290 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
January 6, 1894. 
the space that can be afforded the plant ; but in any 
case a height of 3 ft. is quite sufficient for the plant 
to display its natural beauty and expend its energy 
before coming into flower. The plant naturally 
grows considerably taller than that, but the slender 
stems can with the greatest facility be twisted round 
the supports in the same way as Allamandas, 
Dipladenias, Clerodendrons, and others of this class. 
The plant under notice is more suitable for training 
in the manner indicated than those better known 
stove climbers. It flowers over a long period, and 
although it is said to bloom in March, it does so 
through a great portion of the winter, and has been 
flowering for some past at Kew. It comes from the 
Organ Mountains and thriv'es well in an inter¬ 
mediate house, or stove with a moderate temperature 
such as would accord with the requirements of 
Bouvardias. 
- 
A HORTICULTURAL 
POSTMAN. 
In the Agricultural Economist for the present month 
the editor remarks, and very justly, that to win the 
Gold Medal at the Crystal Palace Show has become 
a coveted mark of distinction in the world of co¬ 
operation and horticulture. In 1892 it was won by 
a working man ; in 1893 by a postman, Mr. Walter 
Salmon of West Norwood, one of the so-called 
masses. Born thirty years ago in an Essex village ; 
leaving school at fourteen to work as a boy in a 
garden, at once absorbed in the interest of his work, 
watching with great interest the head gardener when 
he was propagating or budding ; happy in following 
a congenial pursuit, yet compelled in two short years 
to seek a livelihood as an auxiliary postman, here 
was the case of a youth fitted with a gift intended 
to be a source of good and of happiness to himself 
and others. Nature and providence had marked 
him out for a creator of gardens—necessity converted 
him into a carrier of letters. How he found his true 
vocation in his overtime he shall tell in his own 
words:— 
"I commenced my gardening career in 1883 by 
buying two 6 ft. lights, and made the box for them 
myself. In these lights I commenced to grow 
Cucumbers, and a fine crop I had the first season. 
I then bought a nice lot of bedding plants at a sale, 
and altogether I made quite a garden. Thinking I 
should like a greenhouse for myself, I got my father's 
consent, and contrived to build myself one with a 
span roof 20 ft. long by 12 ft. wide, 8 ft. high in 
centre of span. I built a brick flue and I kept my 
plants safe through the winter. I found my green¬ 
house very pleasant too in the winter months to get 
into and see to my plants, of which I soon got a 
houseful. I had a rare fine display the next summer, 
I assure you. The end of 1885 there was an article 
in our local paper stating that some allotment 
grounds were going to be started, and that a 
meeting was to be held at the Co-operative Stores, 
West Norwood. Seeing this in the paper I became 
very anxious, and was one of the first there at the 
meeting, which was a successful one, for the ground 
was got on a seven years’ lease. As soon as the land 
was marked out in the plots, I made a start on my piece 
of about twenty rods. I had collected together a lot of 
manure, and was able to give my piece a rare coating. 
The ground was in a very rough state. It had been 
a ploughed field years before, but of late it had be¬ 
come a regular rubbish shoot, and was littered with 
tin pots and kettles, clay, bricks, cinders, and ashes. 
It was very trying to dig it up and to get the ground 
in at all any working order. You had to ‘ plough 
deep ' whilst sluggards slept. I commenced to 
plant my piece in !March, 1886, as the weather per¬ 
mitted, and I managadin my spare time to get all in. 
I had a very nice crop of vegetables and a fair dis¬ 
play of flowers the first year. About June some of 
the other members were saying to me and my father 
that things were looking so nice they thought we 
might have a little flower show. Some subscriptions 
were got in, and at the end of August we had our 
first flower show. It was a complete success, and 
now we have quite a grand day annually when the 
local flower show takes place.” 
