420 
nitrate  of  potash.  I  do  not  know  how  the  lime  causes  the  better 
utilisation  of  the  potash,  but  the  fact  remains,  and  certainly  helps  the 
Vines  against  shanking  in  the  berries.  An  analysis  of  natural  soil  in 
which  Muscats  thrive  unusually  well,  shows  34  per  cent,  sulphate  of 
lime.  The  soil  is  a  calcareous  gravel  and  contains  3  63  per  cent,  of 
iron,  but  this  amount  of  iron  seems  to  favour  the  shanking  where  the 
sulphate  of  lime  only  amounts  to  18  per  cent.  I  have  suffered 
terribly  from  shanking  in  early  Muscats,  and  have  not  found  anything 
of  any  use  against  it  but  the  superphosphates  and  gypsum,  and 
the  information  may  be  of  use  to  somebody.  But  there  is  another 
side  to  the  effects  of  superphosphates.  An  excess  may  cause 
“browning,”  the  leaves  and  young  shoots  turning  hard  and  brown 
on  young  or  vigorous  Vines,  and  arresting  their  progress.  There  can 
be  nothing  simpler  than  this.  Do  not  overdo  the  superphosphate, 
and  to  prevent  shanking  use  sulphate  of  lime  with  a  little  sulphate 
of  iron  (if  not  naturally  in  the  soil)  and  magnesia,  taking  care  to 
ammoniate  the  iron  by  supplying  organic  manures. 
When  Grapes  are  ripening  is  the  time  when  shanking  declares 
itself,  hence  the  foregoing  notes  are  in  season.  It  is  equally  seasonable 
to  say  that  it  is  of  no  use  to  apply  anything  to  a  close  pasty  border 
soured  by  lack  of  drainage.  Drains  for  such  borders,  and  a  dressing  of 
gravel  mixed  with  the  soil,  will  beat  all  the  fertilisers  in  existence.  I 
have  tried  most  of  them,  and  found  a  suitable  soil  staple  of  more 
consequence  than  all  the  science  in  the  world.  But  is  not  the  culti¬ 
vation  of  the  soil  a  science? — well,  an  art,  a  step  up  from  theory  to 
practice  !  If  the  soil  be  sour,  and  cannot  be  interfered  with  now,  do 
not  hesitate  to  give  a  dressing  of  air-slaked  chalk  lime.  A  pound  or 
more  to  the  square  yard  will  not  hurt  anything  except  the  sourness, 
and  may  have  a  most  beneficial  effect  on  the  Vines.  A  lighter 
dressing  of  lime  to  close  borders  annually  may  prevent  the  necessity 
of  lifting  the  Vines,  as  many  borders  are  too  close  simply  because 
cramful  of  organic  matter  which  water  cannot  pass  through  freely 
and  wash  away  by  the  drainage,  not  perhaps  over-good,  yet  sufficient 
for  practical  purposes.  I  mention  these  expedients,  as  few  gardeners 
are  overburdened  with  men  in  these  days,  and  many  proprietors  have 
a  strong  objection  to  having  things  upset  and  incurring  expense  that 
can  by  any  means  be  avoided.  I  have  seen  old  Vines  greatly  improved 
by  dressing  unctuous  borders  with  best  chalk  lime,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  known  some  poisoned  by  applying  a  heavy  dose  of  magnesian 
lime.  A  light  dressing  of  this,  not  exceeding  half  a  pound  to  the 
square  yard,  does  good  when  heavy  dressings  of  stable  manure  and 
thick  liquid  from  manure  tanks  have  been  applied  to  the  borders. 
Another  thing  I  should  like  to  mention,  and  that  is  the  exercise  of 
judgment.  Some  Vines,  in  a  sodden  and  sour  border,  that  shanked 
in  the  berries  seriously,  were  kept  so  dry  that  the  soil  cracked.  This 
had  a  good  effect  the  first  year,  and  better  the  next;  indeed,  they 
outgrew  the  shanking,  simply  through  air  getting  into  the  soil,  not  a 
drop  of  water  being  given  to  the  border  until  the  Vines  showed  evidence 
of  wanting  it  by  the  foliage  becoming  limp,  or  even  slightly  flagging. 
