A'sper, white

Mutábilis, white, changing to red

Comòsus, or umbròsus, small white flowers and stamina

There are some few other flowers in bloom contemporary with the asters: the Helianthus tribe, - but they are all yellow; a Pyrethrum or two, Phlóx marylandica, Solidàgo sempervirens, and Rudbeckia speciòsa. I know of scarcely any other kinds.

I have raised from seed, for two or three years past, a great number of asters. I generally sow the seed in April, and most of them bloom the following autumn. This season I

have had more than 1000 in bloom from seed sown last spring; from which I have selected about 50 decidedly handsome and distinct varieties, the others, being almost all alike, I generally pull up and throw away as they bloom. I have formed a separate clump of them; and the asters before enumerated do not contribute more, nor perhaps quite so much, to the embellishment of my flower-garden, in October, as the seedlings. There are all degrees of colours, from the dark blue to the most beautiful azure; from the rose to the delicate blush; from the pure white to the French and greyish white, &c., in numberless varieties of shades and sizes; some of the flowers being the size of a sixpence, some an inch or an inch and a half in diameter, and some semidouble. I generally impregnate them, by tying the flowers of the rose-coloured on the white, blue on the rose, &c. It is incorrect to affirm that the afore-mentioned kinds bloom only through the month specified; some of them may be in bloom the beginning of the preceding month, and some may extend perhaps to the first or second week of the succeeding. However, on accurate observation, I can decidedly pronounce them to be in full bloom pretty well during the respective months as enumerated.

* A'ster Rivèri was raised from seed by Rivers and Son, nurserymen, Sawbridgeworth, Herts, three years since, and is one of the shortest it blooms with a beautiful tuft of small white flowers, and is a very pretty variety. Most of the asters mentioned in the list before enumerated I procured from them, and they likewise possess as extensive a collection of herbaceous plants, &c., as any nurserymen in the kingdom.

Any one who attends to the cultivation of this autumnal flower, instead of having his flower-garden nearly destitute of flowers during one month of the year, may have it highly ornamented with the Aster.

The principal motive of this communication it so recommend flowers for the embellishment of the month of October only; but as I have enumerated the kinds of asters which bloom in the two antecedent months, to wind up I have inserted a few sorts underneath which flower from the middle of November to Christmas; though the same argument will hold good which is applied to the sorts flowering in August and September, as from the middle of November to Christmas the garden is ornamented by that matchless winter flower the Chrysanthemum.

Asters in bloom from the First of November to Christmas.

ART. XVI. On the visible Cause, and easy and effectual Cure, of the bad Setting of some Sorts of Grapes. By Mr. JAMES CRAIG, Gardener to G. Cholmeley, Esq., Howsham, York.

Sir,

I DARE say it is well known to you that a great many of those vines which "have blossomed but brought no fruit" have been hewn down as cumberers of the ground, and probably many more have been condemned before they were fairly tried; and if such there are, I trust that what I am about to state will be the means of saving them from the fatal axe. I have at this place a vine under my care, which is a very bad setter; it is an old plant, growing in a double-pitted pine stove. Previously to my coming here it had been condemned for an apparently good reason, which was, it had never brought to perfection more than about a dozen berries on a bunch; the residue were about the size of peas. I was informed of its faults, but nevertheless respited it, and have been amply rewarded for my clemency. It ripened, last year, a very fine crop, the bunches from 1 lb. to 3 lb., well filled with berries, considerably larger than those of the white

Tokay. I am not certain of its name as I never saw the sort before; nor could any gentleman or gardener who saw it tell me what it was: but three good practical gardeners, to whom I sent single berries, informed me it was the Palestine. Be it what it may, it is an excellent grape, of good flavour, and one of the best of keepers: the fruit was ripe in July, and I cut the last bunch in Christmas week. The berries are of a dark red colour, and of an oval form.

I presume that the following observations and treatment of this vine will be equally applicable to many other bad-setting

sorts:

On close inspection, when the blossoms are fully expanded, it will be obvious to every observer who is acquainted with the parts of the fructification, that the main cause of their abortiveness is a defect in the filament, and not in the anther, as supposed by many. It will be found that the filaments are very small and recurved, so as to render it almost impossible for the anthers to come in contact with the stigma of the same blossom, and I am persuaded there is a sufficient quantity of pollen on the anther for the fecundation of the stigma; but so awkwardly is the anther situated, that in very few instances can the pollen perform its function on the stigma without the assistance of art. The evil may certainly be remedied in a great measure by suspending over its racemes those of any free-setting sort, when the flowers of both are fully open; or by intermixing with its branches the branches of any free-setting sort that may be expected to flower at the same time: but in many cases neither of these methods would be convenient, nor do I consider them at all necessary.

