4G2 THE GARDENER. [Oct. 



be desired, but that he " maintained cold pipes during darkness, no 

 matter what the weather may be." The editor also of the same paper, 

 answering a doubting correspondent on the same subject, states a very- 

 suggestive fact ; he says : " There is no doubt whatever that Grapes 

 have set freely in a minimum temperature of 50°. We have for years 

 had fine and full sets of Black Hamburgs when the temperature on 

 many occasions was as low as 45° when the Vines were flowering. 

 This, however, was not by preference, but the consequence of what 

 many might term defective heating appliances ; still, as the crops were 

 invariably satisfactory, the defect indicated was not admitted, and it 

 was not deemed necessary to incur the cost of alterations when good 

 results could be produced without them. More failures occur in set- 

 ting Grapes by injudicious ventilation and other errors in management, 

 than by the fall of a degree or two in temperature from the regulation 

 high standard of 70° for Muscats and 65° for Hamburgs." 



Since I drew attention to the subject nine years ago, I have sub- 

 jected every vinery on the place here to the cool system — always strictly 

 prohibiting a higher night-temperature by fire-heat than 50° until the 

 berries were set and fit to thin, but never feeling the least uneasiness 

 if the thermometer fell 5° lower than that in the morning, when the 

 berries were in full flower. From 40° to 45° is our figure up till the 

 flowering period. During these nine years I might any season have 

 challenged any of my neighbours in any part of the country to produce 

 better examples of setting. Our Muscats being in flower early in the 

 year, have always been subjected to the most prolonged low tem- 

 perature, and they have always set well, the berries becoming 

 wedged together by the thinning period, so thick are they. We 

 have a houseful of large shapely bunches of Muscats at present, not 

 one of which presents a defective shoulder through bad setting. I 

 will venture to say also, that there is not a range of vineries in 

 England on which a less expenditure for fuel has been incurred for 

 night-heat proportionately, if there be any which have cost so little. It 

 has been a common practice with us to turn the heat of even the 

 Muscat-house off at 2 o'clock p.m., and leave it off all night if frost was 

 not feared, and then only a little was turned on at 10 o'clock or later. 

 That the Vines are improved by the cool treatment I am sure, for no 

 Vines suffer less from red-spider than ours. They are never either 

 cleansed or painted, nor ever have been. This is one great gain, and 

 the other is that we save at the very least fifty per cent in fuel. ' I am 

 aware that there are good cultivators who have set their Grapes in a 

 temperature 25° higher than that advocated by me, and who believe it 

 to be necessary ; but having given both ways a fair trial with all sorts 

 of Grapes, and under the strictest conditions of trial, I feel justified 

 in stating that they are labouring under a complete delusion. 



J. Simpson. 



' WoRTLEY Hall Gardens. 



