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THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, May 8, I860. 
only that I was to bear the responsibility on my own shoulders, 
which I said would fast enough rest there if my mode of pro¬ 
ceeding turned out a failure. The worst thing to contend with I 
knew would be the unripened state of the wood, which was the 
same from one end of the house to the other. Well, here we are 
in the following June running over the bunches for the first lime 
with the scissors. But after all my trouble in placing my sen¬ 
tinels, the enemy again broke in, but with much less force: it 
was severely checked but not! eradicated. But still I lost not a 
bunch of fruit that the Vines threw out, or a leaf, until I plucked 
them for the fruit to be laid on at the dessert. Some of the 
leaves, although rather brown, stayed on till November, and 
some of the fruit from No. 6 Vine until the 14th of February of 
this present year, when the last two bunches cut then weighed 
three pounds and a half.—A. J. Ashman. 
(To be continued.) 
CULTURE OF CYCLAMEN AFRICANUM— 
TRITOMA UYARIA IN A POT. 
I have just received a fine bulb of the Cyclamen Africanum. 
What treatment, shall I give it ? Will Tritoma uvaria bloom 
this season in a centre bed nowin a large 32-pot? and what 
treatment shall I give Tritoma just out of bloom in a small 
32-pot ?— Hahoed. 
[Pot the African Cyclamen, and plunge the pot in the 
border outside, and it will bloom in the autumn. Tritoma maria 
will bloom next autumn in the centre of a bed if the roots are 
strong enough now'; but in a 32-pot it will do no good. In a 
No. 16-pot it might do; but in a No. 12 it ought to bloom very 
fine if tile roots are now in full possesion of a 32-pot. 'When it 
is out of bloom in the bed let it have its own w 7 ay till next year, 
when it will bloom twice as strong, and with many more flower- 
spikes. That in the pot treat just like a Japan Lily.] 
IN-DOOR FRUITS. 
The early-forcer, as well as the out-door fruitist, has found 
very awkward effects from the terrible run of weather; nay, 
much more so. There has been here (Oulton Park), at least a 
fearful deficiency of sunshine; another great evil lias arisen—a 
necessity for much fire heat, a thing to be studiously avoided if 
solar heat can be had. We have heard laments of Vines falling 
off by wholesale. Vineries which were formerly noted coming 
into a bad state suddenly, and this is attributed to the unusually 
bad weather of the past winter, &c. For my own part, I think 
the conclusion erroneous, and am of the same opinion as my 
friend Mr. Jennings, of Knowsley, that the Vines have been frost¬ 
bitten. I have known several in my younger days thus killed in 
the neighbourhood of London; and once I knew of a whole 
house being destroyed. In those days, gardening was, indeed, 
mere quackery, there was not one ordinary gardener in a score 
that could offer you a reason for the smallest anomaly that 
occurred in the course of his business. It was the fashion then, 
or rule if you will, to turn Vines out soon after the fruit was cut; 
and this was accounted so orthodox, that no man unless endowed 
with a lion’s spirit, dared say a word against it. And wliat work 
it was getting strong and old Vines out! it wa3 fearful to hear 
them crack. I have known seven or eight men employed in 
various parts of the stove, bending and pressing to get a stem a 
dozen feet long, and four or more inches in diameter, through 
the space of a four-feet-by-three-feet front sash. This was done 
to “ harden them but what could possibly have been their ideas 
as to the true process by which wood is hardened ? Cold, indeed, 
will harden water into ice, but I believe our venerable ancestors, 
or contemporaries of our fathers, meant ripening of the wood. 
These Vines would very generally be in that stage, which takes 
place after the fruit is all cut. Thus delivered of their exhausting 
load, they begin to sprout into a new growth. I have thus seen 
them suspended on stakes, or lying on the ground ; and I suppose 
that forced Vines under such circumstances, never after made any 
advance worth notice as to ripening the wood. Whatever a few 
hours sunshine] might do would be speedily counteracted by 
cool nights and winds to which they had scarcely been used. 
Vines in this state are easily frozen, a moderate amount of 
frost will suffice. Indeed, what happened to our vegetables in 
last October, under less than 12° of frost, will explain all this. 
Only think of bsrdv tfnips, whieh usually, in January, after an 
ordinary winter, will endure, unscathed, more than a score degrees 
of frost, quailing before 8° or 9°. 