Mr. Salmon also states that he has won altogether 
seventy-three first, sixty-two second, forty-six third, 
and twelve fourth prizes for exhibits at various 
shows, and has gained several certificates, including 
one from the National Chrysanthemum Society, as 
\vell as having been awarded one Gold jMedal, one 
Silver-gilt, ten Silver, and six Bronze Medals; 
while last year his record was one Gold, one Silver- 
gilt, six Silver, and one Bronze Medals, and ten 
first, ten second, nine third, and three fourth prizes, 
an achievement which any one might well be proud 
of. 
-- 
MODERN GARDENING. 
At a meeting of the Devon and Exeter Gardeners’ 
Mutual Improvement Association, held on the 20th 
ult., Mr. W. Mackay discussed some of the topics 
on which papers had been read at the previous 
meetings of the session. Mr. Mackay said with 
reference to 
The Vine, 
if there is one thing a Gardener requires to know 
something about more than any other, that one thing 
is the Vine. Scarcely any Garden, however mean 
its pretensions, but has its Vinery, if it be but a poor 
one, and however mean and poor it may be, grapes 
are required by its owner, and as good as may be 
obtained elsewhere and under more favourable cir¬ 
cumstances. Happy is the gardener who can 
content himself under these circumstances and 
produce fruit which is not to be despised. Too 
much attention cannot therefore be paid to its culti¬ 
vation, more especially as it may be a gardener's lot 
to be called upon to grow it under almost every 
possible condition and disadvantage, and I quite 
believe the Vine will grow, thrive, and produce eat¬ 
able fruit almost anywhere, provided it is not killed 
by neglect. In making a new Vinery—and having 
settled on the position of the house, its elevation and 
ventilation, the latter a most important considera¬ 
tion, and here let me say that I consider a most 
liberal supply of both top and bottom ventilators are 
necessary to a well-constructed vinery—the border 
is the first consideration. My own idea of a good 
border is that it should be about 2J ft. deep, with a 
concreted bottom well drained, and be filled with a 
compost of good, yellow, fibrous loam and a plentiful 
supply of good half-inch bones and bone meal, with 
a little charcoal to assist in keeping it open and 
sweet. It is not at all necessary to cram your 
borders with a glut of animal matter or manures; 
what is more necessary is lasting properties, and 
this can better be obtained from good fibrous maiden 
loam and bones than from any other materials. 
Whatever manures may be required later on are 
better given in a liquid state over the surface of the 
border or by mulching; by these means you tend to 
keep the fibrous or feeding roots near the surface, 
and by so doing give them the benefit of the warm 
influence of the sun’s rays and a plentiful supply of 
air and moisture. 
As canes for planting select those that have been 
free grown, short jointed, and with well ripened wood, 
and their buds well-formed and plump. If you grow 
your Vines from eyes, in selecting wood for the eyes 
care should be taken to select such that has been 
freely grown, well-ripened, and of a good size; as it 
is impossible to get good rods out of poor miserable 
cuttings. Most certainly the best Vines are those 
grown from eyes in one season, and these with proper 
care and management may be grown 10 or 12 feet 
long and of an even girth of 2 inches in one season. 
I cannot here forbear asking myself and you 
gentlemen, is all this care really necessary in the 
selection of suitable canes, or are they mere fanciful 
whims of the experienced gardener. I have lately 
had serious reasons to think that they must be, when I 
find some of our good Devonshire gardeners content 
to plant, and not only so, but to recommend others 
to plant. Vines grown from 3 ear to year in the open 
ground with their roots partially confined in 6 in. 
or 7 in. pots, producing over-grown, long-jointed, 
pithy, budless canes !!! Here we have a revoltation 
certainly of a most radical tendency. 
In planting, the roots should be denuded of all soil 
—and may be washed, if you feel so disposed, 
without injury to the Vine—the Vine placed in the 
position it has to occupy, and the roots be carefully 
laid out over the surface of the bed and be covered 
to a depth of 2^ in. to 3 in.; deep planting being 
most injurious to all plant life—the Vine none less 
than others. 
