Transactions of the Horticultural Society. Vol. vii. Part 1. 4to. London, 1827. pp. 208. ◊

Transactions of the Horticultural Society. Vol. vii. Part 1. 4to. London, 1827. pp. 208. ◊

I. Observations upon the Growth of Early and Late Grapes under Glass. By Mr. James Acon. ◊

FEW gardens are to be found in which bunches of fresh ripe grapes can be gathered every day in the year: notwithstanding the importance of the fruit to the luxurious, and the facility with which the vine submits to the artificial climate of the forcing-house. Nothing is easier than to secure crops of grapes in a vinery during the spring and summer months; but it is far more difficult to obtain them in the last and earliest seasons of the year, when the plants would [p160] naturally be in state of torpidity. It is well known that this desirable purpose is attained in great perfection in the garden of the Earl of Surrey, at Worksop Manor; and the management there practised is the subject of this paper.

The common methods of forcing early grapes are to train the vines under the roof near the glass, or on small frames against flued walls; but to both these practices Mr. Acon finds great objections: to the former because it renders the house too dark, and exposes the young and tender branches to the pernicious effect of blasts of cold air rushing through the interstices of the panes; and to the latter, because the heat of the flues is apt to scorch the branches, and in consequence to destroy the crop,—excessive heat in the one case producing the same injurious effects as excessive cold in the other. The following are the two modes by which Mr. Acon obtains his very early and his very late grapes. For the early crops a house is used, of which the back wall is 9.6 feet in height, and the front wall 3 feet, the roof forming an angle of about 30 degrees. It is heated, from the absolute necessity of employing an atmosphere of unusually high temperature, with two flues that pass along the middle of the house, and return in the back wall; a fire-place being built at each end of the house. Forcing begins on the first of September, and the fruit begins to ripen the first week in March. The vines are trained upon a trellis, fixed over the flues, in the centre of the house, and also upon the back wall; but none are allowed to obstruct the light by occupying the roof, until about six weeks after the forcing has commenced, when some new shoots are introduced and trained to the rafters. The form of this house gives it a peculiar advantage, in presenting a greater surface for the growth of vines than can be derived from any other plan; the trellis which is placed over the flues is nearly equal to the whole roof, without being in any degree injurious to the plants trained upon the back wall. The vines are planted in the inside of the house, but in such a manner that the mould in which they grow is not heated by the fire-places of either flue. The usual mode of exposing the main stem of a forced vine to an extremely low temperature in the external air, while the branches are stimulated by a very high temperature in an entirely different atmosphere, is very properly objected to. Nothing, in fact, can be more injudicious than such a practice, in cases where very early forcing is required; for it should be borne in mind, that although the absorption of the elements by which the proper juices of a [p161] plant are elaborated, and brought into the state under which they appear in the fruit, and in the secretions of the plant, is carried on by the leaves alone, yet that all these juices have, in the first instance, to pass along the vessels of the stem before they reach the leaves; and that the whole of the bark of a tree is, rightly considered, a leaf of a particular description, formed of the same kind of tissue, and exercising the same functions, and undoubtedly producing a powerful effect upon the motion of the fluids of the branches, with the vessels of which it is elaborately and intimately entangled, from the core to the circumference. No argument can be necessary to show that an equal action of the vessels of a plant is indispensable to the due maintenance of the vegetable functions in a healthy state, and that this is not to be maintained by exposing the main stem and the extremities to an atmosphere and temperature entirely different. Such irregularities do not exist in free Nature, and she will not submit to them when in fetters.

In pruning vines for early forcing, as little wood should be employed as possible. Mr. Acon stops the shoots one joint above each cluster, and has no joint without a bunch. When the crop is over, and the wood perfectly matured, the branches should be laid near the ground, and shaded till the recommencement of forcing. In short, they should be placed in a condition as nearly as possible resembling the gloom and cold of winter. If this process be well managed, the vines will alter their natural habits, and instead of budding with the spring, their vegetation will naturally commence at the period at which they have been accustomed to be stimulated.

For late grapes, a house of a different construction is employed. The back wall is 12 feet high, the front wall 112 foot, and the roof lies at an angle of 45 degrees. The heat is supplied by a single flue passing along the middle of the house. The sorts best adapted for late forcing are the Muscat of Alexandria, the St. Peter’s, and the Black Damascus; all other kinds wither prematurely. This house is generally shut about the middle or end of May, as soon as the bunches become visible. The vines are trained on a trellis near the glass. Till they are out of blossom the air is kept very warm, a point to which much importance attaches, because it is during this period that all the branches that are to bear fruit in the succeeding season are produced. In a high temperature, the branches will grow more compactly, and [p162] will be more regularly matured than in a low temperature, in which the wood is apt to become excessively luxuriant, and not to ripen well. Great attention must be paid to this point. As much air as possible is introduced into the vinery during the summer; but as the autumn advances, more caution in this respect is observed. The fruit should be perfectly coloured at the approach of the dark season; for if the colouring be deferred too long, the berries will never acquire their proper flavour. Great care must be observed to remove daily such berries as are inclining to damp, or the whole crop will soon be spoiled. This should be particularly attended to; for the contagion of what gardeners call damp, arises from the growth of minute fungi which vegetate upon the epidermis, and spread during the autumn with alarming rapidity from bunch to bunch.