manner:

About half of the bunches I impregnated with the pollen taken from the bunches of other sorts in flower at the same time, collected with a soft camel-hair pencil, in the following I took a sheet of white paper, and held it under the bunches from which I intended to gather the pollen (selecting those which were fullest in flower), and then applied the pencil gently to various parts of them; and when the pencil was charged with yellow powder, I took it to the bunches which I wished to fecundate, and touched lightly with the pencil the female parts of the flowers, holding the paper as when gathering the pollen; and what dust fell into the paper I took up in the pencil, and applied it as before. These did as well as I could wish. All that remained (except two bunches) I impregnated with their own pollen, by working the pencil carefully among the flowers, and by that means dispersing part of the fecundating dust, and collecting part of

it upon the pencil. Of course, by this process, the pencil comes as often in contact with the female as with the male part of the flower; consequently, the fecundation is accomplished by the pollen which is already on the pencil adhering to the stigma while more is collected. By the first of these methods I had rather more berries set than I had by the latter; but I had a great many berries to thin out of all the bunches, except the two which I left unassisted, and which set their berries in the usual way, almost all of them about the size of peas, and without seed. I kept as dry an atmosphere as I conveniently could, from 65 to 82 degrees of heat, in order to absorb a superfluous moisture which collected on the stigma. The operation was generally performed about noon, when the bunches were dry. It is necessary that the operation should be performed every day while the trees are in flower (which will be about a week), as some parts of the bunches are only in flower when the others are set.

Howsham, February 10. 1830.

Yours, &c.

J. CRAIG.

ART. XVII. On the Forcing of Cabbage Lettuce in Holland. By M. P. LINDEGAARD. Translated from the Danish by M. JENS PETER PETERSEN, of the Royal Gardens of Rosenburgh, near Copenhagen.

Ir is well known that every country is possessed of something peculiar in preference to another, with regard to vegetation, or to the bringing of some plants and sorts of fruits to greater maturity and perfection; which is partly effected by, or attributed to, local circumstances, as air, soil, situation, or climate.

On the Continent, the Dutch gardeners are undoubtedly the only ones who produce excellent cabbage lettuce during the whole winter. The nobility and gentry in Holland are remarkably fond of lettuce, having it on their table every day in the year, and consider it very wholesome and purgative to the blood: consequently, this branch of horticulture has attracted the greatest care and attention of the gardeners in that country. The treatment of winter lettuce (coude slaa, Dutch), as I saw it practised forty-four years back, during my stay in Holland, is as follows:

A hot-bed which has done bearing, and is well situated towards the sun, is chosen: the mould is several times stirred VOL. VI. - No. 29.

Y Y

up or turned over, to make the air impregnate it; and, if too heavy, about half the quantity of mould is taken away, and a similar quantity of good leaf mould put to the remainder, and all well mixed together. Some gardeners take all the mould out of the bed, and loosen the surface of the dung, to make the moisture in winter pass through it freely; and leaf mould only is put on the bed or in the frames: and as the leaf mould is much incorporated with sand, particularly all round Haarlem, it is found very suitable to the growth of cabbage lettuce.

The sort of cabbage lettuce in use at that time was termed klein groen, with black seed; but of late years, I am informed, another more palatable sort, klein geel, with white seed, is used for that purpose.

The seed is sown very thin, in the first days of September, on a melon bed which has done bearing; and watering with a fine syringe, if the weather continue dry, must not be neglected. When the plants have produced the fourth leaf they are fit for transplanting; the bed having been previously prepared, by digging and raking, is now marked so that one plant will be placed under every pane or square of glass in the window. To plant a reserve, or superfluous row at top and bottom, is very advisable, lest any of the main plants should be eaten by the wire worm, which is often the case. After planting, the lights are immediately put on, and no air given in the first couple of days: as the plants begin to grow, air is given to the frames, as well at the bottom as at the top (about three inches), which is best performed by putting two bricks under each corner of every window; and this air may remain day and night for some time. At this period it will be found very necessary to search the beds every morning, if the wire worms have made their appearance; and where a plant is eaten, you will be pretty sure to find a worm under the root or in the surface, sometimes an inch deep or so: this is to be continued early in the morning every day till the insects disappear. In October, when the air begins to grow cold, and the heads of the cabbage lettuce begin to get close or hard, no air is given any more, and the lights are entirely closed; but it must be observed, that the leaves do not at all touch the glass, as, if they do, the least unexpected frost will hurt their edges and the consequence will be that the plants will rot. In this case the frame will have to be lifted every now and then. When the nightly frosts commence, generally in October, great attention must be paid to covering the beds with a single layer of bass mats; yet too much covering is to be avoided before the plants are grown to perfect heads. Water