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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
vine sometimes surprises us. In the year 1781, there
grew in the vinery at Welbeck, the seat of the Duke
of Portland, a bunch of grapes that weighed 19
pounds and a half; and when sent as a present to
Lord Rockingham at Wentworth House, à distance
of 20 miles, it was carried "suspended on a staff"
between two men, who were relieved by others at
stated distances. What a picture of the produce of
In the
the promised land, the grapes of Eshcol!
year 1821, a bunch of grapes, weighing 15 poauds,
was grown at Eljord Hall, in Staffordshire; and the
celebrated tree at IIampton Court Palace has, in one
season, borne two thousand two hundred bunches,
each averaging a pound, thus rivalling the vine of
Columella.

Vineyards were very common in England in days
of yore. The neighbourhood of Winchester was so
famous for them that it is thought to have taken its
name from this peculiarity. Why should not its
chalky downs be turned into "fruitful hills" at this
present time? Wine of excellent quality is known
to have been made in England when the vine was
extensively grown here; and the vineyard of Arundel
Castle, in Sussex, afforded wine that excelled very
much of the Burgundy then imported into England,
and this so late as the middle of the last century.
Many parts of London still retain the name of " Vine-
street" and "Vineyard;" and East Smithfield was
once a vineyard, held by four successive constables
of the Tower, but this was very far back in history.
Near Berkeley, in Gloucestershire, there is a place
where vine tendrils spring up among the grass, dis-
tinctly marking the site of a long neglected vineyard.

Canterbury was also famous for its vines; a large
space of ground near Rochester still retains the name
of " The Vine;" and the Isle of Ely was called by the
Normans, the "Isle of Vines." In the time of Rich-
ard the 2nd, the little park at Windsor was a vineyard,
and in very many other places this interesting tree
abounded in England's earlier days. Gloucestershire
particularly excelled in the number and richness of
its vineyards. Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, and
Somersetshire, all abounded in vines, and the neigh-
bourhood of London possessed them too in abundance.
Bradley says poor soils might be very much improved
by planting them as vineyards. They would make
a good return for the care and culture bestowed on
it was in his day, how profitable and how useful
them; and as wine is now nearly four times the price
the management of vineyards might again become!
Would it not be worth while to turn the attention of
the "amateur," if not the cottage gardener, to the
cultivation of the vine for home consumption? We
might obtain an agreeable beverage at a very trifling
expense, compared with the heating, and often infe-
rior, wines, for which such high prices are given, and
necessary comforts are sometimes sacrificed to obtain.
I have often tasted what is now called "grape wine,"
and it is very pleasant when well and carefully made.
The clever and managing wife of a farmer in my
neighbourhood makes excellent home-made wines.
The parsnip, orange, and currant, with the well-known
ginger and raisin wines, usefully stock the cellar, and
afford the means of displaying real hospitality, when
it is difficult and really blameable to obtain more
The great art required in
highly esteemed wines.

wine making is to put in all the sugar, to boil and
skim it well, aud to attend to the fermentation after-
wards. On this account, the eye of the mistress must
superintend the process. The prunings of the vine,
leaves, shoots, and tendrils, make a very excellent
vinegar, when allowed to pass through two fermenta-
tions. The cottager may sometimes be able to pro-
cure prunings that otherwise would be thrown away
in large graperies, and vinegar is so useful, and so
expensive an article to buy, that made thus cheaply
it would be a profit to his own family, and sometimes
a help to his friends and neighbours. In cases of
fever, and other illnesses, vinegar is of great benefit.
Verjuice is made from the juice pressed from the
unripe fruit, and is extremely good as a fomentation
for sprains or weak joints.

I should like to see a vine trained and tended on
every cottage wall, in every garden in the land, be-
cause it is so full of scriptural interest, and reminds
us of so many things we sinfully forget. Let Chris-
tians, let Britons, remember the vineyard planted "by
the right hand" of God," the branch that He made
so strong for Himself," and let us tremble. We, too,
have been planted "in a very fruitful hill," yet the
sin of Israel, and the judgments of the Lord, warn
us of our responsibilities and perils. The "farm,"
the "merchandise," may be looked after, while God's
messages are "made light of." Beautiful as is our
free and highly favoured land, cherished and happy
as are our palace and our cottage homes, yet Eng-
land's "hedge" and "wall" are not her fleet or any;
"except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh
but in vain." Let us remember, that the Magna
Charta of our liberty, the stout sea-wall of England's
glory, and the roof-tree of her highest and humblest
homes, is, and must ever be, "the Sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God."

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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.

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Phocas.
Plutarchus.
Pure Blanche.
Regina.

Reine du Monde.
Rosatta.
Stakes Juffer.
Sophia.
Tantalus.
Victory.

Vulcain.
Waterloo.

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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,
which have no crown buds, will not grow at all. Why divide so
close? An old stool can be separated into many plants.
-It is very doubtful
SWEET-WATER GRAPE IN POTS (Ibid).
whether your plants of this grape will succeed in pots, but you can
try. The sweet-water is the worst of grapes for pot culture; the
fruit sets so badly.

