ART. XII. On the Cultivation of Vines in the open Air in Great Britain. By R. A. SALISBURY, Esq., F.R.S., L.S., H.S., &c.

MANY years ago, the writer of this paper had an extensive range of glass-houses, built chiefly for the cultivation of exotic trees and plants, half of which being removed into the open air for seven months, the rafters were devoted to training vines along them; and the climate being cold and soil unfavourable, namely, one of the more barren districts of Yorkshire, some of the grapes never ripened well, no artificial heat being given, as a far more abundant supply than was wanted, ripened in his other frames and hothouses. A very large brick building adjoining this range of glass was covered entirely with a single vine of the miller's grape, and as it was ornamental to the building, it was pruned and trained yearly, at no trifling expence, though it very seldom ripened twenty bunches out of from 1000 to 2000, which it annually hore.

A Scotch nobleman, who often visited the place, one autumn made the following remark, and, I believe, nearly in the following words: "When I was a young lad, I remember eating ripe grapes from a vine in the open air near Stirling Castle, which was brought to ripen half its crop in most summers, and a whole crop in warmer summers, by the following treatment: -On the 20th of September prune the vine as you would in the month of December, taking off all the leaves and grapes, ripe or unripe, and shortening all the branches to 1, 2, or 3 eyes at most. The following spring it will push its buds a few days before any neighbouring vines pruned in winter. Train it as carefully all summer as if you was certain it would ripen its crop of fruit. Pursue the same system annually, pruning the tree always between the 20th and 30th of September, and in the course of seven years, you will be rewarded for your patience and expence, with half a ripe crop in most summers, and a whole ripe crop in warm summers."

This mode of treatment was immediately begun in his lordship's presence, and five years afterwards some excellent wine was made from the grapes.

are

The only remarks I have to add to your intelligent readers,

1st, That sage prince of gardeners, as Linné called him, Philip Miller, informs us, that if the vineyards in the north of France are neglected, it takes seven years' careful pruning and proper treatment to make them ripen their crops of fruit.

2dly, The experienced president of the Horticultural Society has found that all vegetables, which require to be left in a state of inactivity during winter, vegetate sooner in spring,

if that state of inactivity is brought on sooner in autumn; hence, though the winter of 1824-5, was so mild, that a small leaved myrtle and geranium zonale survived in the open air in the court of the writer of this paper near Bryanstone Square, the spring flowering plants and shrubs, and even the almond trees, blossomed remarkably late, considering the temperature of the season; and what is still more to the point, he observed winter aconites and crocuses in blossom from north of the river Trent so far as York, where the winter had not been so mild as in the southern counties, but several days of continued frost and snow had occurred; those flowers, with the mezereon being much more advanced than in the gardens and nurseries about London, which were visited the day before he left London.

3dly, To any person, who wishes to pursue this mode of hastening the maturity of grapes, north of Stamford in Lincolnshire, he recommends the cultivation of the miller's or Burgundy grape exclusively; for he has found it unaffected by smart frost, when the shoots of the muscadine and sweet water were injured; and this is easily and physically accounted for by the very thick wool of its young shoots.

4thly, In the more southern counties, where many varieties of grapes ripen better, still an attention to the practice now recommended will ensure a superior flavoured crop, and some of the very best Grisly Frontiniacs, he ever tasted, were produced in the late Earl of Tankerville's garden, at Walton upon Thames, when under the care of Mr. John Dudgeon, who afterwards lived with Dr. Fothergill.

ART. XIII.

On the Culture of the Huntingdon Willow, Salix alba, as a Timber Tree. By MR. ARCHIBALD GORRIE, C.H.S., &c. of Annat Garden, Perthshire.

THERE are few subjects connected with rural economy of more national importance, or more generally interesting than the rearing of timber. The purposes to which the propelling power of steam has been recently applied in navigation, and as an auxiliary in many of the arts, together with the immense quantities of coal used for furnishing gas in great towns, have produced a rise in the price of coal of from 15 to 20 per cent within the last twelve months; a demand in many places for brushwood to be used as fuel, with a corresponding rise in price, has been the consequence; a demand, which in many districts, the state of plantations is but ill calculated to meet. The present demand for timber also, for ship-building, and for

improvements going forward in the island, is unprecedented; consequently wood of every description is becoming every day more valuable.

When a man of wealth employs his capital in any ordinary speculation, or in any of the joint stock schemes of the day, he calculates on an early return; but he who lays out his money in the rearing of timber, has no stimulus but the interest he may have in the soil, or in the welfare of posterity. Hence, where we see an estate that is likely to descend by entail to an heir at law of a distant relationship, we find that the operation of planting is seldom engaged in to any great extent, unless it be with a view to burden that estate with a proportion of the expence on such improvements, in favour of nearer or dearer collateral branches of the family; and wherever we see the operation of planting entered into under such circumstances, the future management of the plants is too frequently neglected. There are, indeed, several of our most useful trees, which require the lapse of ages before they arrive at a state of absolute maturity; but there are others of more rapid growth, which acquire considerable magnitude, within the natural period of human life, and which may, in the natural course of events, be cut down a full grown tree, by the same hand by which it was planted. The most distinguished of these, and the one which seems most to deserve public attention, I conceive to be the Huntingdon willow, Salix alba, of English botany, of which there are several varieties.

