80 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. ering on the ground, what a solemn voice makes itself heard in his inmost soul! A golden vine, with its wide-spreading graceful boughs laden with fruit, adorned the interior of the porch of that Temple sanctified by the presence of the living God-a striking type of Him, and of those who abide in Him. How loudly does the vine repeat to us, "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me." The vine is, as we all know, a native of the east, and was very early spoken of in the sacred writings. It was first brought into England about the tenth year of the Christian era, and thus becomes extremely interesting to us as having first taken root in our soil so soon after the blessed event from which all Christian nations count their time. The vine has been more generally and successfully cultivated here than it is now. In our climate, however, it has never attained any size; but the Roman authors speak of vines as growing to a surprising size, and bearing bunches of enormous weight. Columella mentions one tree which bore two thousand bunches of grapes in one season; and in the reign of Augustus bunches are described as being two cubits, that is an English yard, in length. Statues and columns in some of the temples of that idolatrous nation were formed from the trunks of vines; and the great doors of the cathedral of Ravenna are constructed of vine planks, some of which are 12 feet long and 15 inches wide. This gives us a high idea of the fertility of Italy in bygone days, and of the skill exerted in the cultivation of these trees; for in the east, where the soil and climate needed no help, the vine attained no useful size, for we find it spoken of in scripture as "meet for no work;" but by cultivation it seems capable of taking its place in some countries among the useful kinds of wood. Even in our hot-houses, as regards the fruit, the Vineyards were very common in England in days Canterbury was also famous for its vines; a large wine making is to put in all the sugar, to boil and I should like to see a vine trained and tended on YELLOWS.-Crocus reticularis, Dutch Cloth of Gold; do. speciosus English Cloth of Gold; do. sulphureus albidus, straw colour. PURPLES.-Vernus, purple ; puniceus, very dark purple with white stripes; Sabini, very fine; grandis, rosy purple, larger: purpurescens, very fine, dark purple, cupped; maculosus, large light blue, with rosy purple stripes; plumosus, white, with purple feather, fine; stylosus, very showy purple; inflatus, fine feathered, light purple ; tulipaceus, beautiful light large purple. LILACS.-Lilacinus præcox, pale lilac, good; maculosus, pale blue, handsome. VARIEGATED AND SPOTTED.-Vernus pictus, fine feathered lilac, very handsome; falcatus, very handsome; unguis major, lilac, striped with white, fine; leucorhynchus, light, striped with purple. GREY STRIPED.-Vernus gloriana, grey striped, finely feathered; glorianella, beautiful feathered lilac, with purple bottom; variegatus, beautiful feathered lilac; lincellus, white, with rosy purple bottom, striped very distinct. WHITE STRIPED.-Vernus spectabilis, splendid white, with purple stripe at bottom; undulatus, white, with lilac stripe; obsoletus, small white, with purple bottom. PURE WHITES.-Albus major, pure white; ditto minor, ditto. LATE-FLOWERING PURPLE.-Vernus delectus, beautiful feathered purple; tardiflorus, purple striped, finely feathered. DARK STRIPED.-Versicolor elegans, fine dark striped grey; vittatus, small white, outer petals feathered with rosy purple. LILAC GROUND.-Versicolor lineatus, lilac striped. WHITE GROUND.-Versicolor pulchellus, small feathered lilac, pretty; do. propinquus, white feathered; do. affinis, white, grey stripes; do. pallidus, white, outer petals shaded with rosy purple. AUTUMN CROCUSES. Crocus serotinus, blue, flowers at latter end of October and beginning of November; Latinus, saffron blue; nudicaule, blue, blooms (at present) without foliage. Of the Dutch spring varieties, David Rizzio is a splendid purple, and Queen Victoria an equally beautiful white. Then they have from 50 to 100 varieties of seedlings, which are better than those enumerated above, more attention having been bestowed on the colour and shape of the flowers, which are botanical species, and were grown by the late Mr. Sabine, of the Horticultural Society, who gave a vast deal of attention to this class of plants, and had carpets or beds of them formed in the gardens. When I say carpets, I mean that the beds were laid out in patterns. The same varieties were likewise grown by the late Mr. Haworth, of Queen Elms, together with others. Mr. Sabine's collection contained about 124 specimens; Mr. Haworth's not so many. Besides the above there are several English varieties that are not enumerated, which have almost gone out of cultivation on account of the fineness and size of roots, combined with the cheapness that the Dutch people grow them. There are likewise several autumn plants that used to be called crocus. For instance: the yellow autumn crocus, now called Amaryllis lutea, in full bloom at present. The different varieties of colchicums were formerly all termed autumn crocuses. The Dutch varieties of the crocus, and the species from Mr. Haworth's and Mr. Sabine's collections, are now selling by me at 7s. 6d. per 100.