Pepr-ember 2, 1905. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
691 
Flower Garden and 
Pleasure Grounds. 
Bedding Plants —As recommended last 
week, cuttings must now be got in without 
delay. Calceolarias and Gazania splendens 
should not be propagated till October. 
Gazania is seldom seen nowadays, but, if 
planted where it can get plenty of sunshine, 
its rich orange blossoms make a grand display. 
Moreover, cold frame treatment is all that it 
requires in the way of protection. 
Seed-saving,— I have no desire to damage 
the nurserymen’s interests, but every intelli¬ 
gent gardener will save seed of certain things 
from time to time. This has been an ideal 
season for ripening seeds, and the work 
should have close attention before the autumn 
rains set in. Always pick when quite dry. 
Seed-sowing. —Many seeds may be sown 
now with advantage, such as Pansies and 
Violas, Pentstemons and Antirrhinums. 
Sow in pans or boxes of light soil, and place 
in a cold frame or in a cool house. 
Anomatheca cruenta. —This dwarf bulbous 
perennial with carmine crimson flowers is 
not so well known as it deserves to be. If 
planted in light, well-drained soil in a sunny 
spot, it is hardy in many parts of Scotland ; 
it is also well adapted for frame or cool green¬ 
house culture. Seeds sown in a frame now 
would give plants that would flower more or 
less next autumn. It seeds freely. 
Conservatory and Greenhouse. 
Chrysanthemums. —These will require 
close attention now. Give a slight top-dress¬ 
ing of some rich material, say equal parts of 
fibrous loam and horse droppings with a 
dash of Clay’s or other fertiliser, leaving 
room for another dressing at housing time. 
Attend to taking the buds and thinning out 
the terminal buds of early-flowering varieties. 
Violets. —Preparations should be made for 
framing Violets that have been grown for 
that purpose. Cucumber frames or other 
spent hotbeds suit them admirably. They 
should have about a foot of soil on the top 
of the old fermenting materials. Loam should 
form the staple, but it must be fairly well 
enriched. 
Climbers —All conservatory and green¬ 
house climbers should have their wood well 
exposed to the light to ensure its being 
thoroughly ripened. In order to ensure this 
all surplus shoots should be thinned out. 
Callas —Those intended for early work 
should be potted up at once, whether they 
were left in the pots or planted out. Use a 
rich compost, and stand out of doors for a 
little yet. C. C. 
Mimulus alpinus Brilliant. 
The old-fashioned Monkey Flower, fa 
vourite of our grandparents^ is capable of 
holding the affections of one and all, even to 
the present day. Still, it must be confessed 
| that there are some among the more modern 
developments in the family that, are far more 
gorgeous and attractive, being of neater habit, 
with larger flowers and brighter colours. In 
the latter particularly none can outshine the 
plant so aptly named above, for it is truly a 
gem, bright and showy as a flower could well 
be, and it is also dwarf, compact, and bushy. 
It is really a fiery red flower, and so free and 
continuous that a fair-sized patch is a sheet 
)f intense colour throughout the summer sea¬ 
son. Every garden should contain a patch of 
his striking plant. Heather BeeE. 
A GIANT 
AMONG 
CABBAGES. 
Our Dundee correspondent sends us the 
photograph here reproduced. The Cabbage was 
planted in May, 1904, along with a lot of 
Winningstad, being, like that variety, in 
leaf, a character it has still retained through¬ 
out its monstrous growth of 1905, always 
showing a determined attitude to over-topping 
its neighbours, but none of their hearting pro¬ 
pensities. It will be seen by the reproduction 
that it has now reached a height of 6g ft., 
being higher than the grower, Mr. Wm. Nicoll, 
Farington Hall Gardens, who is of average 
stature. Mr. Nicoll is perplexed to know what 
the outcoming result will be, or if readers of 
I he Gardening V oeld are familiar with this 
form of monstrosity. J. B. 
[The Cabbage is perfectly familiar to us as 
tho Tree Cabbage (Brassica oleracea arborea). 
Though not much grown in Britain, especially 
in the inland and colder portions, it is never¬ 
theless occasionally seen in collections of the 
Cabbage tribe. In the Channel Islands, par¬ 
ticularly in Jersey, it is regularly cultivated 
The Tree Cabbage. 
