Passing over the little satire indulged in by your correspondent J. S. at my expense, I cannot however pass without notice his dark, and, to use his own words, "unscrupulous insinuations " as to my facts and intentions in, as he states, "my not accepting the plain reading, or even the words of his text, in his December paper." By way of demolishing me he would have your readers to suppose that it did not suit my purpose, but that I proceeded to alter both to my satisfaction. So far from this being my intention, I was not aware until I read his paper in the April number that I had unwittingly substituted the word Peas for Hamburgs. I did not need, nor would it serve any purpose of mine, to alter his text. His next accusation is, that I made him appear to say that we might haul out our boilers and pipes. I had no intention, nor did I even make him appear to say so, but that was what I inferred from his statements, and so far as I am concerned I could maintain a temperature of 45° without them; but we will see by-and-by why J. S. cannot dispense with his. Again, he takes exception to my saying that he advocated a difference of 55° in 6 hours; he maintains that there is 18 or 20 hours allowed for the subsidence of the thermometer.

Would he be surprised to learn that I counted from morning till noon, and I hold I am still right? If the question raised by J. S. had been regarding the best way to keep Vines in health, I would very likely have supported him, especially if he had not drawn the line at such extreme points. But it must be remembered that we are dealing with forcing-houses, and that very many employers require fruit at a given time, hence the information most desired by many is the highest safe temperature to insure success. J. S. quotes an extract from Dr Lindley's Theory and Practice of Horticulture,' to prove that the temperature varies about 55° in 24 hours in a vine-growing country. I need not quote the extract in full. " At Candahar, on the 30th of June, a traveller (Mr Atkinson) saw donkeys laden with panniers of fine purple grapes." But where is the account of the cold from? from the desert near Shikapore, where the traveller was on the 7th March. Again this same traveller on reaching Cabul in August found the bazaar filled with delicious grapes in astonishing profusion. Now the extract referred to never says there were even Vines at Shikapore, but at Candahar, 200 miles farther north, and at Cabul 500 miles farther north there is abundant evidence of grapes.

Now where in all the world would one expect extremes of temperature if not in an unsheltered desert? Here is indeed a wide range of country to gather grapes from. We have no evidence of cold nearer the market where grapes are seen than from 200 to 500 miles, and that evidence is rather loose. "Frost seemed to be in the air, and they were grilling the day before at Shikapore." If these travellers had not more reliable indications of frost than that the night was cool and bracing, is it not quite possible that men that were grilling the day before might think the night chilling, although the temperature was very much above the freezing-point? Suppose we grant that it seemed to be freezing, many a hill, and dale, and sheltered nook, might intervene between Shikapore and Candahar, where Vines would be perfectly secure from the extreme cold felt in the desert. Is it to be inferred that because Candahar and Cabul were farther north it would be still colder in these districts? Such is not the case in this country, as the following will prove.

At Garvald, in Peeblesshire, in the winter of 1865, we had a storm of frost and snow of seven weeks' duration, the thermometer registering, night after night, in February from 20° to 30° of frost, and while this storm held the ground hard and fast at Garvald, they were busy ploughing between Edinburgh and Glasgow, 25 miles farther north. I may add that, for the last five winters, a Negretti in the most exposed part of the grounds here has never registered more than 15° of frost, and that only on one or two occasions. In fact 9° of frost is considered extreme here, and at a place only one quarter of a mile from where I sit, they have upon all occasions 3° more of frost than what we have here. I think the above will show that there might be abundance of grapes in the markets of Candahar and Cabul, even though it were freezing in the desert in March; which from the evidence is very doubtful, and far from conclusive. J. S. quotes next from the Statistics of the Scottish Meteorological Society. It will be seen at a glance that these quotations are the greatest extremes he could cull over a number of years, and are no criterion whatever of what the climate can produce.

