162 Transactions of the 



will be more regularly matured than in a low temperature^ 

 in which the wood is apt to become excessively luxuriant, and 

 not to ripen well. Great attention must be paid to this 

 point. As much air as possible is introduced into the vinery 

 during the summer ; but as the autumn advances, more 

 caution in this respect is observed. The fruit should be 

 perfectly coloured at the approach of the dark season ; 

 for if the colouring be deferred too long, the berries will 

 never acquire their proper flavour. Great care must be obr 

 served to remove daily such berries as are inclining to damp, 

 or the whole crop will soon be spoiled. This should be par- 

 ticularly attended to ; for the contagion of what gardeners 

 call damp, arises from the growth of minute fungi which 

 vegetate upon the epidermis, and spread during the autumn 

 with alarming rapidity from bunch to bunch. 



The pruning of vines for late forcing is the same as has 

 been already explained. When the crop is gathered, the 

 house is unroofed for a short time, in order to expose th^ 

 branches to a low temperature, and to the degree of humi- 

 dity necessary to replenish their vessels, which have been 

 drained by the dryness of the climate in which, when forced^ 

 they were necessarily kept. 



By the means above described, a regular supply of grapes 

 is secured through the year. The late-house crop lasts 

 from the middle of January to the end of March ; it is suc- 

 ceeded by the first crop in the early-house, which carries on 

 the supply into May, and it is continued by the grapes on 

 the rafters in the same house until the vines in the pine 

 stoves, which are forced early in January and February, 

 produce their crops. These continue bearing through the 

 summer, when a vinery, of which the forcing commences 

 about the end of March, furnishes the supply till the late- 

 house fruit is ready in January. 



Upon the whole this may be considered a most instructive 

 and valuable communication. 



II, On the Varieties of Cardoon, and the Methods of cultivating them. 

 By Mr. A. Mathews, 



Who does not wish to read of the cardoon ; of that prince 

 of vegetables, whose praises have been sung or said by all 

 cooks and gourmands, from the fastidious Perigords and 

 Cardellis of the French cuisine, down to the more homely 

 Rundells and Glasses of our English kitchens ; whose virtues 

 are so marvellous as to be credible upon no less authority 



