26 
JOrRNAL  OP  PtORrtCLlLTlJnP  A^'D  COfTAOE  GARDENER. 
inly  «. 
indeed  to  sell  at  a  profit  in  England.  The  most  profitable  Liliums,  by 
the  sale  of  their  flowers  in  London,  are  L.  Harrisi  and  L.  candid um* 
Bnlbs  of  L.  Harrisi  are  imported,  and  plants  grown  by  the  hundred 
thousand,  brought  into  flower  as  early  in  the  year  as  possible,  the 
stems  cqt,  and  the  bulbs  thrown  away.  This  may  appear  a  wasteful 
practice,  but  it  is  quite  certain  it  would  not  be  adopted  by  our 
greatest  flower  providers  if  they  had  not  found  by  experience  it 
gave  the  best  financial  results.  There  is  no  sentiment  among  our 
market  men.  They  mean  money,  and  the  most  enterprising  and 
competent  seem  to  get  a  fair  share.  L.  candid um  is  treated  much 
in  the  same  way,  the  flowers  being  in  great  demand  about  Easter¬ 
tide,  and  for  wreath-making  generally  early  in  the  year. 
Returning  to  L.  auratum.  We  have  seen  handsome  flowers, 
four  to  six  on  a  stem,  from  Christmas  onwards,  by  potting  late 
bulbs  in  the  summer — all  of  which  do  not  produce  plants,  but 
those  which  follow  are  grown  in  a  cool  poiition  out  of  doors,  and 
supported  by  encouraging  a  plenitude  of  stem  roots  by  sweet 
manurial  top-dressings.  They  produce  no  roots  from  the  bulbs, 
which  perish.  These  stem-fed  plants  are  placed  in  light  houses 
on  the  approach  of  winter,  producing  flowers  in  due  time  in  a 
genial  temperature.  Those  we  have  seen  were  not  grown  for 
sale,  and  we  do  not  know  that  thi?  method  of  providing  Lilium 
auratum  blooms  in  winter  has  been  tested  commercially. 
Referring  to  the  degeneration  of  Liliums  established  in  gardens, 
there  appears  to  be  a  limit  to  their  term  of  vigour,  this  varying 
according  to  the  natural  adaptability  of  the  soil  for  supporting 
the  plants.  The  longer  they  remain  in  the  same  position  the 
more  of  their  appropriate  food  they  abstract  from  the  soil,  and  as 
the  food  supply  fails  so  does  the  growth.  Moreover,  during  a 
period  when  the  growths  become  crowded,  in  proportion  to  the 
crowding  do  the  leaves  became  impaired  for  the  manufacture  and 
deposition  of  nutrient  matter  for  the  formation  of  strong  bulbs. 
The  “small  lot  of  feeble  stalks”  mentioned  have  no  doubt 
correspondingly  small  leaves.  These  weakly  organs  can  only 
provide  matter  sufficient  for  the  formation  of  weakly  bulbs,  or 
such  that  cannot  produce  stems  of  anyihing  like  adequate  vigour 
for  restoring  the  “past  splendour”  in  the  form  of  the  much-coveted 
beautiful  flowers. 
When  the  leaves  of  these  weakly  plants  show  signs  of  withering 
it  would  probably  be  a  good  plan  to  dig  up  the  clusters  of  small 
bulbs,  divide  them,  sort  them  into  sizes,  and  plant  again  carefully 
at  once  in  suitably  prepared  soil,  not  permitting  the  roots  to  be 
dried  in  the  process,  nor  deferring  the  operation  till  the  warmth  of 
summer  has  escaped  from  the  earth.  Stronger  growths  with  larger 
leaves  may  be  expected  to  follow,  if  not  the  first  season,  the  second 
year,  and  the  larger  bulbs  resulting  would  afford  strong  stems,  and 
then  in  turn  an  imposing  display  of  handsome  blooms.  The 
degeneration  and  restoration  of  Liliums  is  an  interesting  subject, 
and  perhaps  there  are  cultivators  who  may  like  to  record  their 
experience  thereon,  and  they  need  not  hesitate  to  do  so,  whether 
it  is  in  accordance  with  our  views  or  not.  Mr.  Everaerts  is  such 
an  earnest  amateur  and  good  patron  of  gardening  that  it  is  a 
pleasure  to  try  and  be  helpful  to  him,  even  in  ever  so  small 
4  way. 
