At
one of the meetings, there was exhibited 'a very fine specimen of
common mignonette,' which 'was stated to have been a single plant
pricked out into a pot in January 1851, and shifted on until it had
attained a large size. It was mentioned, that mignonette is not an
annual, as many imagine it to be; but that it will become a woody
shrub, and last for years, provided it is well managed, and kept free
from frost and damp.' So runs the report in the society's journal.
There was, likewise, an exhibition of black Hamburg grapes by Mr Fry,
a Kentish gardener, who made thereupon some observations, which appear
to be deserving of wider circulation. The grapes were grown in a
building seldom heated artificially, and were much attacked by mildew
during the last two seasons, on which prompt measures were taken to
diffuse perfectly dry 'sulphur vivum' throughout the house by means of
a sulphurator, until fruit and foliage were completely but lightly
coated. 'Fires were lighted, and the temperature kept up to from 80 to
90 degrees, ventilation being considerably diminished, and water in
any form discontinued. After being subject to this treatment for about
four or five days, the vines received a thorough syringing, which
cleansed them from every particle of sulphur.
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