98 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 15; 1859. 
are generally ripe about the 1st of October. I have been 
recommended to get the Royal Muscadine Grape as a better 
one than the Sweetwater. Do you consider it so ? 
[Under the circumstances named the plants will do no harm 
whatever to the Vines. In fact, they will be so far in favour of 
the Vines, that there never will be any danger of the latter 
being destroyed by severe frost, as we have several times seen. 
An average temperature of 40° at night will be quite sufficient 
for bedding plants, with plenty of air on all day when the tem¬ 
perature ranges from that to 45°, and 50°, and onwards. Now 
such temperature will do nothing to start the Vines prematurely. 
To have the Grapes ripe about the beginning of October you 
have evidently used little or no artificial heat beyond what was 
necessary to preserve your plants, and therefore your plants 
would not be injured as they would be if you had forced your 
vinery at all. By April or the end of March you could thin 
your house by taking the hardiest out first, and placing them 
where you could give them the protection of mats, calico, or 
hurdles. If Calceolarias were thus removed, and Verbenas 
immediately after, you would have more room for Geraniums, 
Heliotropes, &c., keeping the tenderest, as the Heliotropes, 
longest in. By that time you might use your house for starting 
Dahlias, Marvels of Peru, &c., only getting them out before the 
foliage of the Vines would make them tender. Your fine Grapes 
are a proof that the system will do, and we can see no reason 
why the Grapes should not be equally good every year. It 
would be advisable to put as little in the house as possible 
before the Grapes were cut; after that and the Vines are pruned 
the house may just as well be filled in the mode stated as stand 
empty. As to the Sioeetwater and Royal Muscadine Grapes 
taste must determine. We prefer the Sweet water decidedly; 
but then, unless considerable care be exercised, the berries on 
the bunches set very irregularly. The bunches when in bloom 
should have a dry hand pulled slightly along them, or brushed 
with a fine camel-hair pencil. Unfortunately, however, in such 
a late house it would be difficult to help the bunches with other 
pollen than their own, as no other Vine will then be likely to be 
in bloom ; for in such a house with black Grapes ripe in the 
end of September, the Sweetwater should be ripe from the 
middle to the end of August. The Royal Muscadine is also an 
early and a good Grape; the berry smaller, but the bunch 
generally longer and much larger than the Sweetivater, and 
always a very good and regular setter; and therefore, when 
trouble is to avoided, we would decidedly prefer it to the Sweet¬ 
water. It is also a nice sweet Grape, and the seeds look pretty 
through the thin skin. In a single house of any size it is 
desirable to have one of these, or both, and also at least one 
West's St. Peter's, as thus the Grape season is prolonged.] 
BRUGMANSIAS DYING IN SPRING. 
My double white Brugmansias always do well till March,then 
they die. Why should they live through the winter, and then 
die when the hard weather is over ? 
[There is a double annual Bruginansia, we believe, which 
might be liable thus to die. The common double one, Knightii, 
with thicker and more acuminate foliage than suaveolens , never 
does die down with us unless it has been frosted, &c., before 
being housed. We have seen them die down almost to the 
surface in the spring of the year after keeping green all the 
winter; because during the latter period the roots had been 
kept rather dry, which was all very well so long as the dull 
weather lasted and the sun was low in the horizon, but which 
did not answer at all when the sun gained strength and bright¬ 
ness, and sucked juices rapidly from the stems. A good water¬ 
ing a frequent sprinkling from the syringe overload under such 
circumstances would have prevented the mischief. We know 
not it that is the case of our correspondent.] 
VERBENA MILDEW. 
One of the kinds of Verbenas I have, Chauverii —the best 
scarlet, I think, for a bed, has all this summer had mould on 
the leaves, which has increased since the plants have been 
taken into the house. What should I do to them ? 