The pruning of vines for late forcing is the same as has been already explained. When the crop is gathered, the house is unroofed for a short time, in order to expose the branches to a low temperature, and to the degree of humidity necessary to replenish their vessels, which have been drained by the dryness of the climate in which, when forced, they were necessarily kept.

By the means above described, a regular supply of grapes is secured through the year. The late-house crop lasts from the middle of January to the end of March; it is succeeded by the first crop in the early-house, which carries on the supply into May, and it is continued by the grapes on the rafters in the same house until the vines in the pine stoves, which are forced early in January and February, produce their crops. These continue bearing through the summer, when a vinery, of which the forcing commences about the end of March, furnishes the supply till the late-house fruit is ready in January.

Upon the whole this may be considered a most instructive and valuable communication.

II. On the Varieties of Cardoon, and the Methods of cultivating them. By Mr. A. Mathews. ◊

Who does not wish to read of the cardoon; of that prince of vegetables, whose praises have been sung or said by all cooks and gourmands, from the fastidious Périgords and Cardellis of the French cuisine, down to the more homely Rundells and Glasses of our English kitchens; whose virtues are so marvellous as to be credible upon no less authority [p163] than that of the sage gastrophilists aforesaid. To restore unwonted vigour to old age, and new elasticity to youth, are the most modest of its attributes; the magical broth with which the veins of Æson were replenished by the cunning Medea, was doubtless prepared from the cardoon; and the story itself is probably a sort of figurative record of the skill of the fair enchantress in cooking this delicious vegetable, which was well known to the Grecian gastronomes under the name of κακτος; but this we throw out merely as a suggestion. Upon preparing herbs thus potent for the table, cookery has exhausted all its skill; to dress a cardoon is declared, by the highest authority in the art, to be the surest test of a skilful cook; and one of those invaluable acquirements which, to borrow the words of a writer not less celebrated for his powers of composition than of cooking, “raises cookery to the rank of the sciences, and its professors to the title of artists.” Our good forefathers, indeed, “could not find the true manner of dressing cardoons,” and were content to eat them raw “with vinegar and oyl, pepper and salt, all of them, or some, as every one liketh for their delight;” which, considering that this vegetable is both bitter and astringent in a high degree, does not argue much for the delicacy of palate of our ancestors; little did they dream of the savoury preparations that modern art has devised by the aid of Espagnole, consommé, blancs, tammies, marking, masking, and all the mysteries of the stew-pan.

Four varieties are here described, of which the Spanish cardoon is the most common, and the cardon de Tours the best.

They are cultivated, like celery, in deep broad trenches, well manured and watered. When the plants are nearly full-grown, which will be about the end of October, a dry day is to be chosen for performing the operation of blanching them, which is thus effected:—

“The leaves of each plant are carefully and lightly tied together with strong matting, keeping the whole upright, and the ribs of the leaves together. The plant is then bound closely round with twisted haybands, about an inch and a half in diameter, beginning at the root, and continuing to about two-thirds of its height. If the plants are intended for winter store, they must be earthed up like celery; but if to be consumed before the frosts set in, the operation of earthing up may be omitted.” [p164]

III. Accounts and Descriptions of the several Plants belonging to the genus Hoya, which are cultivated in the garden of the Horticultural Society at Chiswick. By Mr. James Traill. ◊

The beauty of one species of Hoya, viz., H. carnosa, has long caused it to be a favourite with collectors. The object of the writer of this paper is to call attention to such others as are known to exist in gardens, or as are preserved in the records of the botanist.

The following species form the subject of the paper, viz.:

1 Hoya carnosa, R. Brown.

2 Hoya crassifolia, Haworth.

3 Hoya pallida, Lindley.

4 Hoya Pottsii, (Tab. I.)

5 Hoya trinervis.

These five are all the species at present cultivated in gardens; others are known to exist in the warmer regions of Asia, where they should be assiduously sought for by travellers, as they are not only very ornamental, but easily to be transported to Europe.

From such materials as he has been able to procure, the writer enumerates the following as completing the genus Hoya, as far as at present ascertained:

6 Hoya chinensis.

7 Hoya viridiflora, R. Brown.

8 Hoya lanceolata, D. Don.

9 Hoya linearis, D. Don.

10 Hoya australis, R. Brown, MSS.

11 Hoya nicobarica, R. Brown, MSS.

12 Hoya augustifolia.

The paper concludes with a detailed explanation of the best manner of cultivating Hoyas.