-D. HAIRS, Seedsman, St. Martin's lane. In addition to the preceding Mr. Hairs has also furnished us with the following Dutch varieties, which we have now growing in our garden. Phocas. Reine du Monde. Vulcain. EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE. REFRIGERATING STOREHOUSES.-Should you deem the annexed extract from a letter received a fortnight ago, from a friend in America, sufficiently interesting for a place in your very useful periodical, it is at your service, and, I would add, that your own remarks, a few weeks since, on the preservation of fruits, lead me to suppose that any improvement on the present method of storing them would be acceptable; and, although this plan can never, on account of the mildness of our winters, and consequent difficulty of procuring a sufficient supply of ice, be made fully available in this country, yet, by showing what has been done elsewhere, it is not unreasonable to hope that, in favourable situations, some approach may be made to the American refrigerating storehouse, and I shall be happy, in a future letter, to give some practical suggestions on the subject, if deemed worth insertion: Detroit, Michigan, Aug. 4th, 1849.-The refrigerating storehouse of Messrs. Story and Shaw, on Lecoutelua-street, is well worth visiting. It is a stone building, forty feet by twenty, with a deposit of ice twelve feet thick over-head, resting on an iron floor, which is supported by heavy under-columns running through the building. The sides of the house are protected from the ingress of heat by a non-conducting substance, which also protects the ice from above. Twelve feet is deemed sufficient to last a whole season without replenishing. The ice being put in the upper part of the house, the lower part, when the fruit is deposited, is (on the principle that cold air sinks,) kept in an almost freezing state-38°. Six above the freezing point is about the average temperature through the season. There is never a variation of more than 66 3°. Fruit deposited there, partially rotted, is arrested in its decaying process for weeks, and even months, and we have now before us lemons which were stored there in the early part of May, the stems of which are as fresh, apparently, as the day in which they were gathered. And Mr. Shaw, one of the proprietors, showed us some figs which were brought in the same vessel as plump and as sound as when they were first put in the drawers. They will remain so long after figs kept in the usual way have disappeared from the market. The most delicate kinds of fruit, such as pine-apples, peaches, pears, &c., are found there at the most unfriendly season for them, in a state of perfect soundness. The wonder is that there is not more of these storehouses in this city, ****. They can be built in connexion with an icehouse, and at a trifling additional expense. Farmers would find them exceedingly convenient for the preservation of fresh meat, fruits, butter, and, indeed, many articles belonging to the farm."-J. B. S., Oakham. TO CORRESPONDENTS. ENDIVE BLANCHING (T. P. F.)-If your endive is full grown, fold the leaves together, and tie them as you would those of a cos lettuce; take up the plants and place them, roots and all, in their natu 82 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. ral position as thick as they will stand in a box, and cover them over with dry sand. The plants must be quite dry when taken up; and no two plants must touch each other, but have sand between them. HIMALAYAH PUMPKIN (Q. R. S.)-Your description agrees with that of this pumpkin. The seed probably was misplaced. GRAPES SHANKING (M. X. A Constant Subscriber.)-We will write editorially upon your case next week. Your grapes are the finest we ever saw grown in a greenhouse. Will you oblige us with two or three cuttings from your vine? MOVING ASPARAGUS AND SEA KALE (C. H.)-Although your asparagus beds are ten years old, yet we should endeavour to move the plants from them, doing so next April. We should begin at one end of the bed, digging a trench three feet deep, and as many wide, and then scratch away the earth from about the roots of the plants, injuring them as little as possible, keeping them covered with moist straw until planted, and planting as fast as taken up in your new beds previously prepared. Your sea-kule plants had better be moved at once. BUDDING ROSES (G. B.)