1873.J TWEED VINEYARb. 473 



here is immense.'' The half is planted with Dnke of Buccleuch, the other 

 with Muscats and a few Golden Champion. What impressed me in this house 

 was the noble deportment of the Duke. The growth is most robust ; bunches, 

 some two on a shoot, fine and symmetrical; berries enormous, just gaining 

 that golden amber colour which it puts on so well. I have tasted this Grape 

 frequently at various shows, and have now had an opportunity of examining 

 plants, berries, and bunches by the score, and I can assure your readers it 

 possesses all the qualities attributed to it. Whatever may occur elsewhere 

 with this Grape, its free-growing, fertile and genuine character at Clovenfords 

 is, like Ccesar's wife, above suspicion. The Muscats were fast ripening, and 

 above an average crop. 



Next entering the centre house, the display viewed from the end is magnifi- 

 cent, the jet-black clusters having a most imposing and striking appearance 

 amongst the luxuriant green and yellow tinted foliage, perspectively terminat- 

 ing in what appears to be an unbroken mass of black Grapes. Gros Colman, 

 the largest berried of all our black Grapes, is here grown extensively, finishing 

 well, and is a grand market sort. Lady Downes is bearing heavy crops, many 

 bunches over 2 lb. in weight, and finely finished. Barbarossas were carrying 

 large fine shoiddered-bunches ; but Mr Thomson thinks it requires more heat 

 than can be giv^en in this late house, and is therefore going to introduce it 

 largely iuto the Muscat-house, where a higher temperature can be maintained. 

 SeaclilTe Black was showing well. Black Alicante has done well, and is re- 

 garded as a valuable late Grape ; Madresfield Court was also bearing a good 

 crop : Mr Thomson thinks highly of the appearance of this Grape up to the 

 time it is about to finish, when he has good cause to regard it as worthless : not 

 a berry of it has he ever been able to send to market ; whole bunches crack and 

 decay in a few days before they are thoroughly matured. I do not write this 

 in contemptuous speculation; at home aad abroad, in England and Scotland, I 

 find it the same. The last house in this range is exclusively devoted to Lady 

 Downes. The crop is wonderful. Thousands of remarkably fine compact 

 bunches, all nearly of equal size, are fast gaining maturity. Another great 

 house, 200 feet long and 24 feet wide, with 2400 feet of piping, stands apart 

 from the principal ranges on a slight eminence, and is mainly planted with 

 Lady Dowues, and here and there an Alicaut. Another smaller vinery, 70 feet 

 long and 15 feet wide, stands near this, and is exclusively for Lady Downes, 

 the fruit annually hanging in it to April. A watering-pot is never used in one 

 of these vineries : the supply of pure v/ater no way polluted is imlimited. The 

 reservoir is at a considerable elevation above the vineyard, w^here it is supplied 

 to each house by smaller pipes; these enter and are coiled round the side of 

 the expansion tanks ; in this way the cold water becomes mild before being ap- 

 plied. India-rubber hose are attached to each pipe, by means of which borders 

 are watered, and vines syringed in any part of the house when such is necessary. 



Pine-growing is carried on extensively and to perfection. The stoves, fine 

 structures, are arranged in lean-to order against the boundary wall. Proceeding 

 from Mr Thomson's dwelling, a small house contains a choice collection of 

 Orchids in excellent health ; next to this is the sucker-house, 70 feet long and 

 14 feet wide. Hundreds of fine young plants in 6-inch pots are here plunged in 

 their winter quarters, to shift into the fruiting-pots early in spring. Following 

 this is another stove, 145 feet long and 13 wide, with a jiathway up the centre, 

 with a bed back and front. This house is full of strong dwarf Queens, prepared 

 to start into fruit in early spring. Things are not done by halves here : 400 Pines 

 are started as an early batch in this house iu January. Top and bottom heat- 



