1871.] GRAPE-SETTING. 349 



ter ; the defect in its case is in the pollen. If left to the action of its 

 own pollen, some three or four berries will set in each bunch and 

 become a great size, while all the others remain the size of peas. On 

 the other hand, when the bunch is in bloom, if the pollen of another 

 variety be shaken over it, it sets as freely as any Grape I know, and 

 swells all its berries. This treatment will have the same eifect with 

 the other sorts I have named, the Cannon Hall alone excepted. I 

 am not aware if the advocates of the syringe for Grapes at setting- 

 time pretend that it will cause such a Grape as the Morocco to set in 

 the absence of other foreign aid. 



To me it appears that all that can be claimed for the system is that 

 it does little harm ; for this reason, that there is a capsule over the 

 organs of each embryo berry, which protects them from the injury they 

 would otherwise receive from the mechanical action of water dashed 

 against them, until the pollen is in a fit state to be discharged on to 

 the female organ ; and seeing that these capsules come off the points of 

 the embryo berries in regular succession, and that the syringe is used 

 but once or twice during the twenty-four hours, it becomes very diffi- 

 cult to say whether good or evil is the result, though I suspect, in how- 

 ever small a degree, it must be the latter : certain it is that Grapes set 

 as thick as can be desired without having the bunches syringed when 

 in bloom, if all other necessary precautions are observed, with, as far as 

 my own experience goes, the sole exception of the Cannon Hall Muscat ; 

 and any one who can discover a certain means of causing it to set like 

 the Muscat of Alexandria will confer a great boon on Grape-growers. 



The finest three bunches of Grapes I ever grew were Cannon Hall 

 Muscats ; they were perfect in bunch and berry, and weighed 13 lb. 

 I got the first prize for Muscats at the July show of the Royal Botanic 

 Society, in the Regent's Park, about twenty-five years ago : since that 

 date, though I have often made the attempt, I have never grown a 

 perfect bunch of this Grape, nor have I seen one ; those I refer to were 

 grown in a Pine-stove, over the hot pipes. The following and succeed- 

 ing years they set so badly, that though the bunches were large enough 

 they had a ragged appearance ; and this has been their character w^hen- 

 ever I have attempted to grow them since that date. If I were to 

 suggest a remedy, I would look in the direction of some harmless 

 solution that would, when applied in water, dissolve the gum on the 

 female organs of the embryos, and as soon as they get dry apply the 

 pollen of another Grape to them ; for I am confident this gum is the 

 cause of their failure. . Wm. Thomson. 



Tweed Vineyard, Clovenfobds 

 BY Galashiels. 



