February 9, 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
369 
j Class 49 .— Geese. — Gander and two Geese. —801. First prize, Captain 
| Windham Hornby, R.N., Knowsley Cottage, Prescot. 807. Second 
prize, William Charlton, Seedley. 804. Third prize, Mrs. Thomas 
( Townley Parker, Astley Hall, Chorley. 
Class 50.— Ducks (White Aylesbury).— Drake and three Ducks .— 
I 810. First prize, Christopher Rawson, The Hurst, Walton-on-Thames. 
1 827 . Second prize, Mrs. Lydia C. Stow, Bredon, near Tevvsbury. 815. 
Third prize, John Hunt, Barrow, near Ulverston. 
Class 51.— Ducks (Rouen).— Drake and three Ducks. —834. First 
prize, Henry Worrall, Knotty Ash House, Liverpool. 839. Second 
prize, R. E. Ashton, Ramsbottom, near Bury. 836. Third prize, Thomas 
Statter, Stand Hall, Pilkington. 
Class 52.— Ducks (Of any other variety).— Drake and three Ducks .— 
847. First prize, Henry Worrall, Knotty Ash House, Liverpool. (Call 
Ducks.) 848. Second prize, Miss Clifton, Whittington, near Worcester. 
(Black East Indian.) 86l. Third prize, William Hodgkinson, Gough 
Hill, Birmingham. (Muscovy.) 
Class 53.— Turkeys. — Turkey Cock and two Hens. —871* First prize, 
Joseph Conyers, 42, Boar Lane, Leeds. 866. Second prize, Captain 
Windham Hornby. R.N., Knowsley Cottage, Prescot. 870. Third prize, 
E. H. Wilmot, Hulme-Warfield, Conglcton. 
Extra Stock. —898. Prize. Rev. Thomas Lyon Fellowes, Beighton 
Rectory, Acle, Norfolk. (Black Hamburghs.) 909 . Prize. Thomas 
Whittington, jun., Wooton Wavven, near Henley-in-Arden. (Anda¬ 
lusian.) 
ST. LAWRENCE VINEYARD. 
Amongst the many establishments worthy of the horti¬ 
culturist’s attention in the Island of Jersey is a Vineyard 
situate on the south-western side of the island, and on the 
same side of the St. Lawrence Hill, about two and a half 
miles from the town of St. Helier’s, and overlooking the 
beautiful Bay of St. Aubin’s, the property of a very worthy 
and spirited gentleman, who has devoted much of his time, 
during the last seven years, in turning a “ barren cotil and 
furze bank” into a valuable and profitable piece of property. 
The crops now produced being turned to very good ac¬ 
count, through the many advantages the peculiar position 
of the property offers, and the good judgment which has 
been displayed by'the proprietor in availing himself of those 
advantages. 
The whole area of this establishment is about two English 
acres, which is terraced and faced according to the facing of 
the hill slope. S.E. and S.W., but principally S.W., the 
upper portion of which is covered with glass constructions, 
which are devoted exclusively to the cultivation of the Vine ; 
the measured length of which is more than half a mile; 
which are heated with boilers and hot-water pipes of Messrs. 
Burbidge and Healy's construction; the capacity of which 
system is more fully developed here than in any other 
establishment I have had the advantage of visiting; for the 
pipes, in several instances, are fixed on an inclined plane, 
and owing to the irregularity of the surface of the ground, 
the extreme ends of the pipes are many feet above the level 
of the boilers, and the houses being from two to three 
hundred feet long, the water in the pipes has to flow a great 
length up hill before it reaches the return pipe to the 
boiler; and the pipes at the extreme end, near the expansion 
box, are often much warmer than nearer the boiler, main¬ 
taining in the whole a beautiful and congenial heat through¬ 
out the house or houses, which are, of course, heated in 
compartments, and by different boilers. 