But after all, while it would be gratifying to know the circumstances under which Vines succeed abroad, it is no sure criterion for the British horticulturist, as the Vines under his care are home-raised, and inured to forcing; and it has long been our opinion that hothouse Grapes, as they are generally termed, owe (to a great extent) their superior excellence to the artificial and comparatively equable temperature in which they are grown, secure from extremes and vicissitudes, to which those in the open air everywhere are exposed. It will be observed that J. S. has modified his statements considerably in the April number. His argument is, as he states it: I am not going to quote it in full, it can be referred to. He sees no reason why Vines should be injured by a minimum temperature of 50° or 45° in certain circumstances. In the December number he predicted that if his reasoning was correct, if they were not allowed to fall to the above temperature, the end would be in the aggregate failure, ruin, and death. The only stage he referred to in his former paper was when Muscats were in bloom. In the April paper this is modified to the early stages of forcing, or "up to" the setting period.

Now this is the period where both the night and day temperature are kept at their highest during the whole forcing season, and Muscats are, and have always been, recognised as the Vines that require most heat.

It will thus be seen that J. S. made his first attack on the very stronghold of forcing. He has been beaten back now behind the setting period. It will also be observed that he contents himself now by holding that he recommended a minimum of 50° for Vines, Muscats not being specially mentioned on the last occasion. If this means anything, it means that J. S. is retreating as quietly as possible out of the position he took up in December.

This will be more apparent when we take a glance at his treatment of the vineries under his charge with which he has been kind enough to favour us in his last paper. He says, "Our early vinery is allowed to fall to 50° or 55° before sunrise in clear frosty weather up till the setting time, and our maximum night temperature for Muscats is 65°, often falling to 60° before morning. In mild dull weather this practice is modified considerably; the temperature is neither so high by day nor so low at night:" which means most likely that in mild dull weather his minimum temperature may range from 5° to 10° higher. This is pretty near the practice of all judicious cultivators of the Vine, and we think forms a very good reason why he is not prepared to haul out his boilers and pipes. This is the nut cracked, and lo ! it is nothing but an empty shell. J. S. asks for conclusive statements. What could be more conclusive than that a man proposes a system to others which he does not adopt himself? Nothing could be more conclusive than that the practice above referred to is pursued by every successful Vine-grower of the day; and if the article written by J. S. in the December number had passed unchallenged, many employers, who trust more to what emanates from these periodicals than to the judgments of their gardeners, would be apt to think that their gardeners were wasting their coals, their Vines, and their money to no purpose.

No gardener need be told that early forcing is deteriorating to Vines; but there are many instances in the country of Vines that have been forced early for a very considerable number of years, and still come up to time with a very tidy crop. I had a house at one time under my charge that had been started in December for well-nigh fifteen years. The first fire was put on on the 1st January, and it carried a full crop of very tidy little bunches, and cutting was begun in the beginning of May. The minimum night temperature at starting in January was 50°, and at the setting period 70° - the sorts of Vines, Ham-burgs and old Sweet Water. It was heated on the old flue system, which is now changed for hot water. The Vines are still doing duty to this day, and no word of either failure, ruin, or death.

Cases of failure have come under my observation, but never in skilful hands. I once saw a house that had been worked as an early house, and they actually managed to kill the Vines in six years from the time of planting; but they were in the hands of one of those men who creep into the profession by the doing of odd jobs about the house. This man worked his way so well that, with the assistance of the housekeeper, he ousted the head-gardener (a man of the highest ability), and stepped into his shoes.

Another instance, that of a gardener who entered on a new charge, and he was to send early Grapes to the family in London; but when the blooming period arrived, there was only one bunch made its appearance in the whole house. Cases like the above are, happily, exceedingly rare, as men skilled in their subject will get through many difficulties. Instead of thinking that the Editor's article in the March number clashed unfavourably with my reply to J. S., I think it may be of much benefit to those for whom it was intended. I am not an advocate of hard firing, but I am opposed to extremes. The Editor drew no line, far less at such extremes as J. S. did his minimum night temperature in the December number, and which is only adapted for Hamburgs, .Royal Muscadines, and for structures where people are pleased to take Grapes from when they can get them, and moreover need by no means be termed "forcing-houses." I will now conclude, and as I am (unlike Mr Simpson) a stranger to literary fame, I will preserve my incognito.

Broughty-Ferry. D. J.