-You say that "the whole of the wood will sliver off from the bark of the bud's shield, and out of the eye;" and undoubtedly it will if you persist in "tearing it out" with your "finger and thumb." Use the sharp fine point of your budding knife. and cut the wood out in small pieces. Your vine leaves are very much scorched "by the rays of the sun through bad glass." The insect from the potatoes and bulbs is one of the milipedes, but too much crushed for us to determine the species. LIGHT SOIL (X, Y.)-Your roses "get weaker and smaller;" your white lilies "spindle and die;" and your apple trees "increase very little." All these facts demonstrate that your soil is too light and dry. You must improve its staple by giving it heavy manurings of mixed In early spring open the ground over the chalk, clay, and manure. roots of your apple and rose trees, and at three inches from the surface cover them with long mulchy stable dung, and then return the earth over this. Watering in very dry weather will be very beneficial, and the mulch will render its application less frequently reedful. GLADIOLI STILL GREEN (Ibid).-Leave these and the Pavonia tigridia until the frost has cut down their leaves; then take their bulbs up, dry gradually, and store in a dry place until February, when they may be replanted. Turn your Kalmia latifolia out of its pot into the border. It is quite hardy. DORKING FOWLS (Joseph Richardson, Thorne, Yorkshire).-Our correspondent will be obliged by being informed where he can obtain these fowls. CAULIFLOWERS (A. Z.).-We give directions from time to time as necessary for cultivating these. Salt and lime is a very good dressing for ground on which cabbages are grown, but they require rich decomposing manure besides. FERNS (W. L. Watson).-You may dry these between blottingpaper like any other botanical specimens, but this is not within our province. CARPENTER'S PHYSIOLOGICAL BOTANY (G.).-You can have this separate from the other volumes. HEATING A PIT (J. B., Belper).-The mode of heating you propose is just one of the modifications of Polmaise, and may succeed provided your house is not large, and you can attend to it yourself. Mr. Fish has used the same principle as an auxiliary to other modes of heating; and some of his acquaintances have succeeded by such means to their highest expectations; but others have entirely failed, and not having had the opportunity to try it ourselves we should not like to advise you definitely upon the subject. Of course, you will Our have dampers for the chimney, and we should propose having the fireplace wider, that the fuel might rest on the side of the bars. opinion, however, is, that if not at the first, yet a small hot-water We saw a nice little boiler, apparatus would be cheapest in the end. a short time since, cast with four flanges for heating two small houses, which, at a country foundry, cost only a guinea, and two or three inch iron pipes are cheap enough. To avoid casting knees and bends these parts might all consist of lead; and, upon the whole, though not desirous of throwing cold water upon your plan, we should advise you to take an estimate of both methods before committing yourself to either. HAWTHORN BERRIES (H. H. H.).-The haws which you picked up in the Derby Arboretum will grow if perfectly ripened,-mix them with a little sand in a flower-pot saucer, and leave them exposed to the wintry weather until next February; then sow them in drills, six inches apart, in a light soil, and bury them an inch below the surface. SWEEPINGS OF FURNACE-FLUES (J. D., Renfrewshire).-Sweepings, such as the sample sent, consisting of much sand, a little powdered chalk, and less soot, will do excellently for rendering your stiff loam more friable. It might be used for the same purpose to the soil for carnations and verbenas. PONY TUBERS (Henry, a young gardener). These tubers, SEEDLING IXIAS (G. G).-These have leaves, you say, two or three SPENT BARK AND STABLE MANURE (A. T. B.).-This mixture is LOPHOSPHERMUM CUTTINGS (Ibid).-You need not repot these, in their first pots will soon require others a size larger. We do not evergreens. HEATING A SMALL GREENHOUSE (A constant Reader).-The FOREST TREE SEEDS (J. M H., Gorey).-In an answer to another PEAR TREE OVER-VIGOROUS (A. A. Z.).-Your tree produces BEES (E. F.).