1873.] EARLY RIPENING OF LATE GRAPES. 211 



it mentioned in calendars then and long before that time vrhen I was a 

 schoolboy, I think in the ' Gardener and Farmer's Journal '). A 

 Hamburg house at that place in Wilts which was intended for late 

 work (but could not be kept back, as the hot- water apparatus was out 

 of order and worked to some extent with the earliest house which 

 supplied fruit in May) ripened their fruit in August, which were 

 always finely coloured and highly flavoured, and they kept better than 

 those ripened a month or six weeks later ; but then, like foremen 

 generally, I could not go far with experiments. AYhen growing on my 

 own account some years later in East Anglia I observed that a neighbour, 

 a very successful grape-grower (the late Mr Allan, then gardener to 

 Lord Rendlesham), had his Grapes which were to give supplies in Feb- 

 ruary, ripe early in September. The kinds were Black Hamburg, 

 and splendid fruit they generally were ; Lady Downes was then little 

 known for its keeping quality ; Barbarossa was out of favour ; West's 

 St Peter were among the latest keeping kinds of Blacks, and Muscats 

 were valued most among whites. I remember how w^ell Mr W. Thom- 

 son kept these at Wrotham Park when I was under him there. I do 

 not remember the time of year they were ripened, but their golden 

 skins showed that they were " thoroughly ripened." 



]My first attempt to keep Grapes late was in 1860, when I managed 

 to have Black Hamburg? in good condition in second week of March : 

 they were plump, very large in berry, and high flavoured. When at 

 Balbirnie I was able for eight years running to have Lady Downes 

 as late as April in as sound condition as they were in September — 

 footstalks green, bloom quite fresh, and those who ate them spoke in 

 high terms of their sugary flavour. Five or six years running I ex- 

 hibited Lady Downes at spring shows held in Edinburgh, and always 

 held good positions. These were generally well advanced in colouring 

 by August, and were exposed to free currents of air night and day 

 with heated pipes during September. It is no uncommon thing for 

 growers to finish firing when the berries have finished colouring. The 

 fruit under such circumstances do not retain a good flavour late in the 

 season, even if they should keep w^ell. On 9th June 1869 I exhibited 

 a bunch of Lady Downes which was ripe early in the September previous 

 (see 'Gardener' for July 1869, page 332), and which were as plump 

 on the exhibition table as ever they were. Golden Hamburgs I had 

 ripe in August were kept in sound condition till February wdth less 

 trouble than those ripened later. Two seasons I kept till April 

 Muscat Hamburgs, Trebbiano, West's St Peter, White Muscats, Royal 

 Vineyard, Black Hamburgs, Burchardt's Prince, and several others, 

 w-ith very little trouble, after being rijDcned wdth a high temperature 

 in August. One season I sent Grapes to the Royal Horticultural 



