March 4. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
351 
plan is I do not know, but I believe the secret is to stand 
the bottles, with the fruit, full of water, for kalf-an-liour, in 
water of about the heat of 180° or 190°, corked; and imme¬ 
diately on taking them from the hot water, sealing them, 
so as to make them air-tight. 
The exhibitions of the Gloucester and Cheltenham 
Horticultural Society will take place at Cheltenham on 
I the 13th of May, 15th of June, and 26th of August. 
“ The Cottage Gardener is the best medium for 
advertising, after all. I have been hunting for the 
1 beautiful CEnothera speciosa these ten years back, but in 
vain. I sent to all my foreign friends and correspond¬ 
ents, from Copenhagen to Geneva, for it, and for Pelar- 
' yoniurn crassicaule, but could learn no tidings of them, 
j All parts of the three kingdoms have been tried by 
nurserymen’s travellers for me, but, with the single in¬ 
stance I lately mentioned, the whole turned up a blank. 
But no sooner had I put my troubles on these pages, 
than a satisfactory answer has been returned. Mr. Sim, 
nurseryman, Foots Cray, in Kent, has a large bed of it, 
‘ Where it is growing like couch grass, and is as difficult 
to destroy as that provoking weed.’ 
“It first found its way to that nursery from Mr. Murray, 
curator of the Botanic Garden, Glasgow, and therefore is 
sure to be the true sort. Besides, here are its true charac¬ 
ters, from Mr. Sim, jun., who obligingly sent me the notice: 
‘ It has creeping roots, grows erect, and lias white flowers, 
which are produced all the summer,’ and all the autumn too, 
I have no doubt, provided it is taken up every April, and 
divided like the Carpathian blue and white bells. Were it 
not that I fear the cottage gardeners will pull this bed too 
much to pieces, I would run down to Foots Cray next 
summer, and renew my acquaintance with my long-lost 
friend. There is another bedding plant in the nursery that 
I have not seen these twenty years back; it is a small Italian 
bulb, called Trichonema column ce, and flowers in beds or 
patches, like the crocus, in April or May—a fit companion 
to the little pretty squills, which are also much eared for in 
this nursery for their early spring flowering.”—D. Beaton. 
VINES IN-DOORS. 
Most people’s vines will now be either in course of 
forcing, or on the move, and we must offer a little 
advice. In the first place, let every one remember the 
vast importance of using sulphur frequently in all 
structures where vines are grown; this was considered 
necessary before the pernicious mildew was known, but 
now doubly so. There has been much debating amongst 
parties, as to whether the sulphur is really efficient; 
whether, in those cases where the pest was subdued, 
heat was not the chief agent. So much multiplied, 
however, has been the evidence in favour of the sul¬ 
phur, and so weighty, in many cases, as to the character 
of the parties from whence it proceeded, that it is now 
idle to discuss the matter further. 
That starvation, or in other words, a low vine tem¬ 
perature, is not congenial to the vine, we are prepared 
to admit—no fruit more enjoys a warm atmosphere than 
the vine. Whilst, however, avoiding one error, let us 
beware of its opposite mistake—so much said about high 
temperatures, may, we fear, cause some of the unknow¬ 
ing to fall into the serious error of scorching. And now, 
whilst on the subject of temperature, let us at once 
advert to the kind of atmospheric management neces¬ 
sary during these stages of vine culture, each of which 
possesses some features of a peculiar character. They 
may be divided as follows :— 
1. —The breaking period. 
2. —The swelling period of the berry. 
3. —The ripening period 
4. —The keeping period. 
Breaking period. —Now, those who live in dread of 
the mildew, who have before suffered beneath its inroads, 
may timidly believing that heat alone will stave it off, 
use much higher temperatures during the breaking 
period than they were wont to do. This will be bad 
policy; let them not be surprised if they find only a 
portion of the necessary buds break, and the trees in 
consequence become naked-stemmed. In all cases of 
artificial excitement in vines, what is termed slow break¬ 
ing is indispensable. From the moment of commencing 
to excite them, all fire-heat should be guarded with a 
jealous eye. In fact, the slower the breaking, the more 
regular will the buds burst. There can, in fact, be little 
real advances made during this period, through the 
medium of heat; the true forcing must take place in 
another stage, and accompanied by other conditions, of 
which more presently. During this period, therefore, 
let the thermometer range from 45° to 55°, making the 
latter the maximum point, until the buds are an inch 
long, when 55° to 60° may soon be permitted. A regular- 
supply of air moisture is particularly essential during 
this period—we care little for what is termed steaming, 
which is, we suppose, done in imitation of the out-door 
fogs, and is but too apt to be as short-continuing. A 
regular and moderated supply of air moisture cannot be 
sustained in an equable and certain degree by these 
means alone, and neither is the syringe alone competent 
to this end. If fermenting material—the best source of 
all—cannot be introduced, all floors, and, indeed, every 
available surface, should be kept moistened about three 
times a day. We cry mercy of the ladies for thus en¬ 
dangering their dresses in walking through their green¬ 
houses, but our duty is imperative, and this way of 
producing air moisture but points to the need for better 
machinery in many houses. However, everybody can 
furnish evaporating pans to their flues or pipes, and 
none should be without. We have a house at work now, 
in which incomplete provision had been made originally 
for air moisture, and having some two or three dozen 
pot-stands or pans at liberty, we have placed them all 
over the flue, and keep them filled with water, and the 
difference in the softness of the air by these simple 
means is astonishing. 
2. The swelling of the berry. —We, of course, here, as 
to the present period, address these remarks to those 
who are vine forcers in the true sense; those who com¬ 
mingle in one house only pot-plants and vines, must, of 
necessity, be behind this division of the subject at the 
present moment. In the first place, temperature. We 
know that all advances in the thermometer must be 
gradual, inasmuch as the increase of light is gradual, 
and the increase in the action of the sap gradual. From 
a minimum of say 55°, then, the forcer must advance to 
60°, and a maximum of 65° to 75°, it may be 80°. 
These things, however, are not determinable so much 
by any given period as by the amount of solar light. 
It is evident, therefore, that all advances during the 
early spring forcing must, of necessity, be occasionally 
over-ruled by fluctuations of frequent occurrence. “ Cut 
and dry” rules must sometimes be eschewed, and the 
minimum point being kept in view, beyond which it 
is not safe to venture, the regulation of the maximum 
pitch becomes a mere common sense affair. And why? 
We know very well that a vine may endure—yea, 
enjoy—a temperature of nearly 100° within the tropics, 
yet would “ scorch ” with the same in Britain. But 
what any plant will endure in the open air, where 
cooling currents are free to roam, and in houses where 
they meet with impediments here and there on every 
fitful occasion, are two very different matters. 
During this period a very frequent, yet guarded, 
course of ventilation must be practised,— so frequent, 