-Unless the place your bees are now in be very damp, let them remain where they are till the middle of February. Had you to remove them three or four miles it might be done now with safety, but removing them only fifty yards will, at all times, be attended with some loss, perhaps, less in February than at the pre(Q. R. S.). You say that the bees you put into your sent time. "five-glass cottage hive" would not use the glasses. In all probability the swarm was a weak one, or a late one; see well to it that they have at least eighteen pounds of honey in store at this time, if not make them up to that weight immediately by feeding. If you When can, give them honey in the combs at the top of the hive, if not use the feeder figured at 136, vol. 1, of the Cottage Gardener. the stock is made to possess eighteen pounds of honey, shut up the openings at top, and at the end of April put on the five-glasses, each containing a small piece of white comb, and a supply of honey will be (J. W .G.).—Your bees ought to weigh eighteen almost certain. pounds, and the cottage hive is three pounds more, making in all twenty-one pounds. If they do not weigh so much they will do you no good. A cast may always be known by attaching itself to the side of the hive immediately upon being hived, which a swarm very seldom does, but to the centre. ERROR.-At p. 51, col. 2, line 11 from the bottom, propolis is said to be bee-bread: this was not Mr. Payne's mistake. They are very different substances. Bee-bread seems to be the pollen of flowers, but propolis is a resinous substance well described by the Rev. C. A. A. Lloyd at p. 241 of our first volume. CAPONIZING (M. A., Maidstone).-This is a barbarous custom, and its details unsuited for our columns. If you persist in requiring information, you will find it in Richardson's book on "The Domestic Fowl," price one shilling. DISTINGUISHING CLASSES OF ROSES (F. L.).-You ask, "How can the classes of roses be distinguished from each other by their wood, foliage, habit, &c.?" and we wish that we could give you this information. At present, the classification of roses is in many respects arbitrary; and the classes are so needlessly numerous, as to defy the most intelligent florists and rose-growers to give definite We hope, before long, to see the classes characteristics of each. reduced to less than half their present number, and those which are retained marked by easily understood distinctive characters. TAN FOR GARDENING PURPOSES (R. H. B.).-Whenever tan is used as a manure it should be in a decomposed state. We do not recommend any manure to be put upon the soil about to be planted with potatoes. We think that charred tan would do as well as charred peat to mix with pig dung, &c. LAYING OUT FLOWER-BED (S. E. M., Haverfordwest).-People differ so widely about the shapes and laying out of flower-beds that we have long since resolved never to give advice on the subject. For ourselves, we prefer circular or oval beds, and any with sharp points and angles we particularly dislike, but we have no right to dictate on matters of taste to others. To make the best of a few small flowerbeds they ought now to be planted with spring bulbs, and about the beginning of next April to be planted with the best kinds of autumnsown annuals, between the bulbs, to flower in May, and then to be planted with spring-sown annuals that will transplant in June, or try the more fashionable half hardy plants. Follow Mr. Beaton's notes on this subject for more advice. NAMES OF PLANTS (J. P. B. F.).-Your flower is a Helianthus, and we believe it to be H. angustifolius, or Narrow-leaved sunflower. (C. G. R.)-The small tree, of which you sent us a leaf and two seed vessels, is the Staphylea pinnata, or Bladder nut. It is a native of England, and in some countries its nuts are strung as beads by Roman The kernels, though bitter, are Catholics to form their rosaries. eaten in some countries. LONDON: Printed by HARRY WOOLDRIDGE, 147, Strand, in the 20 Tu Edmund, King and Martyr. [Society." 21/W PRINCESS ROYAL B. 1840. Linnean T. 55-40. S.W. Rain. 6 S.W. T. 54-33. ST. MACHUTUS, MAHUTAS, or MALO, was born in the vale of Llan-Carvon, in Glamorganshire; but passing into France, and becoming an ecclesiastic, he finally attained to one of its bishoprics, the cathedral town of which was then called Aleth. This name was subsequently changed to St. Malo, in honour of the deceased bishop. He died there A.D. 630. There is no doubt of his being a good and able man, but we know of no valid reason for devoting to him a day of celebration in the reformed calendar. ST. HUGH was a native of Gratianopolis, in Burgundy, being born there A.D. 1140. When nineteen, he became an inmate of the Chartreuse, near Grenoble, and within ten years was raised to be its grand procurator. From that office he retired at the invitation of our king Henry II., who appointed him to the priorship of a fraternity of Carthusian monks at Witham, in Somersetshire. In 1186 he was elevated to the bishopric of Lincoln. He died in 1200, and was interred in the cathedral of his see, which he had lived to rebuild from its foundation. EDMUND was king of the East Angles-his territories including our modern Norfolk, Suffolk, and part of Cambridgeshire-in the year 870, at which time occurred one of the most destructive invasions of the Danes. He was too mild and unwarlike for the age in which he held the sceptre; and when the invaders approached his residence at Hoxne, on the banks of the river Waverney, he unwisely parleyed with them without any preparation to sustain his negociation with the sword. They resented his invectives-imprisoned, scourged, pierced with their arrows, and then beheaded him. The Danish chieftain himself, Ingwar, was the executioner. Edmund was a sincere Christian, and his grateful ecclesiastics obtained his canonization. Eventually his remains were buried at Brediesworth, in Suffolk, and its name was thence changed to St. Edmunds-bury, or Bury St. Edmunds. METEOROLOGY OF THE WEEK.