IV. On acclimatizing Plants at Biel, in East Lothian. By Mr. John Street, gardener to the Honourable Mrs. Hamilton Nesbitt. ◊

Perhaps there is no point whatever, connected with Horticulture, of greater interest than that which forms the subject of this paper; it is the distant goal towards which we all are striving, but of which, alas! we have not as yet even caught a glimpse. The gardener is in possession of the powers by which he can bend the seasons to his will; he can dispel the frozen gloom of winter with the rich warm glow of the vintage; at his call the flowers of spring and summer start up beneath his feet, and his hothouses are filled with the luscious fruits of the torrid zone. All this he knows how to effect with an artificial climate; but he has no influence over the natural climate of his country, nor can he impart to the vegetation of warmer latitudes the least additional power of resisting cold, for which they have not been prepared by nature. Acclimatizing is still a secret to be discovered. To [p165] this day not a single instance can be adduced of any exotic plant whatever possessing greater powers of withstanding cold, than it had when first introduced. It has been hoped that if the seeds of given plant could be procured, for many generations, in a climate severer than its own, the offspring so obtained would gradually accommodate themselves to their new country; but no such result has followed from the experiments that have been tried. Let us take a few familiar examples:—the common nasturtium, (Tropælum majus,) a native of Peru, is said to have been introduced about the year 1686. At the time at which we are writing, it must have descended through about 140 generations; and yet it has not become in the smallest degree capable of resisting cold. Of the mignonette (Reseda odorata), the date of introduction is not well ascertained; it has probably been a favourite border annual for sixty or seventy years, and yet it has in no degree shaken off its annual character, which is unnatural to it, and resumed the suffrutescent habit which it possesses in its own milder climate. The potato, too, which has for two centuries and a half been increased in every conceivable manner, by seeds as well as by offsets, bears cold in no degree more readily than it did in the sixteenth century. Nor does it appear to us probable, that acclimatizing, if practicable, is to be brought about by sowing seeds in northern latitudes through successive generations. We do not believe that plants will bear their seeds at all in a temperature much lower than that in which they have been located by the hand of Nature. The heat of a northern summer sufficiently approximates to that of the tropics, to be considered, with reference to vegetation, as the same, and it is during that season that the seeds of all plants are ripened; the conditions, therefore, under which the seeds of Tropæolum, for example, are produced in England, do not materially differ from those under which the same seeds are produced in Peru; if the season proves unpropitious in any considerable degree, they are not produced at all. How then can it be expected that seeds ripened under similar circumstances, but in different latitudes, should give birth to a progeny differing in any remarkable particular from their parents? In fact, in power of resisting cold, they do not differ at all. If such a capability were to obtained, it would be by inducing plants to ripen their seeds in winter.

But if it is certain that nothing is to be gained in acclimatizing, by raising plants from seed through successive generations, [p166] it is no less true that many trees, which have been supposed to be incapable of surviving a northern winter, are now ascertained to be perfectly hardy, and that the power of enduring cold may be increased in others, by a judicious management of soil and situation.

The phenomenon of vegetable life being destroyed by cold, probably arises from the vessels, through which the circulation and secretion of the fluids of plants take place, being ruptured by the expansion, from cold, of the fluid they contain. In proportion, therefore, to the tenuity of the vessels, and the abundance of their fluid, will be the danger to which they are exposed from frost; and to the strength of the vessels, and the paucity of their fluid, the power of resisting cold. Thus vigorous shoots of the oak, walnut, and many other trees, which are formed with rapidity, imperfectly matured, and highly charged with fluid, are extremely impatient of cold, and are even destroyed by a few degrees of frost; while the twigs and branches of the same trees, which are formed slowly, fully matured, and incompletely filled with fluid, bear unharmed the utmost rigour of our winters. In acclimatizing, therefore, this law should be carefully remembered, and the situations in which tender plants are stationed, should be those in which their growth is restrained, and an excessive absorption of fluid prevented.

This appears to have been the true secret of the success that has attended the attempts at acclimatizing, which form the subject of Mr. Street’s communication. By planting in situations well drained from superfluous moisture, under circumstances where rapid growth was rendered impracticable, and, as we understand, in a garden admirably adapted to the object, from its position, he has succeeded in naturalizing, in latitude 56° N., plants which have not yet been known to endure the winters even of the parallel of London.

V. Upon the Culture of Celery. By Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq., F.R.S., President. ◊

“That which can be very easily done, without the exertion of much skill or ingenuity, is,” Mr. Knight observes, “very rarely found to be well done, the excitement to excellence being in such cases necessarily very feeble.” This remark is in the present case applied to the cultivation of celery, which, being a native of the sides of wet ditches, might naturally be expected to demand an abundant supply of water when cultivated. Accordingly, Mr. Knight found that by keeping the ground, in which celery was planted, [p167] constantly wet, it grew by the middle of September to the height of five feet, and its quality was in proportion to its size. Mr. Knight also recommends planting at greater distances than is usually the case, and covering the beds, into which the young seedlings are first removed, with half-rotten dung, overspread to the depth of about two inches with mould; under which circumstances, whenever the plants are removed, the dung will adhere tenaciously to their roots, and it will not be necessary to deprive the plants of any part of their leaves.