428 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 3. 
were noted down at this place. Besides, almost all tlie 
new and best plants that have been mentioned in Thk 
C oiTAGE Gardener for the last three or four’ years, have 
been brought together here. If Mr. Appleby could call at 
Hasely Court, he would find there many of the best con¬ 
servatory-wall idants. D. Beaion. 
SHANKING OF GRAPES. 
So much has been written on this subject, that one is 
almost bewildered, but I cannot help giving Mr. Errington, 
in as few words as possible, the following facts ; — 
1 have a vinery on the side of an old sand-pit, in a situa¬ 
tion so hot that I thought all the Frontignan and Muscat 
Grapes would ripen without fire heat, particularly as the soil 
is everything that a vine loves—a loose calcareous sand, in 
which Hamburgh vines, growing in the borders in the open 
air, will make shoots twenty feet long, and even ripen then- 
fruit in hot summers, the bunches lying on the ground. 
Well, in the first crop my vines had, I found only a few of 
the Froutignans ripen, the remainder all shanked off, and 
wore wortliless. 1 thought it must be owing to a current of 
water, the result of a thunder storm, which made its way on 
to the border towards the end of summer. I was satisfied I 
had discovered the cause, and took means to prevent any 
more currents of water making such mischief. The second 
crop came in due course, and again my Froutignans were 
shanked. I imputed it to want of ventilation, but was not 
quite satisfied that I knew the cause. When the third crop 
made its appearance, I had air given in abundance, night 
and day, yet again my Froutignans, Chasselas Musque (or 
St. Albans), Muscats, and, indeed, all of the Muscat 
were shanked. I could not blame the border, nor want of 
ventilation, for the following most cogent reasons:— A vine 
oj the Chasselas Musque is planted in the house, in the back 
border, which border is raised three feet, and, of course, from 
being under the glass, is perfectly dry. The grapes it has borne 
have hung close to one of the ventilators, and, in common with 
all the grapes of the same sort and same (Muscat) family, in 
the same house, they have always been shanked and worthless. 
The Hamburgh and other sorts have invariably ripened well 
in the same house. Froutignans and Muscats, growing in a 
house within twenty yards of the above, with fire heat and 
abundance of air, never shank, and always ripen well. Now 
I deduce from all this, that loivness of temperature is the 
main cause of shanking, and that its cure, the borders being 
in decent order, is gentle fire-heat and abundance of air.— 
T. Rivers, Sawbridgeworth Nurseries. 
A VISIT TO DANTZIC. 
The voyager who proceeds from England to Dantzic, will 
obtain a fine panoramic view of the shores of Denmark and 
Sweden, with several islands of the Baltic. The distance is 
about 1000 miles, and the yacht in which 1 sailed reached it 
in six days. The Captain first brought-to at Elsinore, for 
I the purpose of paying the Sound Dues ; a tribute levied by 
: the Danish government on all foreign vessels, for maintain- 
j ing the lighthouses, buoys, and other aids to navigation ; 
! but in amount so heavy, that a surplus finds its way into the 
I Danish Exchequer. Commerce is not promoted by heavy 
I imposts ; and nations, to become wise, should learn to be 
I just. The town is a small, dull, ill-paved seaport, with 
I stores rather than shops, containing articles suitable for the 
j crews of vessels calling there. Along the quays w-ere 
[ arranged, side by side, a lino of small sloops, with wooden 
; sheds erected upon the after-part of the decks, the ends of 
I which lifted up, and formed an awning over the mouth of 
I the hold. Tliese were the provision boats from the neigh- 
i bouring islands; and on descending by a plank, you found 
I yourself in the midst of butter, cheese, eggs, hams, bacon, 
' fowls, sausages, strings of smoked geese, ducks, Ac., in fact 
; all the conceivable, produce of a small Danish farm, 
j Leaving Elsinore, we next cast anchor in the heel of 
1 Dantzic, a broad and deep bay, at the bottom of which 
j stands the little village of Freshwater. Here our voyage 
I terminated, and the Captain again landed, to submit his 
J papers to the inspection of the harbour master, and to 
undergo the examination of the Custom-house. If Prussian 
commerce declines, it will not be for the want of fiscal 
regulations. Dantzic is situated five miles up the Vistula, 
wliich here empties itself; tlie town belongs to a bygone 
century, having rows of streets running from north to soutli, 
like the bars of a gridiron, and terminating on a line of 
quays; each street being shut in at night by folding gates. 