SEEDLING IXIAS (G. G).-These have leaves, you say, two or three
inches high. They are safe enough; keep them in the box where
they are growing until they finish their growth next May. Your
Ranunculus seed may be sown next February.

SPENT BARK AND STABLE MANURE (A. T. B.).-This mixture is
good for currants and gooseberries; also, at the bottom of beds for
the hyacinth and narcissus; but the roots of the anemone and ranun-
As a general top dressing,
culus being fine, might be injured by it.
lay the spent tan about an inch thick over your flower borders, and do
Phloxes will bear it three
not dig it in until the winter is over.
inches deep.

LOPHOSPHERMUM CUTTINGS (Ibid).-You need not repot these,
which are rooted, until next March. Your Cineraria seedlings still

in their first pots will soon require others a size larger. We do not
know such a tree as Juniperus lambertiana. Perhaps you mean Cu-
pressus lambertiana, which is now found to be the same as C. macro-
carpa. If you do, it is quite hardy, and one of the handsomest of

evergreens.

HEATING A SMALL GREENHOUSE (A constant Reader).-The
cheapest way for you, as "a labouring man," to keep the frost out of
your small greenhouse, would be to have four three-gallon stone bot.
tles filled with boiling water, corked, and put into your greenhouse at
night and whenever necessary.

FOREST TREE SEEDS (J. M H., Gorey).-In an answer to another
correspondent to-day, you will find how to treat your haws. Acorns,
beech-mast, and ash-keys, require no particular treatment. They
only require to be sown now in rows; the acorns and beech-mast
Char-
about two inches deep, and the ash-keys one inch deep. They may
be sown either where they are to remain or in nursery beds.
coul is only useful to greenhouse plants used as drainage instead of
crocks, and a few pieces mixed up with the soil. It should be used in
lumps about the size of a nutmeg.

PEAR TREE OVER-VIGOROUS (A. A. Z.).-Your tree produces
luxuriant shoots, and is still green with a few blossoms, when the
Your pear case appears to be a case
leaves of all others have fallen.
The more you get "gardening jobbers" to
of inveterate grossness.
close prune it, the more wood and the less fruit you will obtain. Let
us advise you first to search for tap roots, which cut entirely away.
Next, apply a compost on the surface, which will coax and increase
surface-roots, and, as to pruning, we would thin out clean all the
very gross shoots of the past season, and tie down the remaining ones
You must give up crop-
all over the tree, without shortening them.
ping for six feet on each side the tree for a while.

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
Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand; and Winchester High-street, in
the Parish of St. Mary Kalendar; and Published by WILLIAM
SOMERVILLE ORR, at the Office, 147, Strand, in the Parish of
Saint Mary-le-Strand, London.-November 8th, 1849.

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20 Tu Edmund, King and Martyr. [Society." 21/W PRINCESS ROYAL B. 1840. Linnean

T. 55-40.

S.W.

Rain.

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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-
ature observed was on the 16th in 1841, when it sank to 15°, being 17°
below the freezing point of water. In the twenty-two years during
seventy-nine of the days rain occurred, and seventy-five were fine.
NATURAL PHENOMENA INDICATIVE OF WEATHER.-If, during
fine weather, there is a chilliness felt greater than ought to be expe-
rienced from the temperature indicated by the thermometer, we may
be sure that rain or snow is approaching. That chilliness arises from
the increased dampness of the air. Without devoting space, which
we cannot spare, to a particular description of the various kinds of
clouds, we will only observe that, whatever may be their form, if they
increase fast and to a great extent, especially if it be towards the
evening, they portend that rain is at hand. If they form a dappled
grey covering over the sky, and the wind is from the north, the
weather will be fair. If they form rapidly and again dissolve away,
though the weather may be variable for a short time yet it will speedily
be fine. Large grey clouds, with smaller rounded clouds of a slightly
paler grey, or almost white, before them, indicate the speedy arrival
of a heavy downfal. Much red always forbodes wind and rain, es-
pecially if this colour prevails in the morning; but if it occurs in the
evening after a grey morning, it often foretells that the next day will
be fine. This has become a rural verse, for we often hear that
"An evening red and a morning grey,
Will start the traveller on his way;

But an evening grey and a morning red,
Will bring down rain on the pilgrim's head."

A greenish tint near the horizon often indicates a continuance of wet
weather; and the purple hues which so often beautify the evening
haze in autumn, usually are a sign that fine weather will continue.
The colours of the sky are usually more bright and varied in autumn
than at other seasons, because then there is more vapour in the air
near the earth; and it is to the reflection of the rays of light from
the particles of water composing that vapour that those colours owe
their origin.

RANGE OF BAROMETER-RAIN IN INCHES.

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18

15

B.

29.479 29.631
29.307 29.614

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R.

0.4

0.32

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[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

21

R. 0.30

B. 29.291 29.677

29.382 29.785

29.600

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0.32

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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

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