COLOURING  GRAPES. 
Tiie  general  diflPusion  of  knowledge  through  the  m-'dium  of  the 
horticultural  pres*,  and  the  keen  c<  D'p^tiiion  created  by  the 
establishment  of  so  many  horticultural  exhibitions,  has  each 
tended  in  a  large  degree  to  raise  the  standard  of  excellence  in 
British-grown  Grapes.  To  be  convinced  that  this  standard  has 
reached  a  very  high  point  one  has  only  to  visit  such  great  exhibi¬ 
tions  as  those  annually  held  .in  the  metropolis.  Crystal  Palace, 
Shrewsbury,  and  York.  At  each  of  these  we  invariably  find  Grapes, 
not  only  large  in  bunch  and  berry,  but  perfect  in  shape  and 
beautifully  coloured,  and  it  is,  I  fancy,  in  the  matter  of  colouring 
that  we  have  made  the  greatest  strides.  By  this  I  do  not  mean 
to  infer  that  we  colour  them  better  than  did  the  cultivators  of 
twenty  and  thirty  years  ago,  as  a  few  growers  then  invariably 
managed  to  get  perfect  colouring.  Beyond  that,  of  course,  we  ' 
cannot  go,  except  in  another  direction,  but  this  I  think  we  have 
done — viz.,  succeeded  in  colooring  perfectly  much  larger  bunches 
than  the  older  cultivators  did.  Within  my  own  recollection  it  was 
a  very  frequent  occurrence  to  find  very  small  bunches  occupying 
the  leading  position  at  the  important  shows,  simply  because  none 
of  the  larger  bunches  was  really  well  coloured.  The  case  is,  how¬ 
ever,  very  different  now,  for  large  and  splendidly  colonred  bunches 
are  often  met  with,  so  much  so  that  the  difficulty  of  judging  is 
enormously  increased,  as  where  all  are  so  well  coloured  the  final 
test  lies  in  comparing  size  of  berry,  and  size  and  shape  of  bnnch. 
Even  at  local  shows  the  conspicuous  “  red  ”  Hamburghs,  “  green  ” 
Muscats,  and  “  grizzled  ”  Madresfield  Courts  are  now  compara¬ 
tively  rarely  seen,  so  great  has  been  the  “  levelling  up  ”  in 
culture.  Strange  as  I  think  it  would  appear  to  gardeners  of 
bygone  days,  were  they  with  us  now,  this  improvement  in  colouring 
has  been  effected  without  lightening  the  crops  to  the  extent  which 
they  thought  necessary.  Given  a  strong  healthy  Vine,  kept  free 
from  insects,  it  will  colour  perfectly  a  much  greater  weight  of 
Grapes  than  the  old  regulation  one  of  1  lb.  per  foot  run  of  rafter. 
I  doubt  not  that  many  Vines  are  too  heavily  cropped  now, 
but  uhis  seldom  occurs  except  with  would-be  cultivators,  who 
produce  only  badly  grown  insect-infested  Vines,  incapable  of 
bearing  the  strain  of  a  full  crop. 