The uses to which the timber of the Huntingdon willow are applied are various. In ship bottoms it is not found so liable to split by any accidental shock as oak or other hard wood. It is found an excellent lining for stone carts, barrows,&c. In roofing, it has been known to stand an hundred years as couples, and with the exception of about half an inch on the outside, the wood has been found so fresh at the end of that period, as to be fit for boat-building. Its bark is used by the tanners and there is no tree that in the same time will yield so much bark for fuel, or that requires less labour in preparing it for the fire, where it gives out most heat when burnt in a green state; and to all this it may be added, that its cultivation is the most simple, while it will luxuriate in most soils, where other trees make comparatively slow progress.

As a proof of what is stated above respecting easy culture and rapidity of growth, I may remark, that it is only fourteen years next February, since I was engaged in planting a piece of rising ground on the estate of Rait, on the northern bank of the Carse of Gowrie. The soil a dry gravel, which effervesced freely with acids, the bank formed a slope of 45° with

out sward; at the bottom runs a small rivulet on a bed of the same kind of gravel. The bank and higher grounds were planted with oaks, larch, and Scotch fir, and the sides of the rill with alder and Huntingdon willow. The undertaking was by my neighbours reckoned foolish, and I had to encounter no little obloquy for my presumption. The result, however, has been favourable, the plants on the high ground come away boldly, and in the hollow, which is only about 50 feet above the level of the sea, the Huntingdon willow has made astonishing progress; at four feet above the ground, several of the trees already measure 46 inches in circumference, and in length from 55 to 60 feet, giving fully an inch in diameter, and fourfeet in altitude for every year they have been in the soil. The plants were about four feet in length, and one-fourth of an inch diameter at planting. Pruning has been regularly attended to, all thick aspiring branches were removed, the leading shoot and numerous small side shoots encouraged for the purpose of producing sufficient foliage to elaborate the sap.

One peculiar advantage in the culture of this valuable plant is, that in planting, rooted plants are not absolutely requisite. I have found shoots of from six to eight feet, and about two inches in diameter, succeed better than rooted plants; they require to be put from eighteen inches to two feet deep in marshy soil, which should be drained; the numerous roots sent out in such soil affords abundant nourishment, and shoots are produced the first year more vigorous than when the plants have been previously rooted.

If you think this paper worthy of a place in your "Gardener's Magazine," and if it shall have the effect of turning the attention of any of your readers to the cultivation of a plant which is particularly useful, I shall feel highly gratified.

In the mean time I shall conclude by expressing my sincerest wish for the prosperity of your present undertaking; a "Gardener's Magazine" I have long considered as a desideratum in the periodical literature of the day. Your other labours on rural economy I am not unacquainted with. The talent, the zeal, and the perseverance these labours exhibit, produce my cheerful compliance with your request, in becoming a contributor to your Magazine. I am most respectfully, Sir, Your obedient servant, ARCHD. GORRIE.

Annat Garden, Errol,

Dec. 6th, 1825.

PART II.

REVIEWS.

ART. I. Garden Botany.

1. The Botanical Magazine, or Flower Garden displayed; in which the most ornamental foreign Plants cultivated in the open Ground, the Greenhouse, and the Stove, are accurately represented in their natural Colours, &c. By WM. CURTIS. Continued by JOHN SIMS, M.D. F.R.S. &c. &c. 1787-1826. 53 vols. 8vo. London.

2. The Botanical Register, consisting of coloured Figures of exotic Plants, cultivated in British Gardens; with their History and Mode of Treatment. The designs by Sydenham Edwards, F.L.S. 1815-1826. Vols. I.-XI. 8vo. Ridgway, London.

3. The Botanical Cabinet, consisting of coloured Delineations of Plants from all Countries, with a short Account of each, Directions for Management, &c. &c. By CONRAD LODDIGES & SONS. 1817-1826. 10 vols. 4to. and 8vo. London.

4. Exotic Flora, containing Figures and Descriptions of new, rare, or otherwise interesting exotic Plants, especially of such as are deserving of being cultivated in our Gardens, &c. By W.J. HOOKER, LL.D., F.R.A. & L.S. &c. &c. 29 Parts. 8vo. 1823 -1826. 2 vols. Blackwood, Edinburgh.

5. Geraniacea, or Natural Order of Geraniums. By ROBERT SWEET, F.L.S. 1820-1826. 3 vols. 8vo. Ridgway, London.

6. The British Flower Garden. By ROBERT SWEET, F.L.S. 1822-1826. 2 vols. 8vo. Simpkin and Marshall, London.