Peach-houses in those days must be unroofed : these, however, 
never suffered from frost, but from ill-ripened wood. In severe 
and untoward springs, as before observed, there is much fire used, 
not for present needs alone, but to prepare for the worst. There 
is, as every forcer knows, no comparison between the heat pro¬ 
duced in genial weather by shutting up nearly as much solar heat 
as will sustain things through the night, and heat produced by 
strong fires. The former is a producer of air-moisture when rightly 
managed; the latter a moisture-consumer; for in some cases, 
piping, although provided with troughs, will, I believe, consume 
1 both its own moisture and draw on vegetation likewise. So that 
the old blue-aproris of former days did not so badly explain this 
' process by saying, “ put them to bed warm and wash their faces.” 
Now, this syringing, which is here meant, is a process that 
should not be performed at random, where great solar heats are 
enclosed. Supposing a Peach-house in April was closed before 
four o’clock on a fine sunny afternoon, the house would probably 
rise to 90° in half an hour. Now, at such a temperature 1 do 
not like to syringe, neither do I think it necessary; I would 
rather the soiar heat thoroughly warmed not only the w'oocl and 
fruit, but the very walls and floors. To apply water immediately 
is to dissipate the heat. I let mine cool down to about 75 , and 
then a syringing ; but, above all, moisten the walls, floors, &c. 
Vines after they begin to show- blossom need little or no 
syringing; it is my firm persuasion that it is best dispensed 
with, provided air-moisture can be provided in a moderate and 
continuous way by other means. Vines abhor much damp, 
especially with too low a temperature. 
I would here beg to refer to what is termed stopping Vines. I 
am of opinion that much of the present practice requires modifi¬ 
cation. We know how the custom has been to stop very- near 
the fruit; so far, well, for under ordinary house arrangements 
as regards distances, &c., if they were allowed to proceed farther 
in the first growth, the house would be smothered, and all con¬ 
fusion. But then about the axillary shoots which burst directly. 
By some these are snubbed immediately, little quarter given, 
and against this I express my doubts. The idea for pursuing 
this practice seems to be that it increases the size of the bunch; 
but this I think is somewhat fallacious. I have several times 
tried both ways on equal subjects, and I have always considered 
the balance in favour of what I may call free and unchecked 
j growth. It must not be supposed that these axillary shoots 
have the powerful influence of fast-growing leaders, their very 
appearance tells a different tale. 
What I have urged hitherto bears reference to the first period 
of the annual life of the Vine, which, in my estimation, rims up 
to the blossoming period. A free and hearty development of 
both the first-formed leaves and the bunch is the chief object, 
and a free and hearty growth is the condition to promote it. But 
by the time that the blossoming is over, and the young berries are 
swelling, it is necessary to pursue a somewhat different course. 
And, now, concentration rather than dispersion must be 
assisted—that is to say, plenty of accretive matter decoyed as far 
as possible in the immediate vicinity of the fruit. To accomplish 
this, it is necessary to stop somewhat frequently, in order to 
increase the size of the secondary foliage, from which more accre¬ 
tive matter may be produced. With all the stopping, later 
growths will continue to be produced, and it is well it is so, they 
keep the root in play in a reciprocal manner, and draw sap up¬ 
wards to the other portions of the tree. 
Such are my opinions as to the principles of “stopping,” and 
I may here urge that old and hard-worn Vines should be allowed 
to ramble more still; indeed, some such Vines might be de¬ 
stroyed in a moderate period by a constant snubbing. 
We all know that there has been much controversy about 
covering early Vine-borders with fermenting material, but I 
strongly suspect that after all little is gained by it. I once 
thought it absolutely essential; but from what I have seen in 
later years, my faith in the principle is shaken. 
When we come to consider how difficult it is to send heat 
downwards from fermenting materials, we may find that an 
awkward discrepancy exists in the vicinity of the roots ; for on 
examination we find the warmth so rapidly decreasing downwards, 
that at nine inches, or a little over, it is scarcely perceptible. But 
added to this, there is always a difficulty in removing this mate¬ 
rial ; for, if sustained in high fermentation, we may wait till July 
before we get an equivalent from the atmosphere ; and, if suffered 
to become cold and inert, it shuts out the advancing waimth of 
