399 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, MabCH 27, 1860, 
rows about 18 inches apart. It may be dibbled or drilled easily, 
the seed being about the size of Furze or Broom seed. Eight 
pounds of seed per acre will bo found sufficient. Stable manure 
is suitable for this crop. The best artificial manures for it are 
Peruvian guano and superphosphate, which should be mixed with 
twice its bulk of road sand, and applied to the land when the 
seed is sown. It may be sown with safety and advantage from 
the middle of May till the end of June or middle of July. If 
sown in May, three heavy crops may be cut before the end of 
October. The seed usually lies in the ground several weeks, 
unless soaked twenty-four hours before sowing. Horses, sheep, 
pigs, and cow cattle are fond of it, and thrive upon it remarkably 
well. Sorghum Saccharatum greatly improves the flavour of 
butter from cows fed with it. Sheep also thrive remarkably well 
upon it. 
“ There are two other kinds of Sorghum, which are destitute 
of saccharine matter. 
“ For the information of those who have not yet known this 
plant, we subjoin the following remarks on its cultivation, &c.: — 
“ To Messrs. Sutton , Seedsmen, Reading, from Mr. Thomas 
Boiviclc, of Stoneleigh Ahbey Farm. —The seed was dibbled May 
20th, on good loamy soil, in rows 14 inches apart, and 8 inches 
between the plants. The braird was long in coming up, and it 
was nearly two months before it set off growing freely. How¬ 
ever, with the warmth of July it flourished luxuriantly, every 
twenty-four hours showing a visible increase. Commenced cutting 
in the last week of the month, and then onwards to the end of 
September. All animals took it readily; but pigs appear to 
waste it more than either horses or cows. For horses we put it 
through the chaff-cutter, instead of their usual summer mixture 
of Vetches and straw. They did well with it; but a colt of i 
weak digestion, which was attacked with colic, and required an 
injection to give relief, had a quantity of the hard woody stems 
in the stomach, which refused to move by other means. They 
were by this time getting too strong to cut by the scythe, and the 
Bean-hook was the better instrument. But, notwithstanding 
the hard and woody appearance of the stems, as the season 
advanced the sweetness sensibly increased. It is probable that 
its enthusiastic admirers have over-estimated the produce. We 
have repeatedly weighed portions after being cut for one day, and 
have found it average 35| tons per acre, when fully grown. As 
a whole, it may be regarded as a very valuable addition for : 
summer growth, especially for late soiling purposes, after the 
winter Vetches and Clovers are exhausted.” 
“ From Mr. R. J. Chaundler , Crondall, November 28,1859.— 
On the 24th of May, I drilled 4 lbs. of seeds on half an acre of 
laud, the soil a deep mould, and not free in working, using 
2 cwt. of Peruvian guano, and 2 cwt. of superphosphate of lime 
on the piece. It grew from 5'feet to 8 feet in height. At 
first, only two horses would eat it, but after (as I supposed) 
the saccharine matter was matured, all my horses (eighteen) ate 
it greedily, except about eight or ten inches at the bottom, which 
were not washed,—the pigs searched the yards for it eagerly. I 
found that weaning calves left every other food for it. For my j 
horses I had it mixed with other green food, which plan T think 
is best for them.” 
SHADING GREENHOUSES—HEAT FOR 
GERMINATION. 
I wish to shade a small greenhouse at little expense, and it 
has occurred to me that thin size laid on the inside of the glass 
would answer the purpose. Can you tell me whether, or not, it 
would obstruct the light too much ? and if it would not, could I 
easily, and how best remove it when necessary ? It is a pity that 
in the sugar of lead recipe the proper proportions are not given. 
Would it be easy to remove this when required ? and how ? 
Ferilla Nankinen.ns seed ( vide page 345) has with me come 
up freely and very strong wdtli the pan plunged in a dung-bed, 
which, bv the thermometer, shows rather over 65° of bottom heat. 