(Brassica oleracea arborea.) 
for a variety of purposes. The leaves are 
picked and given to cows, while the side 
sprouts formed in spring make a good vege¬ 
table dish for the table. The stems (custocks) 
are largely used for making into walking- 
sticks, brass knobs being put on the heads of 
the finer and more expensive sticks. Specially 
large specimens! are varnished and put in the 
windows of shops, not for sale (pas a vend), 
but purely as an advertisement. Living speci¬ 
mens that show exceptional vigour are fed with 
liquid manure, etc. The mild and. equable 
climate of the Channel Islands is favourable 
to continuous growth for two or more seasons 
before flowering ; hence this kind of Cabbage 
is at home there, and may actually have origi¬ 
nated there or on the warm sea shores of 
South Europe.—E d.] 
PRACTICAL 
GRAPE-GROWING. 
Concreting Border Bottoms. 
Numerous fanciful communications continue 
to appear in the columns of the horticultural 
journals regarding practical Grape-growing, 
and .whatever particulars are produced con¬ 
cerning the formation and composition of Vine 
borders, they are invariably associated with the 
inevitable accompaniment—the invariable re¬ 
commendation to excavate and concrete all 
border bottoms. In practical Vine culture the 
composition and formation of the borders is an 
absorbing theme, and the fanciful allusions to 
the concreting of the bottoms may be permitted 
to pass under certain circumstances; but, 
assuming that practical Grape-growing is to be 
proceeded with on extensive lines, probably for 
market purposes, I should regard the excavating 
and concreting as pure fallacy, a practice 
directly antagonistic to the requirements or 
propensities of the Vine. When it is considered 
that the Vine in its native habitat luxuriates 
under the clear, sunny skies and on the breezy 
slopes and fertile plains of Continental and 
Colonial countries, it is complacent reason to 
assume that the elevating of the border in this 
country is a nearer approach to its natural 
rooting medium in Continental or Colonial 
countries. 
If a careful analysis of the failures were 
made, qualified enthusiasts could prove beyond 
all possible doubt that a large percentage of 
them is attributable to the stinted supply of 
moisture obtainable by the roots on those con¬ 
creted bottoms. The merits and demerits of 
the practice rationally considered are simply 
thus : this absolutely impenetrable layer of 
concrete totally prevents moisture from ascend¬ 
ing in the usual way by capillary attraction to 
supply the loss by evaporation and absorption 
by the roots ; consequently, the stinted supply 
of moisture causes the skins of some varieties, 
such as Chasselas Masque and Madresfield 
Court, to so harden or toughen that they do 
not expand properly ; then water, probably in¬ 
discriminately applied, causes wholesale crack¬ 
ing and splitting of the berries; whereas on 
elevated borders a much more genial and 
equitable supply of moisture is maintained 
throughout the period of grojvth, so that instead 
of the skins of these varieties becoming 
-toughened they naturally expand as others do, 
and the. dreaded cracking and splitting of the 
berries is thereby rendered conspicuous by its 
absence. 
The primary object of the concreting is, of 
course, to prevent the roots from penetrating 
too deeply into any uncongenial soil, whereby 
shanking and minor troubles would ensue; 
but my belief in elevated borders is such that 
if they are properly composed of suitable 
material, turfy loam, bones, lime rubble, and 
other ingredients, eager, indeed, will be the 
roots in their efforts to obtain a more congenial 
medium if they leave this and penetrate an 
uncongenial clay. Twenty-five years’ practical 
experience prompts me to commit these remarks 
to paper, and I submit them to the Editor for 
consideration and to say whether the reasoning 
is sound. 
A magnificent blending of farcical humour 
predominates throughout the paragraph where¬ 
in your correspondent complacently asserts that 
lie was laughed at by the late Dr. Hooker for 
attempting practical grape culture at the foot 
of the Scotch Grampians. What rejoinder 
would this would-be jocular genius have to 
offer the world for acceptance when he is 
reminded that near the village of Killin in 
Perthshire the celebrated Kiuuell Vine has 