The  ability  of  some  cultivators  to  produce  heavy  crops  of  well- 
coloured  Grapes  is  of  course  brought  about  to  a  great  extent  by 
improved  methods  of  culture  and  high  feeding,  the  latter  being 
rendered  so  easy  and  convenient  by  reason  of  the  many  admirable 
artificial  manures  manufactured  on  scientific  principles  which  are 
now  in  the  market.  We  are  thus  able  to  give  highly  concentrated 
food  in  a  form  readily  assimilated  by  the  Vines  at  the  precise 
stage  at  which  they  require  it  the  most.  Grape  growing  is,  in  fact, 
made  easy  in  many  ways.  As  an  old  exhibitor  I  have  noticed  one 
peculiarity  in  regard  to  the  produce  of  various  showmen  which  has 
not,  as  far  as  I  am  aware,  been  pointed  out  in  the  pre^s.  It  is 
this.  How  seldom  it  is  that  the  same  exhibitor  is  equally  famed 
for  both  black  and  white  Grapes.  In  instances  innumerable  I  have 
noticed  the  truth  of  this  assertiou.  In  some  of  the  big  classes  at 
our  foremost  shows  the  exhibits  of  the  leading  growers  show  great 
disparity  in  this  respect.  In  one  instance  perhaps  the  black  Grapes 
will  be  large  in  bunch  and  berry,  and  black  as  Sloes,  while  the 
white  ones  are  either  spotted  or  fail  to  show  that  beautiful  amber 
colour  which  indicates  culture  of  the  highest  order.  Difference 
in  the  situation  and  aspect  of  the  vineries  m  which  the  Grapes  are 
grown  may  to  some  extent  explain  this  disparity,  as  when  these  are 
erected  on  high  ground,  in  an  open  sitaation,  a  strong  light  and 
clear  atmosphere  is  secured,  conditions  favourable  to  high  finish  in 
white  Grapes,  whereas  for  black  ones  strong  light  and  sunshine  are 
not  only  unnecessary  but  at  times  iraimical  to  perfect  colouring. 
The  principal  cause,  however,  is,  I  think,  this — that  it  is  not 
generally  recognised  that,  with  the  exception  of  Buckland  Sweet¬ 
water  and  Foster’s  Seedling,  white  Grapes  require  more  fire  heat 
to  finish  them  properly  than  black  ones.  The  latter  frequently 
receive  too  much  artificial  heat  during  the  colouring  stage,  and  the 
former  too  little.  I  remember  the  time  when  the  night  temperatures 
of  vineries  were  kept  wituin  very  narrow  limits ;  if  this  varied  more 
than  5®  injuriouiii  results  were  predicted.  Fortunately  we  have  since 
found  out  the  delusiveness  of  this  old  belief.  In  the  case  of  Black 
Hamburglis  ripening  during  Jane,  July,  or  August,  arrificial  beat 
at  night  is  seldom  required,  but  in  the  event  of  a  succession  of 
dull  or  wet  days,  the  bot-water  pipes  should  be  kept  slightly 
warm  till  drier  weather  prevails.  It  is,  however,  important  at 
ail  times  that  the  ventilation  be  increased  before  the  temperatnre 
rises  in  the  morning,  and  that  air  is  after  admitted  in  sufficient 
quantities  to  prevent  the  temperature  from  rising  rapidly.  During 
the  afternoon  the  ventilation  should,  of  coarse,  be  decreased 
gradusPy,  and  a  little  left  on  at  both  top  and  bottom  ot  the  house 
throughout  the  night. 
During  very  hot  days  the  ventilators  may  be  opened  to  their 
fullest  extent  by  9  A.M.,  and  left  untouched  till  6  P.M.,  then 
piTtiaily  closed,  and  be  put  right  for  the  night  just  before  dark. 
This  treatment  also  answers  perfectly  for  Mairesfield  Court, 
Gros  Maroc,  ami  Alnwick  Seedling  ;  but  for  the  benefit  or  the 
former  it  is  admissible  to  keep  a  little  beat  in  the  hot  water 
pipes  '■hroughout  the  night  to  prevent  cracking.  Gros  Colman, 
Alicante,  Lady  Downe’s,  and  Gros  Guillaume,  ripening  in  August, 
when  the  nights  are  often  damp  and  foggy,  usually  require  a 
little  artificial  beat  each  night,  so  as  to  enable  the  ripening  process 
to  be  completed  early  in  autumn  ;  but  the  hot-water  pipes  should 
on  no  occasion  be  made  very  hot,  simply  to  maintain  a  given 
temperature.  I  am  convinced  that  too  much  fire  heat  and  too 
little  air  frequently  prevent  these  fine  late  Grapes  from  colouring 
properly.  When  Gros  Colman  began  to  be  grown  extensively, 
the  Muscat  bouse  was  considered  the  right  place  for  it ;  but  it 
was  seldom  seen  well  coloured  at  that  time.  Now  we  often  see 