So, also, have the purple Petunia and Lobelia speciosa, both two 
years old, and white Petunia of 1859, but CEnothera Drummondi 
nana , in the same heat, has not stirred. I find this one of the 
most difficult 6eeds to germinate. My Tritoma uvaria seed after 
being in the ground seven weeks is just coming up. I at first 
kept it in a greenhouse ; but for the last fortnight have had it 
plunged in a pit with a bottom heat of about 50°, which seems to 
have set it going.—R. B. P. 
[The mere proportion of sugar of lead we deem of small 
importance. Thin size will do as you propose, but more de¬ 
pends on the time and mode of putting it on than on preparing 
it. The size should be hot, and the glass should be dry and hot, 
and the sun shining. Warm water and a little soda and soap 
will remove it. We prefer generally using it outside. We often 
vary the mode. For instance ; We take a quart of jelly size, not 
cake, and heated until it all melts, to that we add half a quartern 
of linseed oil, and a similar quantity of turpentine, stirring it well 
and allowing it to reach to 200°, or so. This is carried in the 
pot to the glass and put on as thinly and as quickly as possible 
with a brush. The effect resembles rough sheet. When a greater 
shade is required, we add a piece of powdered whitening between 
the size of a Hazel nut and a small Walnut. Sometimes we leave 
this plain, at other times we daub with the points of a dry brush 
after the mixture has been put on. For general purposes hot 
size is sufficient. Do not hurry the CEnothera.] 
FRUIT-ROOM AT BOWOOD. 
Mu. Bailey, of Nuneham, has received a note from Mr. 
Spencer, of Bowood, asking him to correct an error which he 
(Mr. B.) inadvertently made respecting the Bowood fruit-room : 
which error is this—Mr. Bailey stated that Mi’. Spencer’s fruit- 
room was perfectly complete, but that it was placed at the back- 
of the hothouses, which Mr. Spencer states is not so. “ There 
is,” he says, “ a cavity surrounding it, and isolating it from the 
surrounding brick w'alls.” Mr. Bailey regrets much that he 
should have made such a blunder, but it is three or four years 
since he was at Bowood, and his memory was strongly impressed 
that what lie wrote was correct. Finding, however, from Mr. 
Spencer’s communication, that he was in error, he begs to otter 
this correction and atonement. 
GRAFTING THE GRAPE VINE. 
As early in the spring as the ground can be got away from 
the stock to be grafted upon, clean away around the stem two or 
three inches deep, saw or cut off 1 the Vine smooth ; then prepare 
your graft (which should have been cut from the Vine in the 
early part of the winter) as shown in fig. 1. 
If your stock is thick—say one inch or more in diameter—cut 
out a wedge (see fig. 2) to correspond with the wedge on graft 
fig. 1; if the stock be less than three quarters of an inch in 
diameter, then merely split down clean, as in the usual way of 
cleft-grafting; but if the graft be not held firmly, it is well to 
tie around the split with a bit of matting or strong thread, 
! which will rot off before doing any damage. When you have 
inserted the graft, draw the earth in, and press firmly around 
the joint where operated upon, and up to and barely exposing 
the bud, filling in with dry mould if the earth be wet. Use no 
cement whatever; I believe it is a great evil. 
Be sure to cover your graft with loose straw, or some kind of 
rubbish that will not pack tight; this is to keep the frost from 
hoisting out the graft, in ease freezing occurs afterwards, which 
frequently is the case, as I have grafted in February sometimes, 
as well as to shade the bud and keep the air off somewhat—a 
! necessary precaution. When the graft begins to grow, the 
natural or stock-suckers must be kept down, or they will soon 
rob the graft. I have usually succeeded in this way with about 
eighty per cent., while I hear universal complaints of failure. 
For root-grafting in the house my best success has been obtained 
when done in the saddle mode. And this done late in the spring 
when the Vines begin to grow. 
In fig. 3 I give a rough sketch of my mode of root-gra fting, 