These  trifles  may  seem  insigniflcant  to  growers  who  have  nothing  but 
fair  sailing,  and  can  command  as  much  material  and  labour  as  they 
please,  but  I  have  found  that  circumstances  greatly  alter  cases,  and 
many  persons  gain  success  through  adaptation  of  procedure  calculated 
to  overcome  the  difficulties  with  the  means  at  command,  while  not  a 
few  fall  under  favouring  conditions  by  lack  of  sound  judgment  and 
failing  to  discover  the  cause  of  a  misfortune. 
The  Editor  may  perhaps  have  seen  some  Vin  s  ruined  by  over¬ 
feeding,  also  others  practically  effete  for  lack  of  support,  and  may 
therefore  And  a  place  in  “our  Journal”  for  these  records  of  experience* 
I  have,  however,  had  much  trouble  with  Vines  through  shanking,  and 
confess  to  never  being  able  to  grow  early  Muscats  without  losing  a 
few  berries.  Some  people  never  have  any  trouble  of  this  kind,  or  if 
they  have  they  keep  it  in  the  background  and  put  forward  nothing 
but  the  best  examples  of  their  success.  I  think  this  a  mistake,  as 
than  the  recording  of  failures,  their  cause  and  future  prevention,  no 
information  can  be  more  useful.  Grapes  do  not  usually  shank  outdoors, 
therefore  the  affection  must  arise  mainly  from  cultural  errors.  Some¬ 
thing  must  be  wrong,  either  ip  the  soil  staple,  its  constitnents,  the 
May  19,  1898. 
manures  and  moisture  applied,  or  in  the  management.  It  is  just  as 
well  to  look  straight  at  these  things  and  admit  the  facts,  instead  of 
hiding  them  when  they  are  not  to  our  liking.  Muscat  Grapes  aie 
twice  as  difficult  to  grow  as  the  vinous  Alicantes  and  Gros  Colmans, 
and  the  mbre  difficult  to  grow,  the  more  shanking. 
The  temperature,  when  Muscats  change  colour,  should  be  kept  at 
65°  to  70°  at  night,  70°  to  75°  by  day  artificially,  and  through  the  day 
from  85°  to  95°  from  sun  heat.  A  circulation  of  air  must  be  main¬ 
tained  constantly  warm  and  rather  dry,  but  not  too  dry,  air  being 
essential  to  the  perfection  of  the  fruit.  If  the  sun  is  very  powerful, 
and  the  panes  of  glass  large  and  clear,  a  single  thickness  of  herring 
nets  drawn  over  the  roof  will  prevent  scorching  of  the  leaves  and 
berries,  which  is  often  occasioned  by  the  deposition  of  moisture  on 
them.  This  is  also  a  common  cause  of  spot,  indeed  necessary  for  the 
germination  of  the  spores  of  the  spot  fungus.  When  the  Grapes  are 
likely  to  suffer  through  damp  arising  from  the  border,  mulch  it  with 
a  little  short  dry  material,  preferably  clean  dry  straw  coarsely  chopped. 
This  and  some  air  constantly  enables  us  to  have  Madresfield  Court 
free  from  cracking,  and  it  also  answers  for  the  “  Duke,”  a  grand 
Grape,  too  seldom  seen. — Practitioner. 
CUCUMBERS  IN  COLD  PITS. 
Pits  in  which  bedding  plants  and  early  vegetables  are  now  growing 
will  soon  become  vacant,  and  it  therefore  will  be  for  us  to  look  ahead 
and  determine  how  we  can  turn  them  to  the  best  account  during  the 
summer  months.  A  considerable  amount  of  such  space  will  be 
required  for  Primulas  and  Cinerarias,  which  are  now  growing  rapidly, 
and  will  every  few  weeks  require  a  greater  amount  of  space  ;  but  after 
making  due  allowance  for  such  contingencies  there  is  usually  a  con¬ 
siderable  amount  of  pit  room  which  can  for  a  few  months  be  devoted 
to  Cucumber  or  Melon  growing. 
