256 



THE GARDENER. 



[June 



Temperatuue of Muscat Vinery. — Recorded by a "Negretti and Zambra" 

 self-registeriuo; thermometer, fractions omitted. 



Av 



Average lowest temperature, 54"; day, 87^; mean of 33 days, 70°. 



I send yon a sample bunch of Raisin de Calabrica and Muscat of Alexandria. 

 When Muscats do not set, fruit fails ofT at ODce, like Peach-blossom, leaving the 

 spurs of the bunch quite naked ; but, in the samples sent, nearly every berry 

 seems to have set, even to the extremities. In fact, our jSIuscats never set so 

 well before. The reason why the night temperature never fell below 50° was, 

 no doubt, owing to the bed of leaves in the house giving off heat. The hot- water 

 pipes were generally cold by 9 or 10 o'clock every night, the thermometer fluctuat- 

 ing, as a rule, between 65° and 58° at the same time. I think the results go far to 

 show that a frequent minimum temperature of 45° would have been borne with 

 impunity, and possibly an occasional descent to 40° would have been harmless. 

 Let it be remembered, however, that the Vines were treated to a low night tem- 

 perature from the beginning. I hope no one will experiment by dropping the 

 temperature of their vinery when the Vines are in flower, after having been 

 •pushed on to that stage in a high temperature. I may state that the Vines 

 were drenched copiously with clean soft water through a fine syringe five days 

 out of the seven while in flower. Had the usual high temperature of from 70° to 

 75° been given, in all probability just double the quantity of coals would have 

 been consumed. 



The bunches sent were cut from the centre of the house, 10 feet or more from 

 the pipes, and are fair samples of the crop. It is further worth while remarking, 

 that no time seems to have been lost. The vinery was started at the same date 

 as last year, and the crop is just as forward now. Our late vinery, just about 

 coming into flower, has been treated in the same way, and, so far as appearances 

 go, with the same good results. It may be interesting to those who reckon 

 much upon such matters, to compare the mean temperature in the above table 

 with the temperature of the favourite climate of the Vine in spring. 



WoRTLEY. J. Simpson. 



[The two bunches of Grapes received from Mr Simpson were as perfect examples 

 of thorough "setting" as could possibly be imagined. Now that Mr Simpson 

 has replied twice to "D. J.'s" criticism, we think the subject had better drop 

 as between them at least, especially as Mr Simpson does not wish to return to 

 the subject again. — Ed.] 