In touching on pruning we come to a very debat¬ 
able point, and one, even amongst the most experi¬ 
enced, on which there are diverse opinions; 
evidently the spur system is the one generally 
adopted in this country, but I should be better 
pleased on going into some vineries if I saw less fear 
of using the knife and less length of spur to obstruct 
the light and occupy valuable space, which might be 
better emplo3'ed. By judicious pruning the spurs 
may be kept almost close to the rod, and these be 
made to break evenly and with the same strength 
throughout the rod; by bringing your rods down to 
the bottom of the house before starting them in the 
spring and tying them in a horizontal position you 
equalise the sap till all the buds have broken. Too 
much care and attention cannot be given to watering, 
and this in the growing season should be dore 
copiously—at short intervals, to be fixed according 
to the state and nature of the border—with good 
manure water, augmented occasionally with a little 
of Thomson’s Vine Manure, which will add greatly 
to the flavour of the berries. 
When watering don't be afraid of the supply, as 
one good soaking is better by far than two or even 
three sprinklings. As the fruit becomes ripe so 
much watering is not necessary, but even now 
neglect to keep the roots well supplied with moisture 
would at once ruin the crop. It is at this season 
when great attention needs to be paid to the ventila¬ 
tion, fresh air being essential to all plant life, 
especially so to the proper development of their 
fruits. It is at this season when a gardener almost 
wants to live and sleep with his Vines, and one who 
has his work at heart does nearly this—seeing them 
the last thing at night and again at daybreak, ever 
on the alert to keep an even temperature and at the 
same time sufficient fresh air for the well-being of 
his children. To bring the berries up to perfection, 
both as regards flavour and colour, a plentiful 
supply of air, both night and day', is most essential, 
and more failures in this way are the result of bad 
ventilation than from any other source. When I 
hear some complain that their grapes are a bad 
colour from want of fire heat to finish them off, I think 
a more free hand wdth the ventilator earlier in the 
season would have obviated all this. 
All grapes, late ones especially, are better, and will 
keep longer if well finished off, and for this a little 
fire heat is necessary, but even with this, air should 
still be given. 
Before closing my remarks on the Vine, I should 
like to mention that almost anything may be done 
with the Vine, and this at nearly any time of the year. 
Many years since in Buckinghamshire, a gardener by 
the name of Ivery, then one of the most successful 
Chrysanthemum growers, selected in June some 
small Vines, which had been lying under a north 
wall in the neighbourhood of Chiswick, took them 
home, having previously got his border in order, 
planted them, grew the canes 35 ft. long and as thick 
as one’s thumb the first year, and carried on them, 
the next season, fifteen bunches each, which were of 
good size both as regards bunch and berry, and well 
coloured and finished, and the vines were many years 
afterwards doing well, and none the worse for this 
heavy tax, which, even in this later day, good Vine 
growers would hesitate to put upon them. 
Lilies. 
“ Of nature’s gifts thou may’st with Lilies boast. 
And with the half-blown Rose." 
The Lily has for ages been a great and telling 
rival to the rose, but which shall wear the crown 
seems never to have been properly settled ; most 
people are content, and wisely so, to allow them to 
reign together. With such beauties as these it 
certainly is not a case of happiness with one 
" Were t’other dear charmer away,” 
for their beauty so blends together that we can be 
happy with both, and certainly no garden, however 
small its pretensions, can be perfect without either. 
From what I can gather from those who have 
studied and successfully cultivated Lilies, they seem 
to delight in partially shaded, moist (without being 
stagnant) situations, such as most Rhododendron 
beds afford, and in such a situation after the 
Rhododendrons are past flowering they throw up 
their sturdy stems, and, not only grace the beds with 
their lovely flowers, but add a delightful charm to 
what otherwise must have been of but little interest 
for the remainder of the year. 
Possibly, to most people their cultivation in pots 
—as being more useful for decorative purposes—is 
most commendable, and here more care and atten¬ 
tion is necessary ; to grow them successfully in pots 
and to ensure the bulbs lasting for several years a 
greater depth and more space is necessary than that 
usually assigned to them, and this where they are 