In  the  present  article  we  will  deal  with  the  culture  of  the  first 
named,  which  as  a  rule  gives  more  satisfactory  results  when  grown  in 
pits  or  frames  than  Melons  do,  although  the  latter  in  skilful  hands 
will  in  fairly  favourable  seasons  succeed  splendidly.  What  they  often 
do  not  receive  is  that  close  attention  to  detail  so  necessary  to  insure 
success.  In  one  noted  fruit  growing  establishment,  where  I  served  for 
some  years  as  foreman.  Melons  are  largely  grown  in  cold  pits,  and 
though  the  seasons  were  not  always  favourable  we  never  experienced 
a  failure.  But  let  us  return  to  the  Cucumbers. 
Under  pit  culture,  with  the  plants  trailing  over  the  soil,  it  is  just 
possible  to  produce  many  Cucumbers  quite  as  fine  and  straight  as 
those  from  plants  grown  in  houses,  though  there  will  generally  be  a 
greater  percentage  of  second  quality.  Those  who  contemplate  planting 
Cucumbers  in  pits  as  they  become  vacant  should  take  steps  to  have 
the  requisite  number  of  plants  ready  aa  required.  If  no  young  plants 
are  advancing  seeds  ought  to  be  sown  at  once,  and  if  the  young 
plants  are  grown  in  strong  heat  they  will  be  ready  for  planting  three 
weeks  from  the  date  of  sowing  the  seed.  The  sowing  is,  however, 
sometimes  not  done  “just  in  the  nick  of  time,”  and  when  it  is 
important  to  raise  a  set  of  plants  as  quickly  as  possible  I  insert 
cuttings,  place  them  in  strong  bottom  heat,  and  obtain  well-rooted 
plants  in  about  ten  days.  The  varieties  I  prefer  for  frame  culture  are 
Telegraph,  Rochford’s,  and  Lockie’s  Perfection. 
Assuming  that  we  have  a  pit  to  deal  with  from  which  early 
Potatoes  have  been  dug,  a  great  amount  of  preparation  will  not  be 
needed.  The  soil  requires  to  be  simply  levelled,  and  small  mounds  oi 
fresh  soil  placed  in  the  centre  of  each  light.  This  fresh  soil  may  be 
quite  a  simple  mixture ;  good  turfy  loam  with  a  fourth  of  manme  and 
a  little  soot  added  answers  admirably.  I  always  like  to  plant  two 
plants  to  each  light,  because  if  one  should  through  any  cause  come  to 
grief  the  other  quickly  fills  up  the  blank  space. 
When  the  main  shoots  have  grown  a  few  inches  in  length  I  remove 
the  point,  and  take  two  shoots  from  each  plant,  stopping  these  when 
they  get  to  within  a  foot  of  the  edges  of  the  pit.  Alternate  laterals 
are  then  removed,  and  those  left  stopped  at  one  or  two  joints  beyond 
the  fruit,  according  to  the  space  at  command  for  leaf  development. 
Before  the  growth  has  extended  very  far  I  usually  add  the  additional 
soil  required.  This  is  formed  of  the  same  ingredients  as  already 
given,  and  a  4-inch  layer  spread  over  the  old  soil,  and  made  mode¬ 
rately  firm,  answers  admirably. 
Much  of  the  success  of  Cucumber  culture  in  cold  pits  depends  upon 
following  an  intelligent  system  of  ventilation.  A  golden  rule  is  to 
give  air  early  and  to  close  early.  A  chink  given  early  prevents  the 
temperature  from  rising  rapidly,  and  on  “  catchy  ”  days  renders  the 
admission  of  large  quantities  of  air  unnecessary.  Many  who  grow 
Cucumbers  are  rather  timid  about  closing  tbe  lights  top  earljr,  but  I 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
