564 THE GARDENER. [Dec. 



The same holds good in the case of ripening the wood. If it is not 

 solid and ripe about the time mentioned that the Grapes should be 

 ripe, you may fire as much as you like afterwards, but you will not 

 inij^art to it that fruit-producing ripeness that might have been secured 

 with half the consumption of fuel earlier in the season, when the days 

 were long and the sun powerful. In the case of Grape-growing, the 

 time to economise in the stoke-hole is not during the spring and sum- 

 mer, but during the autumn and winter. In future I intend to start 

 our late-keeping Grapes in the first week of February, and to maintain 

 at night, when they are in flower, " the regulation standard of 70^ for 

 jMuscats," and 60° for the other kinds ; and also to push them on 

 briskly during the early summer months, so that the crop may be 

 thoroughly ripe in the first week of September. 



In reference to the quality of certain Grapes when ripened in a high 

 instead of a low temperature, I could quote many authorities to cor- 

 roborate my own experience, and notably the evidence of your corre- 

 spondent, Mr J. Simpson, who wrote a few years ago, — " No one, I 

 think, can dispute the fact that late Grapes are better flavoured when 

 ripened early in the autumn under a higher temperature than they are 

 generally treated to. . . . The difference in flavour is so great that 

 they are not like the same Grapes." J. Hammond. 



THE GRAPE-VINE DISCUSSION. 



With regard to certain outpourings on this subject in the ' Gardener ' and else- 

 where, I have only to state that they are so well known to be the outcome 

 of long-pent-up resentment, as to deprive them of any little value they might 

 have possessed. I prefer to discuss such topics with those whose own reputa- 

 tion extends at least beyond the sound of their own trumpetings. Eeference 

 has been made by your correspondent to a confrere of greater literary ability 

 than himself, in another journal, and I can only congratulate him on the 

 faculty that enables him to recognise a superior when he meets one, and 

 admire the wisdom that teaches him to fall into the proper position of saying 

 ditto to whatever his master may utter in the ' Gardener ' and elsewhere. He 

 has something to gain and nothing to lose by connections of that kind. 



J. S., W. 



FLORIST'S ^FLOWERS. 



For many florist's flowers, the next two months are particularly trying 

 ones. Verbenas and Petunias, as cases in point, very often die off 

 during this period. Much depends on having good established plants, 

 as opposed to those which are struck late, and therefore wanting in 

 vitality. In light modern houses there is not the same difficulty with 

 these, as they keep growing with very little trouble. In old dark 

 structures the case is materially altered, and a higher temperature is 

 an absolute necessity. 



