44 
THE FLORIST AND P0M0L0GIST. 
of vigour resulting from the advance. It is said that the new varieties shown 
by Messrs. F. & A. Smith were raised by Messrs. Windebank & Kingsbury. 
Nor is the Primula entirely free from a tendency to variegation. A few 
weeks ago some plants of single kinds, the foliage of which was variegated 
with a pale whitish green, were seen at one of the meetings of the Floral 
Committee at South Kensington. Messrs. Windebank & Kingsbury have a white 
variety, which is excellently variegated, a large portion of the leaves being of 
a yellowish green. It would seem, however, that the very effort to maintain 
the variegation renders the work of propagation very difficult, at least in their 
case. This variety is not of their own raising, as it was originally sent out by 
a London nurseryman. I fear but little will be gained to the Primula from 
variegation. Professor E. Morren observes that “ variegated leaves (the partial 
disappearance of chlorophyll), are a proof of weakness and as there is need 
for imparting more vigour to the constitution of the Primula rather than 
detracting from it by encouraging variegation, it must be regarded as but a 
questionable advantage. 
Quo. 
COILING VINES. 
The veteran of Sawbridgeworth has been lately reviving an old practice, 
which, like many others, may have some points in its favour ; but at the same 
time a great deal can be said against it. Its great advocate at one time was 
Mr. Mearns, who, at the time, was gardener at Welbeck, but was afterwards 
Curator of the Leeds Botanic Garden. Some of the discussions on the subject 
were ridiculous enough ; but to compare them with the practice of pot-Vine- 
growing of late years makes them doubly so. There are, however, still people 
who, if not directly, to a certain extent follow some of the rules. At that 
time it was considered that by coiling a Vine in a pot it brought the fine nut¬ 
looking buds nearer the surface, that they broke better, and produced larger 
bunches. This is quite true, but unfortunately they are of little use when they 
come. The evil of the practice is that the sap has to travel through the 
long shoot buried in the cold wet soil, the moisture of which no doubt permeates 
into the alburnum and affects the sap accordingly, because, we find frequently, 
both in pot-coiled Vines and old steins laid in the soil a long distance, that the 
fruit comes on well, sometimes better than in ordinary Vines, up to the time 
of changing colour, when shanking invariably commences. If the stem of an 
old Vine before being laid into the soil is cut a little with a saw behind the 
joints, roots will strike out readily, and the same will be the case with canes 
coiled in pots; but these roots do not seem to have the same effect as the 
original; they frequently produce grosser foliage, but the sap does not appear 
to go through the same purifying process necessary to bring the fruit to per¬ 
fection. 
Something of the same sort of practice often goes on with growing Vines. 
A makes a good border and plants young Vines that have a large amount of 
fresh soil and chemicals to excite them into making a splendid growth, and at 
pruning-time the line plump buds and large growth lead the operator to pause 
and consider whether it would not be better to leave some of that fine wood 
just to get a bunch or two ; and that will prove in the end to be the ruin of the 
Vines, because the wood is not ripened, and never can be, and the consequences 
to the large fine bunches shown are the same as in the case of young Vines 
coiled; for although the cold, wet soil is not in contact with the stem, the 
sap is in a crude state, and when the ripening process commences so also does 
shanking. B makes the same arrangements as A, but instead of leaving the 
