iSyi.] GRAFTING. 183 



them after they are ripe. It is no easy matter to keep Grapes all winter under 

 circum^-tances like ours, having only two vineries, which are crammed full of 

 bedding-plants. Every gardener knows the great difficulty there is in keeping 

 Grapes hanging in a house filled with plants, although there are not a few who 

 are, like myself, obliged to make the attempt. Perhaps it may be of service to 

 some if I relate the mode I adopted last winter. On the 20th December I cut 

 a quantity of the best bunches in the houses, leaving about 10 inches of the wood 

 adhering to each bunch. The ends of the wood were inserted into bottles filled 

 with water, and a pinch of animal charcoal put into each bottle. I placed them 

 in a back shed in a rack made for the purpose. The shed is neither lathed nor 

 plastered, but it was thoroughly dry when the Grapes were put into it. After 

 I got them all placed, I locked the place up, determined to let the Grapes take 

 their chance till winter for the table. About the 1st of February the fruit that 

 was left in the vineries was all consumed, being the seventh month from the 

 time they ripened ; and I was glad to see the end of them, for what with damp- 

 ing and shrivelling and clipping, they were not fit for any table. And I fancy 

 our perplexity in attempting the keeping of the Grapes and the plants right 

 together must have equalled Noah's in keeping so many kinds of live stock right 

 the time of the Flood. I determined then to open up my treasure in the back 

 shed ; and it was a treasure I Here they were as fresh and plump as the day they 

 were put into the bottles. " They look excellent, certainly," was the first impres- 

 sion made on my mind. But I was rather taken aback when I beheld pillars of 

 ice supporting some of the bunches, and in every bottle the water was frozen, 

 and in many cases the bottles broken by the ice had fallen away, leaving the ice 

 to fulfil its duty, which it did equally well, for the Grapes were in excellent con- 

 dition. This shows how much frost Grapes will stand without injury, although, 

 for the sake of the bottles, it would have been best to have kept out the frost. 



When I sent the Grapes to the table, they were so much admired, that, like 

 the host at the marriage-supper, I was called to account for keeping the best 

 till the last. Much more might be said on this subject, but I will leave it for 

 some of the long-headed men who have had much more experience than I. 



W. K. 



[No doubt the frost had something to do with the safe keeping of the Grapes, as 

 it arrested decomposition. The facts stated are interesting and suggestive. — Ed.] 



GRAFTING. 



I VERY much regret that in my remarks on Grafting, published in your Feb- 

 ruary number, there is an error. In visiting the trees again to-day, according 

 to the suggestion of "A Reader" in last number of the 'Gardener,' I found 

 my memory had been so far treacherous that the stocks proved to be Horn- 

 beam, and not Beech. I am very sorry for this error, and beg fully to apolo- 

 gise, for correctness is everything. However, in this case the error does not 

 alter the fact, or render it less interesting, that Elm should grow on Horn- 

 beam than on Beech. They are twin-brothers, of the same family and natural 

 order, and I have a vague idea that both were formerly included in one genus. 

 A friend of mine, who was with me when I was first shown these trees, pub- 

 lished the fact in the ' Field ' last autumn. I was told the Editor remarked 

 that it was an uncommon case. When I wrote for the ' Gardener,' I was not 



