390 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 28. 
a huge stock of patience to go on whipping up blade 
after blade of grass from among loose stones, and pre¬ 
serve his equanimity unruffled. 
I fear I may have been trespassing in introducing 
these remarks; but a lady informed me, the other day, 
that such simple affairs as we were apt to overlook, were 
of great importance to those proprietors of small places 
who wished to make the most of them ;* and 1 shall 
easily be forgiven by our friend, Mr. Beaton, when I tell 
him that this very day I have had a basketful gathered 
of the seeds of the Berberry, as I can see it will be 
most useful as an edging in many places, and also for 
giving a more artistic character to beds, when it shall 
be deemed advisable to give them elevated and wide 
evergreen margins. R. Fish. 
Transmission of Newspapers to British Colonies 
and Foreign Countries. —We have been requested by 
the authorities of the General Post Office to publish the 
following official notice:— 
“ Henceforth it will not be necessary that Newspapers 
sent abroad, whether to the British Colonies or to 
Foreign Countries, should hear the Impressed Stamp 
(the old Newspaper Stamp); but, as at present, a 
Postage of One Penny must be prepaid (either by 
means of a Postage Babel or in Money) on every 
Newspaper sent to a British Colony, with the additional 
Postage (according to the Table in Instructions No. 45f), 
when the Newspaper passes though a Foreign Country. 
“ The Postage on Newspapers to Foreign Countries 
remains the same as given in Instructions No. 45; but, 
as already stated, it is no longer necessary that the 
Newspaper should bear the Impressed Stamp. 
“ In future the Impressed Stamp will be required 
only in cases of repeated transmission of the same 
Newspaper in this country, though it will of course be 
available also for single transmission in this Country. 
“In the transmission of Newspapers abroad (whether 
to the Colonies or Foreign Countries), the use of the 
Impressed Stamp will entirely cease; it will neither be 
required nor will it count as Postage, as it will be 
presumed that where it is employed, it has already 
served for the transmission of the Newspaper in the 
United Kingdom. 
“ From these Regulations it will necessarily follow— 
“ 1st. That every Newspaper going abroad must here¬ 
after have the Postage to which it is liable represented 
by adhesive Postage Stamps, or paid in Money. 
“2nd. That a Newspaper, whether published with or 
without the Impressed Stamp, will be placed in the 
same position for transmission abroad. 
“ 3rd. That the Impressed Stamp will hereafter apply 
only to transmission and retransmission within the 
United Kingdom. 
“ Rowland Hill, Secretary.” 
SCRAPS FROM MY NOTE-BOOK. 
JOSLING’S ST. ALBAN'S GRAPE. 
Every one that has grown this Grape acknowledges 
that it is of a most exquisite flavour when perfectly ripe; 
hut many say it cracks and bursts, so that it is useless. 
Now, if a remedy can be pointed out to prevent this un¬ 
fortunate propensity it will rescue an excellent fruit from 
neglect. The cause of the berries cracking is a too li¬ 
beral supply of moisture at the root, and also in the 
lad ? " as , and we wish that all our friends would 
make “ a note on’t.”—En. C. G. 
* allo .T s a P a P e ! t0 be fif teen days old at the time of being 
transmission to o« Colonies! P ° Staee ’ Varying ^ t0 3d “ for their 
air of the house, combined with a too high temperature. 
Thick-skinned Grapes, such as the Muscat, Syrian, and 
the Barbarossa, wall bear a damp, high temperature 
without any amount of injury. A low, damp atmo¬ 
sphere will, on the contrary, be equally injurious to 
any kind of Grape, by causing mouldiness on the 
outside of the fruit, and quickly rotting it. Hence, all 
good Grape-growers keep the atmosphere of the Yinery 
as dry as possible after the ripening process has com¬ 
menced. The Josliny's St. Albans Grape requires not 
only a dry atmosphere, but also a less supply of water 
at the root. To ripen it to perfection, without burst¬ 
ing, the best method is that adopted by my neighbour, 
Mr. Constantine, and that is, to grow it in pots. I 
mentioned and described, lately, his method of training 
his pot Vines as bushes. The St. Alban’s variety was 
treated so; but less water was given this variety than 
any other. His pot Vines were grown in the Vinery 
under the shade of those on the rafters, and that shade, 
I have no doubt, was another cause of this variety not 
bursting its berries. When I saw them they were quite 
ripe, and not one berry in a hundred had cracked. 
They stood on the floor of the house, where the heat 
was more regular, night and day, than on the rafters; 
the roots, too, were as nearly as possible as warm as 
the tops; hence, root-action and leaf-action w f ere nearly 
assimilated without any great sudden changes by the 
rays of the sun. This example is conclusive that this 
good Grape may be grown to perfection by any one that 
has a Vinery. At the same time, I must not forget to 
mention, that whilst the fruit was ripening every care 
was taken to keep the air as dry as possible. No plants 
requiring water were allowed to remain in the house, 
excepting the Vines in pots, and they had no more 
given them than was absolutely necessary to keep the 
plants growing sufficiently to swell off the fruit. 
MILDEW ON THE VINE. 
Any remarks on this direful disease will be read with 
avidity. Every one that has been plagued with it, and 
every one that has not, will be glad to hear of a remedy. 
The former, that he may prevent its reappearance; and 
the latter, that he may be prepared for it if it should 
visit his Grapes. I was at Sion House, to-day, and saw 
a remedy, or rather a preventive, adopted against the 
mildew. Mr. Iveson, unfortunately, was not at home; 
but his foreman, Mr. Plimley, said they had read some 
remarks by a Frenchman, to the effect, that if the 
branches of the Vines were trained close to the ground 
the mildew would not attack them. Now, at Sion, they 
cultivate their Vines to fruit in pots in wide pits. In 
those pits, in early spring, they force Kidney Beans and 
Strawberries. As soon as these are gathered, the pits 
are used to bring on young Vines in pots to fruit in 
those pots the following season. Acting upon the 
Frenchman’s ideas, this year the Vines are allowed, or 
rather trained (from the pots placed in front of the 
pits) close to the soil left in purposely. Healthier 
Vines need not be wished for. There was not a speck 
of mildew to be seen on either the stems or the leaves, 
excepting on one close to the end that had by some 
means or other elevated itself away from the soil. On 
this the mildew was plainly to be seen. This is 
exactly the reverse of what might have been expected, 
and would, I have no doubt, have been found so, but 
for the fact that the soil in the pits is kept perfectly 
dry, and plenty of air given to carry off the 'moisture 
evaporating from the soil in the pots. The soil, by 
being so dry, reflects the heat of the sun, and thus ripens 
the wmod better, which ripeness or maturity is always 
beneficial to the tree, giving a larger amount of vigour, 
and a greater power to produce healthy, clean foliage 
and sound fruit the following season. I always had 
an opinion that mildew was caused, or, at least, en- 
