196 THE COTTAGE 
Thinning the Berry.— Although grapes on the 
open wall are not generally thinned, yet it must be 
understood that they are thereby rendered much 
superior to those uilthinned; the process answers out 
of doors as well as with those in vineries. The ber¬ 
ries will be higher flavoured and more juicy, and they 
will, moreover, colour better than neglected ones. 
We would, indeed, advise that they be thinned more 
on the open walls than in houses, that the fading 
sunlight of autumn may play freely through and 
amongst the berries. Of course, before thinning out 
the berries, the number of bunches must be carefully 
looked over, in order to remove any surplus ones. 
No policy is worse than over-cropping the vine; no¬ 
thing is gained by it but mere bulk, and great is the 
sacrifice both of flavour in the berry, and as regards 
the vigour of the vine for ensuing seasons. At page 
117, we gave a general rule for the distance of bunches: 
we there gave one foot apart as quite near enough, 
supposing the vine to be strong, and covering the 
wall or building equally ; we, however, admit that it 
is not very safe to prescribe distance in this respect, 
for such must ever be ruled by not only the strength 
but the position of the branches, so that the bunches 
cannot be expected to be placed with any particular 
precision ; much must be left to the discretion of the 
cultivator. We need scarcely observe that the young 
vine shoots are amazingly benefitted by being kept 
trained close to the wall, fence, or roof. The heat 
absorbed by the body against which they are trained 
is of much benefit in the way of acceleration. We 
will venture to affirm that highly-dressed and close- 
trained vines in any part of the united kingdom, will 
ripen both wood and fruit a whole fortnight before 
those which are untrained; and our climate is such, 
even in the southern counties, that every ray of sun¬ 
shine is requisite in order to obtain the very highest 
amount of flavour in the fruit, and well ripened wood 
for the ensuing year, on which not mere habits of 
fructification alone depend, but also that free and 
speedy development of the young bunch in the en¬ 
suing spring, which hastens the necessary processes 
betimes—eveiy part or organ being duly prepared 
beforehand to perform its necessary functions. Let 
us, therefore, be understood as urging that this is no 
were theoretic view of matters; let any one try the 
experiment of well dressing and of neglect on two 
vines respectively, and he will be for ever convinced. 
Boot Culture. —Little can be said on this head, 
for, in general, little is required. We may remark, 
however, that if severe droughts occur any time be¬ 
tween the first and second swelling of the fruit, that 
watering will prove of benefit, provided it is well 
known that the soil they are in is of a truly porous 
character, that is, not too retentive of moisture. It 
is seldom, nevertheless, in Britain, that the vine out 
of doors is watered: seldom that it requires it. In 
our southern counties it is very common to meet 
with vines, trained against houses, of a very con¬ 
siderable age, and such, having borne crops for 
many years, would be greatly assisted by watering, 
especially if any fertilizing matters can be blended 
with the water. It is in everybody’s power to apply 
soapsuds to vines, and a very good service this 
material renders, provided, as before observed, the 
porosity of the soil and the drainage can be relied 
on. It is well, however, to apply a coating of rotten 
manrn-e previously: on this the watering may be 
applied; it will prevent the battering or puddling 
action of the water, and furnish to the vines a nu¬ 
tritious fluid in combination with the soapsuds. 
We may close our remarks, for the present, with u 
GAEDENER. July 
good piece of advice with regard to out-door vines : 
Be sure to keep them closely trained during the whole 
growing season. B. Errington. 
THE ELOWEE-GAEDEN. 
Routine Work. —The principal work now to be 
attended to in the flower-garden is to keep every part 
neat and trim. Perennial flowers , as they go out of 
bloom, must have all the old flower-stems neatly cut 
down, the old large decaying leaves removed, and the 
soil stirred with a small fork, to let in the rains to the 
roots. A nnual flowers require sticks of various kinds 
and lengths to support them. Such as have done 
blooming should be pulled up and removed to the 
rubbish heap. Excepting particularly fine varieties, 
we do not recommend saving seeds, because annual 
plants in seed are very unsightly; because this busi¬ 
ness is much better done by the regular seed-nursery¬ 
man ; and, lastly, because the seedsman sells annuals 
so cheap that it is no economy to our amateur friends 
to disfigure their flower-plots by allowing annual 
flowers to stand till their seeds ripen. Our cottage 
friends, it is true, are not so able to purchase seeds, 
however cheap, and so they may let a patch of each 
kind remain till the seed is ripe. 
Biennials. —Prepare a bed in some open part of 
the garden, by digging and raking, to transplant bi¬ 
ennials into. By transplanting them whilst young 
they will make nice bushy plants close to the ground; 
and will, in such a condition, be more able to endure 
the frosts of winter. The soil into which you trans¬ 
plant them should not be enriched with any ma¬ 
nure. If it is of a heavy nature, a coating either of 
quick-lime or of some firmly sifted coal-ashes would 
be of great use. Your biennials should be planted 
thinly, to allow them room to make stocky plants. 
It is much better to have one dozen of good plants 
than twice as many middling ones. Should any of 
them grow up with a single stem, and show no 
tendency to branch out near the ground, nip off the 
centre shoot near to the ground. This will cause them 
to branch out freely, and make plants that will, when 
the flowering season arrives, send up numerous spikes 
or heads of flowers. 
Chrysanthemums. —Those intended to flower in 
the open borders or against walls should now be 
in their flowering situation. In the borders, put 
stakes to them by the time they have attained a foot 
high ; against walls, keep them thin of shoots, and 
nail them to the wall as soon as the shoots are long 
enough. During dry weatherjl give abundance of 
water, applying it in the evenings all over the plants. 
They are gross feeders, and, to have fine large heads 
of flowers, must have plenty of rich food. Mulch 
them with short rotten dung, and water once a week 
with liquid manme. 
Chrysanthemums for Bedding. —In the southern 
counties, to succeed such flowers as tulips, ranuncu¬ 
luses, and anemones, these plants are very suitable. 
The only objection that can be urged against them 
is the height they grow, but that objection may be 
obviated by pegging them down with hooked sticks. 
Plant them so near each other that the shoots of each, 
by the time they flower, will reach to the centres of 
their neighbours, so that the bed will be completely 
covered with flowering shoots. Managed judiciously 
in this way, they will form a fine feature of the au¬ 
tumnal flower-garden. Chrysanthemums are not half 
so much grown for ornamenting the flower-garden as 
they deserve. We trust our readers in the more 