The worthy proprietor, who feels much interested in the 
cultivation of the vine, himself devotes much personal 
attention to the manner in which the manual labour is 
performed, and the result of such attention must be very 
gratifying to him, for the crops produced during the seasons 
1852 and 1853 have been prodigious, and have surpassed 
j all expectation, five to six tons of well-coloured and finely- 
; flavoured grapes having been cut in 1852, and seven to eight 
tons in 185.3; the greatest portion of which have been sold 
in the London markets, realizing a good profit to the sales¬ 
man ; a living to the individual employed in conveying 
them to and fro, in his capacity as “ middleman; ” and 
remuneration, with interest, to the employer and proprietor 
for his outlay and incidental expence.s; who has, on the 
other hand, the gratification of employing, advantageously, 
several hands in attending to the houses, Vines, grounds, &c., 
and preparing the fruit for the market. So much for the 
wise application of leisure time, at a leisure period of life; 
the proprietor being a man in easy circumstances, inde¬ 
pendent of the establishment, which has been a source of 
recreation and amusement, during the last few years, to his 
ingenious and persevering mind, and now proves a valuable I 
investment of capital, independent of the moral source of 
gratification arising from the amount of good it does to j 
others; and the proof that, “ Without steadiness of purpose i 
no real good can be realized." 
But again, there are many things which would take a 
thoughtful gardener’s (either amateur or professional) atten- | 
tion in. walking over this establishment. One striking j 
peculiarity is, that more than half of the Vines are planted ! 
in the borders at the backs of the houses, which are on a | 
level with the top of this wall, and are trained down the 
rafters instead of up, which, to reason, seems the actual 
perversion of Dame Nature’s laws respecting the flow and 
descent of sap ; but whether it is the nature of the dressing 
given to the borders, the natural vigour of the Vine, or the 
mode of pruning and management (each plant not being 
allowed more than a single rod, ■which is most unmercifully 
stumped-in every season, not allowing a spur or an eye to 
remain visible, and then being painted over with a coat of 
“lime, soft soap, and sulphur vivum mixed,” to boot), I 
know not; but the Vines seem to thrive well under it, and 
they are close or sliort-jointed, and when excited to growth 
in winter or early spring; December, January, and February, 
being the periods at which they are started, so as to ripen 
the fruit in rotation, they break at the joints or bends of 
the wood, with three, four, and five eyes or shoots, giving 
striking evidence of health and vigour; the strongest one 
or two of these shoots are allowed to remain, according to 
the requirements of that particular part of the roof, and the 
remainder are rubbed off with the thumb. 
These being the two most marked peculiarities respecting 
the culture of the plants themselves, which are principally 
of the Black Hamburgh and Muscat of Alexandria varieties, 
it would be wasting most of your readers time to recapitulate 
the whole process of Vine culture. We all know, or think 
we know, a good deal about these simple things, and “ Mr. 
Annus,” having been the first pruner of vines, or having 
accidentally nipped off the tops of the young shoots, and 
attracted man’s attention to what he had not before noticed, 
I must leave to more able heads and hands the development 
of the aforementioned personage’s theory, merely specifying, 
that the topping of the young shoots, and the thinning 
of the berries on the brandies, is here performed with 
far less ceremony and expenditure of time than is usually 
bestowed on such operations. 
The Grapes ripen very early here, being in abundance 
during the months of May, June, and July, and the Vines 
are then drawn out of the houses, or the lights are taken 
off, after the fruit is gathered, so as to perfect the develop¬ 
ment of the plants growth for the season, to ripen the wood 
and prepare the plants to be resubjected to similar treatment 
the eusuing year. 
It was a question in my mind, for some years after seeing 
this practice commenced, “ That turning the Vines down¬ 
wards could not possibly answer for any length of time; ” and 
I do not doubt that many of your readers may enter into 
the same line of thought. I considered that “ Art might 
assist Nature; but that the perversion of Nature’s ways 
must end in disappointment.” Such were my thoughts; but 
here we may see the perversion of Nature made Nature’s 
assistant, and turned to the best possible account, by 
answering all the purposes required of it. Shortness of 
joint in wood, prolific bearing, apparent health and vigour 
of plant, whilst the foresight displayed in so planting them 
provided a body of good mould between the back wall and 
the slope of the hill, for the nourishment and support which 
could not have been obtained by equally easy and convenient 
means in any other way in this particular locality. 
As it may be readily supposed, there is a large quantity 
of rain falls on the roofs of such a surface of houses and 
sideling ground ; and that the run of such quantities of 
water would be highly injurious to the terraces and property 
beneath ; this the proprietor has prepared himself to meet 
by having a number of large circular cisterns built on the 
surface of the grounds with bricks and cement, to receive 
the water from each of the roofs, each of which is supplied j 
with a large watercock, at or near the bottom, which is I 
turned on when the rains are heavy, and these cisterns j 
