July  29,  1897. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
101 
theiwhole  of  the  border  out,  and  made  it  up  again  with  part  fresh  turf 
and  plenty  of  lime  rubbish.  I  then  replanted  the  Vines  in  it,  and  after¬ 
wards  treated  them  according  to  the  best  information  from  the  back 
numbers  and  from  articles  that  appeared  from  time  to  time  since. 
With  regard  to  the  Vines  in  pots,  I  ripened  six  bunches  on  each 
Black  Hamburgh,  and  five  bunches  on  the  Madresfield  Court,  which  did 
not  burst  any  berries ;  in  fact,  the  Vines  in  pots  finished  the  crops 
very  well  indeed.  At  this  time  the  Vines  in  the  border  had  completed 
their  growth,  and  were  stopped  at  9  feet,  then  kept  in  check.  The  canes 
at  Ibis  time  were  a  good  size,  with  prominent  buds.  When  the  leaves 
were  down  they  were  pruned  to  8  feet,  except  the  Muscat  of  Alexandria, 
which  was  pruned  to  6  feet  6  inches.  The  following  year  (last  year)  the 
Madresfield  Court  carried  six  bunches.  Black  Alicante  three,  Muscat  of 
the  border,  so  that  the  lower  part  of  the  Vines  are  below  the  staging. — 
Thos.  Lowdon, 
[We  have  pleasure  in  publishing  the  foregoing  narrative,  and  those  of 
our  contributors  of  information  on  Vine  culture  will  be  gratified  by  the 
results,  as  shown  in  the  photograph,  taken,  it  may  be  noted,  “  when  the 
Grapes  were  stoning.”  The  photograph  was  in  our  hands  some  weeks 
ago,  but  as  the  explanatory  notes  were  not  so  full  as  we  desired,  and  as 
Mr.  Lowdon’s  address  was  not  quite  clear  either,  we  inserted  a  reference 
in  our  “correspondents’  ”  columns  with  the  object  of  eliciting  the  infor¬ 
mation  now  imparted  by  the  grower  of  the  Grapes  represented  in  fig.  1.5. 
Judging  by  the  photograph,  the  results  seem  to  be  altogether  creditable. 
That  the  Vines  were  good  goes  without  saying,  and  that  their  cultivation 
has  been  good  appears  to  be  equally  conclusive. 
Fig.  15.— an  AMATEUR’S  GRAPES. 
Alexandria  four,  and  Mrs.  Pince  five.  These  finished  well,  and  the  canes 
were  stopped  at  12  feet,  and  afterwards  pruned  to  11  feet,  except  the 
Muscat  of  Alexandria,  which  was  pruned  to  9  feet. 
I  started  the  Vines  about  the  middle  of  February,  and  they  soon 
began  to  show  plenty  of  bunches.  I  left  nine  on  Madresfield  Court, 
nine  on  Alicante,  six  on  Muscat  of  Alexandria,  and  eight  on  Mrs.  Pince, 
which  you  will  see  by  the  photo  look  fairly  well  considering  the  preva¬ 
lence  of  dull,  cold,  and  wet  weather  during  the  whole  of  the  time  the 
Vines  were  in  fiower.  At  the  present  time  the  Madresfield  Court  is 
nearly  all  coloured,  and  promises  well  to  make  a  good  finish,  the  weight 
of  the  bunches  ranging  from  2  to  3  lbs.  By  carefully  following  the 
instructions  given  in  the  Journal  of  Horticulture  on  the  treatment  of 
Madresfield  Court  I  have  not  had  a  cracked  berry  this  year,  neither  have 
I  had  any  trouble  from  this  cause  the  two  previous  years. 
Up  to  the  present  time  I  have  had  no  gardener  to  advise  me  or 
assist  me  in  any  way,  and  I  can  assure  you  I  am  irost  anxious  to 
obtain  your  Journal  every  Thursday  as  early  as  possible.  I  may  add 
that  my  Vines  are  grown  in  an  inside  border  with  a  brick  wall  above 
We  have  two  or  three  observations  to  make  on  this  instance  of 
success  in  Grape  growing.  1,  The  same  information  which  Mr.  Lowdon 
turned  to  such  good  account  must  have  been  read  by  thousands  more 
and  some  we  may  hope  have  equally  benefited  by  it.  2,  If  there  is 
a  horticultural  society  in  the  district,  and  if,  say,  three  sound  gardeners 
were  delegated  to  inspect  the  Vines  in  question,  and  they  were 
found  to  be  all  that  the  photograph  suggests,  might  they  not,  under 
all  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  be  deemed  worthy  of  some  official 
recognition  ? 
This  opens  another  question — namely.  Would  it  not  be  appropriate 
for  societies,  which  are  established  for  the  promotion  of  local  horticulture, 
to  go  beyond  the  show  tent  now  and  then  and  recognise  exceptional 
merit  in  cultivation  where  this  is  in  a' form  that  cannot  be  “  exhibited,” 
though  not  the  less  meritorious,  as  in  the  case  of  a  house  of  Grapes  ? 
What  say  our  readers  on  the  extension  of  the  usefulness  of  such 
societies  on  the  lines  suegested  by  the  Grapes  of  Mr.  Lowdon,  who 
sends  us  his  address — 23,  Kingsland  Crescent,  Barry  Dock.  In  the 
meantime  we  ask  his  acceptance  of  our  congratulations.] 