-During the last twenty-two years the average highest temperature has been 49.2°, and the average lowest 36.3°. The highest temperature observed on any one of these days during the same period was on the 21st, in 1833, when the quicksilver in the thermometer rose to 59°, and the lowest tempera- But an evening grey and a morning red, A greenish tint near the horizon often indicates a continuance of wet RANGE OF BAROMETER-RAIN IN INCHES. 18 15 B. 29.479 29.631 R. 0.4 0.32 21 R. 0.30 B. 29.291 29.677 29.382 29.785 29.600 0.32 19 20 INSECTS.-At p. 56 of our second volume Mr. Errington warns all cultivators of wall fruit, as soon as they observe, in May, one of the leaves rolled up, to destroy the little caterpillar within the roll, and to watch for others, because the eggs of the moth from which that caterpillar came continue to hatch for several weeks. That moth is the Narrow-winged Red Bar, Pædisca angustiorana of some naturalists, and the Ditula and Tortric angustiorana of others. These caterpillars appear during May and June: they are about half an inch long, are pale yellowish green, and with the head brownish yellow. A few bristles are scattered over the body. It is a very active caterpillar, wriggling about in most varied contortions when disturbed, crawling with equal facility backwards and forwards, and letting itself down by a single thread from its mouth. It passes into the state of a brown shining chrysalis, rolled up in the same leaves, and from this the moth comes forth in July. The moth is very small, not longer than the line below our drawing of the insect magnified. The fore-wings are reddish brown, in bands of various degrees of darkness. The hind-wings are dusky. It deposits its eggs, probably, upon the branches, where they remain all the winter, and the caterpillars are most frequently found upon the apricot. A FEW days since we received a bunch of very fine grapes, with a letter, from which the following is an extract: "This sample of grapes grew on a vine in my greenhouse, which I understand is a Syrian vine.* The Syrian grape is white. Those sent were Black Hamburghs, we think. However this be, it produces abundantly, and, as you may judge by the specimen, the fruit is not bad, but, doubtless, from some mismanagement, which your experience may enable me to correct hereafter, most of the bunches rot off in the middle even before they ripen. I thought at first that this might be caused by the fruit being allowed to remain too thick in the bunches, and therefore thinned them to the extent of No. LIX. VOL. III. at least one half; nevertheless the same result continued, which makes me now attribute it either to mismanagement on my part, as before stated, or to the ants with which we are pestered, who may pos sibly fracture the skin of the grapes, and thus the moisture exuding may corrode the adjoining fruit.* The greenhouse in which the vine grows is a leanto on the south side of the house, divided into two compartments by a glass partition, one of which, being the passage leading to the front door and constantly open, except at night time and in very stormy weather, has a continual draught through it; the other is closed everywhere except in front, which has a set of swinging sashes to let in the air as required. In the inner compartment there were three other vines of the sweetwater kind. Now, as the Syrian vine, from the extraordinary size and handsome appearance of the fruit, was an especial favourite, it struck me that the produce might be very materially improved both in size and quality by carrying a limb of it into the inner and warmer compartment. For the purpose, therefore, of this experiment, I turned out the adjoining vine, and conducted one of the branches from the outer division to fill its place. This was done the year before last. Last year, therefore, you may conceive my mortification when I found almost all the fruit "fog off" in the middle, as I have described. This year, however, has proved more favourable for the trial, although, for some reason or other, the fruit has not ripened so early by at least six weeks as it usually does; and singular to say, the produce of that portion of the vine exposed to the draught has proved better flavoured and ripened earlier than that in the warmer situation, although in both cases it is much inferior to what it was before the alteration of position; for although those you have herewith are of a tolerable size, they are not so large by at least one-fourth as heretofore; in short, they used to look more like damsons than grapes. Now, as I should much like to preserve the fruit, I shall be obliged by some suggestion how to prevent the rotting of the bunches, and also to know whether it would not be judicious to replace the vine in its original position.