The portions of the town not bordered by the river are 
enclosed by a fosse and ramparts; and an outlet into the 
country is across a drawbridge. 1 reached Dantzic late in 
the evening, and having taken up my quarters at a com¬ 
fortable hotel, found the next morning, on I’ising, that my 
chamber window opened on to a balcony; and being over 
one of tlie gateways looked directly up the centre of the 
street. This centre was filled by two rows of trees, which 
mingled their branches at top, and formed beneath a beau¬ 
tiful arcade. The houses stood with their gable ends to the , 
street; and between them and the trees was a raised terrace 
about twelve feet wide, with a stone balustrade in front, the 
space being subdivided into small courts; these were usually 
benched round, and here the occupiers displayed their 
merchandize, and of an evening chatted and smoked their ^ 
pipes. 
In the principal street was held the provision market; j 
eggs were forty for a shilling, butter sixpence per pound, i 
fowls averaged one shilling each, and vegetables were in- j 
ferior in quality and low in price. .-It the upper end of the j 
town, in a large square, was the hay and straw market; | 
provender of this kind being in request for the troops. ' 
Its chief characteristic was the number of blue blouses and ' 
small caps worn by the peasantry; and their little antique i 
waggons and horses, with long rope traces, apparently more 
adapted for entanglement than draught. The fish market 
was on the quay, having an abundant supply of odd-looking 
fish, for the Baltic is not salt, but brackish; and its finny 
tribes vary from those of our shores. The beautiful stur¬ 
geon, so rare w-ith us, appears in great abundance, from six 
inches to four feet long. Fish enters largely into the diet 
of the inhabitants; and dried fish, with rye bread, is much 
consumed by the lower classes. In the secondary streets 
every kind of trade seems carried on out-of doors ; you 
encounter pump-borers, carpenters, trunk-makers, smiths, 
merchandize of all kinds, and men splitting billet-wood for 
the German stoves. Piles of the latter often block up the 
pathway ; and it is not too much to say, that a man will split 
double the quantity in one day of an English workman; 
their axes are long aud narrow, every blow tells, and skill 
lessens labour. Fowls mingle with the throng, chielly a 
mongrel race; but dogs are peculiar for their fox-like heads, 
pricked ears, deep fur, and curly tails, and are mostly white 
or fawn coloured. But amidst all the display, it is often 
dilficult to find what you wish for. I wanted a barber, and 
was directed to a round fiat brass plate hanging over a door¬ 
way; the barber was a woman, and shaved mo well. A 
woollen draper’s sign was a chest, with a slit on the top, like 
a money-box ; shoemakers, saddlers, and others, had their 
wares painted on the window-shutters; those, though gro¬ 
tesque, were intelligible; but small wooden images, with a 
pair of scales in one hand, and a hank of red worsted in 
the other, puzzled me exceedingly. These w-ero workers in 
amber and made beads, crucifixes, and other articles used in 
Catholic worship. Amber is dug up in the neighbourhood, 
aud indicates the site of an ancient forest. Insects are 
found in amber in a high state of preservation, showing 
that the substance was once a fluid gum ; and entomologists 
who desire fossil species differing from our living ones may 
here obtain them. “ Look here,” said our captain one day 
to me, casting his eye over the side of the vessel: it was a 
flight of mosquitoes set fast on the warm tar. Had those 
alighted on the gummy trunk of a tree, and a fresh exuda¬ 
tion passed over them, they might have gone down enshrined 
to posterity. .Vntiquaries, who prize articles of vertn, so far 
as primitive form and workmanship are concerned, would 
find Dantzic a museum. i 
Corn is the staple article of export. A large hall in the 
centre of the town, and which serves as an Exchange, is 
where the business is carried on. .Tews are the principal 
merchants. They are the Josephs of Egypt, buying up the 
corn of the provim^es. A long table runs down one side of I 
the hall, on this are placed large wooden bowls, containing | 
