Horticultural Society of London, 161 



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 de- 

 scription, 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 main- 

 tained by exposing the main stem and the extremities to an 

 atmosphere and temperature entirely different. Such irre- 

 gularities do not exist in free Nature, and she will not sub- 

 mit to them when in fetters. 



In pruning vines for early forcing, as little wood should 

 be employed as possible. Mr. Aeon 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 ma- 

 naged, 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 accus- 

 tomed to be stimulated. 



For late grapes, a house of a different construction is em*- 

 ployed. The back wall is 12 feet high, the front wall IJ 

 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 Mus- 

 cat 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 ihey 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 sticceeding season are produced. In a high 

 temperature, the branches will grow more compactly, and 



JULY — OCT. 1827. M 