[The chief remedy is dusting with flowers of sulphur. Out 
of doors we have used the sulphur mixed with soot; but a plant 
that we find subject to such a pest, both indoors and out of 
doors, we get rid of altogether, and substitute another of a 
similar colour in its place, We have had some varieties of 
Verbenas that flourished with friends not far off, and yet we 
never could do anything with them to please us, though for a 
year or two we obtained fresh healthy cuttings. We do not 
attempt to explain this; but evidently there was some little 
thing these varieties wanted which we did not give them, because 
we did not know what that thing was; and therefore, instead of 
wasting time and material on them, we just tried another variety 
that did not seem afflicted with any such malady. A scarlet 
Verbena-bed will only be a scarlet bed, and there are tall and 
dwarf kinds in plenty to choose from.] 
HEATING VINE BORDER. 
How soon should the border the Vines are planted in be 
covered with hot manure ? 
[Under such circumstances as you have detailed, hot manure 
will never be wanted for your Vine-border at all. The same 
spring heat that causes the buds on your Vines to break, will 
also cause the roots to begin their peculiar functions of absorbing; 
but if your Vine-roots are at all near the surface, you might, as 
soon as you choose, place a few inches of long litter or straw over 
your border, which will prevent the frost penetrating.] 
AUTUMN-BEARING RASPBERRIES. 
Which of the autumn-bearing Raspberries would be likely to 
do best in the north of Ireland ? 
[The common double-bearing Raspberry is as good as any, but 
if two crops are long taken, it is apt to run out. It bears at the 
usual time on shoots of last season’s growth, and again in the 
autumn on the shoots of the present year’s growth. It will pro¬ 
duce more plentifully in autumn, if the shoots of this summer’s 
growth are cut down in spring, so that the strength of the stools 
is thrown into the summer shoots which will produce in autumn. 
The Fastolff and Red Antwerp bear well in autumn when 
treated in a similar way; only after the last year’s shoots are cut 
down at the end of February, the shoots of the summer should 
have their points nipped out in the middle of June, which 
encourages the protrusion of side-fruitful-shoots, just similar to 
those that come from last summer’s shoots in the usual way. 
Where fine crops are wanted continuously in the autumn, it is 
best thus to sacrifice the first crop, whatever the variety employed.] 
EXHIBITING FORCED STRAWBERRIES. 
In order to grow Strawberries for exhibition, is it necessary to 
thin off all the berries but one or two from the plant ? 
[No. The forward Strawberries will be sure to take the lead 
and keep it, but thinning in degree is necessary. Did we want 
extra fine fruit, we should thin a nice plant of Keens' in a six- 
inch pot, so as to leave about half a dozen of the best fruit; and 
in the case of British Queen, we should thin to allow from three 
to six to remain. We have at times only left a couple, and had 
fine fruit, but not greatly superior to what they were when 
double that quantity was allowed to remain. If our correspondent 
does not mind the sacrifice and has plenty of room, one fruit on 
a plant might be tried.] 
A BED OF FLOWERING EVERGREENS NEAR 
A HOUSE. 
I snouLi) feel much obliged by your naming a few evergreens 
to occupy, permanently, an oval bed near my house. I should 
like them to be of ornamental foliage, bearing flower or berry, 
dwarf in habit, or of slow growth. I dislike Laurustinus, as 
somewhat common and apt to grow out of shape. American 
plants would not do, as the soil is not peat, and, moreover, I 
have already a bed of them in another quarter. The aspect of 
the bed is open to the south, and, in summer, consequently very 
warm.—A Sfbsckiber. 
[The nearest that will meet your wishes are the following :— 
Plant a band eighteen inches wide of the Daphne cneorum round 
the outside of the bed. It grows and blooms just in the way of 
a dwarf Verbena; the colour a rosy purple, and remarkably 
sweet. Inside that plant another band of Krica herhacea, and 
allow it one foot of space. It is one degree higher than the 
Daphne, and blooms early in the spring, just before the Daphne, 
