his reply. “ Your countrymen prefer studying in the 
best schools, and from the most approved desigus and 
models, hence the reason why your young artists are less 
fertile at invention than those of some other countries,” 
which he named. There is hardly a place, however 
badly arranged, without some point of excellence or | 
