March 17. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
Askham, near York; G. Jackson, Esq., York; Dr. 
Hanlley, Ilowilcn; Rev. H. Ilothain, of Ross; and 
Jas. RradJock, Esq., of York. 
R. P. Hill, Esq , of Cradley, in Ilerefordsbire, gives 
a very good form of protection to early-forced veget¬ 
ables. He says :—• 
“Reading in The Cott.vge G.vrdexer of Febrnary 10, an 
account of a siniiile plan for growing early vegetables on 
m.anure-beJs, tbo soil being confined by slalis, I think it 
may not be uninteresting if 1 mention a plaii I have used 
witli great success for covering those beds. I have only 
used it one year ; but a neighbour of mine, who is a large 
farmer, has tried it with uninterrupted success for several 
years, having young potatoes always early in May. The 
plan is to have a frame made of sallow poles, in the same 
manner as a hurdle, of the size of the bed; this 1 cover 
with straw to a suitable thickness, tieiug the straw down 
to the framewwith tarred string or willow bands. When 
done with, I useil tlie straw in the stable, and put the 
frames under the shelter of a tree. I rested the frames on 
four forked sticks driveBi in to a suitable height for the 
plants at the four corners of the bed. I have also a pole 
about ten feet long, with a fork at the end, with which I 
prop up the thatched frames to let in sun and air.” 
Another correspondent, who signs her note “ Queen 
ISIab ” (.a title well deserved, as the fairy queen, we are 
told, delighted to revel among the best of flowers), has 
mucli gratified us with the following information:— 
“ I noticed in your columns, the other day, an account 
of Limnochuris Humholdlii having lived out in an open 
pool at Berlin.”= If it is any satisfaction to you or your 
readers, 1 may mention, that from good authority I 
understand that both Liinnooharis Humholdlii and 
Nymphea cerulea, have been grown in an open tank, in 
the neiglibourhood of Dorking, Surrey, and stood the 
winter, 'fhe only precaution taken was to have the 
water of sufficient depth to prevent the crown and 
roots being injured by frost, ily informant also told 
me he believed the Limnocliaris had produced flowers 
the previous season to that in which he saw it growing. 
The tank was brick, southern aspect, and protected on 
the north side by a wall.” , 
The Newcastle, Northumberland, and Durham Society \ 
for the Improvement of Poultry will hold their next : 
exhibition in the Corn E.xchange, Newcastle, on the j 
30th instant. 
MEETING OE THE HORTICULTURAL 
SOCIETY.— 1st. March, 1853. 
After a fortnight of frost and snow, in which many 
parts of the country were buried very deep, although 
we escaped from it about liOndon, the 1st of March was 
ushered in, hereabouts, in the most gloomy mood ima¬ 
ginable. It was neither frost, nor snow, nor rain, nor 
.hail, but a mixture of the four, which came down, by 
noon, as I got to the Waterloo Station, so fast and 
furious, that I was in a regular mess ere I reached 
Regent-street, where no one would think of sending 
flowers on such a day, for love or money, or medals 
either. Yet we liad some very nice flowers; with two 
good Pine-apples, a Queen, weighing 2-1-lbs., and a 
Black Antigua weghing 3 lbs., from Mr. Davis, Oalrhill, 
near Barnet; and a dish of beautiful, new. Black Ham¬ 
burgh Orapes, as black as sloes, and as tempting as any 
fruit could be to taste, from Mr. Eorbes, gardener to the 
* It was added, that in all prob.ahility it might be tried with euecess in 
the open air in England, 
457 ' 
Duke of Bedford. Large green leaves were cut ofl'w^th 
these Grapes, and sent to prevent those who did not 
knotv better from thinking they were old Grapes from 
last year’s crop. The grape year usually begins with us 
in November, but it has been proved, more than twenty 
years ago, in the neighbourhood of Ediuburgti, and I 
saw this very proof, that from the beginning to the 
middle of September is by far the safest time of the 
autumn to begin to force for early Grapes. Now, Mr. 
Eorbes did not send up word to say what time he began 
last autumn to force those Grapes which he had quite 
ripe for the table last January, or how he managed 
them; but the moment I cast my eyes on them at the 
January meeting, it struck me that he worked them on 
tho Edinburgh plan ; and I know that some of the 
other best grape-growers in England do the same. 
Therefore, although I told tho story in black and white 
long since, I think The Cottage Gardener has not yet 
heard of it, and I may as well out w'ith it once more. 
In 1827 I was in Edinburgh, and the general talk, 
that autumn, among young philosophers of the cabbage- 
school, was about one of the craft, not far from the 
city, who got into sad trouble about an early vinery, 
from which he gathered the last part of the crop in the 
May preceding, and for a month or two afterwards he 
had the glass taken off, and when the house was covered 
early in August they forgot to leave room for air to 
come in or go out; the doors were locked, and on hot 
days the heat inside must have been awful to think of; 
and when a night happened to be very cold, no one 
knows how very cold this locked-up vinery must have 
been. After a while, one of the men discovered that 
the vines were in leaf, the news was immediately con¬ 
veyed “ to Master,” the house was unlocked, and the 
said “Master” looked as cross as two sticks; the 
mishap was to he hushed ; but it got wing, and we soon 
forgot Burk’s misdoings, and the loss of poor daft Jamie 
from the streets. Speculations ran high as to what 
should, could, or ought to have been done, under such 
awkward circumstances. Sixteen years after this, the 
story was told to young England; and in ten years after 
that, Fiew Grapes, and most beautiful Grapes, too, were 
exhibited in Regent-street; and yet the Londoners 
looked on the wonder with as much iudift’erence as did 
the Mandarins on Sir Henry Bottingei'’s tire-shij) in 
the Chinese waters; so that the whole thing, from first 
to last, was a kind of forced acknowledgment, that 
September is the best month, after all, for beginning to 
force the earliest Grapes; therefore, we must say and 
consent to it, that September is the beginning of the 
grape year in our British climate ; and that Grapes can 
now be had fresh and fresh, from one year’s end to 
another, from this “ early - closing ” of the Scotch 
grapery. 
Green Peas. —\Ye had a large dish of green Peas, in 
pod, from Mr. Lewis Solomon, of Covent Garden, as 
good for tho cook as if it were the end of May, with 
Lettuces as crisp and solid as if it were the dog-days. 
'The Peas came from Thoulouse, and the Lettuces from 
near Paris. With these were lots of beautifully-blanched, 
small-curled Endive, Radishes, and other salad things, 
all from under the large bell-glasses I mentioned at 
page 422. That glass was still in the room, tempting 
one to take a regular tour through the country to shiver 
the whole of our old hand-glasses to atoms. 
The next novelty was a new for(iing Gerattiian, called 
“ The Queen of Eebruary,” sent by Mr. Gill, Westbourne 
Grove, Bayswater; and I took particular notice of it, 
because I know, full well, what a boon it is to many gar¬ 
deners in the country to get hold of any gay plant that 
will bear to be forced into bloom in winter, particularly 
so if it be a good Geranium. This new comer is a high- 
coloured one—a bright rosy-pink, with a dark blotch in 
the back petals; the flower of a better shape than any of 