-M. X." This is a very decided case of shanking, as the gardeners call that disease of the grape-vine, which is a gangrene and complete withering away of the footstalks of the berries, or of the central footstalk of the bunch. This, we have always thought, arises from the temperature of the soil being too much below that in which the branches are vegetating; and, consequently, the supply of sap to the grapes is too much diminished, and the parts which thus fail of support immediately begin to decay. This consequence of a diminished supply of sap is always apparent either in the leaves, flower, or fruit. The disease, like every other putrefaction, does not advance rapidly unless there be much moisture in the atmosphere. Shanking we never knew to appear in the grape if the roots of the vine were within the house, which confirms our view; for when the roots are so situated they vegetate in a temperature varying, as in a state of nature, according to that in which the branches are bearing their leaves and fruit. But when the roots are outside they must * Ants never injure fruit. They visit the vine in search of insects, or to feed on the grapes after they have become diseased. always be considerably colder and more sluggish than they ought to be in proportion to the warmth within, while the other parts of the vine are hastened forward. The result of the experiment made by our correspondent still further sustains our opinion. The bunches shanked when grown in a cold greenhouse, but they shanked much more on that branch introduced into a warm one. In the latter the demand for sap is even faster than in the colder structure. In this, and in all similar cases, we would open the ground over the roots of the vine, and cut away those which strike deep into the soil, and by making the surface of the border rather more rich, and covering the surface with warm fermenting dung early in the spring, we would encourage the production of roots nearer the surface. It is important in grape growing, and indeed in all cultivation, to get the roots into action before the buds begin to swell. This can only be done economically, in such cases as the present, by keeping the roots near the surface. Fermenting dung will then set them in motion in early spring, and the warmth of the summer sun will afterwards keep them sufficiently active. We recommend the branch to be withdrawn from the warmer house, and the cooler portion to have its temperature in early spring kept as low as convenient, that the root-action may be able to keep pace with, if not to precede, the development of the buds. As the autumn comes on, with its chilly nights, and whilst the bunches are ripening, we should renew the coverings with long dung; removing it during sunny days. THE FRUIT-GARDEN. PLANTING FRUIT-TREES.-Having despatched for a little while our business with indoor fruits as concerns the amateur, we turn now most willingly to outdoor matters, which concern at once equally the cottager and the amateur. Now, as these two classes do not by any means comprise the whole of the readers of this little periodical, and though we sometimes shoot too high for the one and too low for the other, we do hope so to aim that all extreme points, as well as the intermediate grades, may one time or other be hit by the remarks we offer. The dull month of November reminds us that perspiration, or, as our learned men term it, transpiration, is at its lowest ebb, or nearly so; and that such is the period of which we take advantage, as being most favourable to transplanting processes. We cannot now stay to speak of kinds; we have before done so, and will again return to the subject : for the present it will be well to speak of general arrangements for planting, and of the accessories necessary to a succesful carrying out of such objects. DRAINAGE. All soils are not stagnant; some, however, are too moist for the successful culture of fruittrees, and here commences the fundamental principle of all good fruit-growing. Here it is, we consider with the agriculturist, good gardening and good farming at once recognise the same general basis to all ulterior proceedings. This leads us to the consi |