326 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



KEEPING GRAPES. 



Every year we liavc some new ])rocess presented to iis for keeping grapes 

 fresh in winter, each being a variation of the old way. Iti is well for those 

 who are packing their grapes for winter, to keep in mind the essentials for 

 success, and to vary the non-essentials according to circumstances. Standing 

 first as indispensable, the fruit sliould be well grown and well ripened. Ma- 

 tured rich juice will keep the bunches far better than if green and watery. 

 But this is much better understood now than in former years, and better ciiU 

 tivation is now generally given. The next requisite, and also indispensable, 

 is to place the fruit in a cool dry lOom. If it is Wv^U matured, it will not 

 freeze several degrees below 3'^° Fahrenheit. It will not endure long in a 

 warm temperature. These are the two great essentials. The materials in 

 which the grapes are packed are of secondary importance. Baked sawdust is 

 excellent, because being a non-conductor of heat it preserves a uniform tem- 

 perature; and absorbing moisture, it keeps the fruit dry. Softstraw, chopped 

 an inch long, is a good material to pack in, and is more easily freed from the 

 berries. Dry maple leaves answer a good purpose. Cotton batting docs well, 

 if previously well dried. . A damp room should be avoided, as it would cause 

 mould. AVaxing the ends of the stems amounts to little, as the moisture is 

 absorbed or given off all along the sides. — Country Gentlemen, 



BERRIES. 



STRAWBERRIES. 



The following delightful article has strayed away from its author and we 

 cannot c^ive the deserved credit: 



This luscious fruit would seem to have been cultivated in gardens as long ago 

 as 1480, for in the well-known episode in the play of Richard III., Gloucester, 

 when intent on murderous designs against Hastings, turns to the Bishop of Ely, 

 and Bays : 



*'My Lord of Ely, wlien I was last in Ilolboi-ri, 

 I eaw good strawberries in your garden there: 

 1 do beseech, you send for sonic of them." 



A hundred years later than Richard III.'s days there was, moreover a garden 

 in llulborn, then the most aristocratic part of London, amongst whose products 

 four kinds of 8tiawl)ei'ries are mentioned. 



Another jillusion to strawberries ii] Shakspeare occurs in Henry V., act 1, 

 scene 1, when, speaking of the young king, the Bishop of Ely says: 



"The strawberry grows underneath the nettle," 



Eaily in the seventeenth century the strawbei-ries from Virginia were intro- 

 duced into both Fi'ance and England, and probably into Western Europo 

 generally. The new-comers do not appear, however, to have thriven, and 



