42G THE GARDENER. [Sept. 



marks on tlie desirability of a lower niglit temperature for forcing ; 

 for my j^art, I am unable to see how it would be possible in early 

 forcing — say, starting at Christmas, the Grapes to be r/^jc by the be- 

 ginning of June — to have the fruit ripe in time, unless an average 

 very near that recommended by Mr W. Thomson and other authori- 

 ties on the Grape Vine is kept up. ]^or do I think Mr Simpson's 

 remarks tend to convey an impression to the contrary. The fact is, 

 unless artificial heat is applied to keep the temperature to about the 

 average recognised as the most suitable by practical men, more 

 especially from the time the bunches have well "shown" onwards to 

 the ripening process, the Vines will come pretty much to a standstill. 

 Mr Simpson's theory of rest at night will recommend itself to every 

 one as very natural ; but I fear, if Grapes are to be had ripe, as now, 

 at a certain time — I mean, early-forced Grapes — we must " stick " to 

 our present temperatures, though, in very cold weather, letting the 

 temperature drop a little rather than fire too severely. I consider it a 

 very good plan to have a bed of fermenting material on the borders of 

 early-forced houses. It goes far to create humidity in the atmosphere, 

 whilst it, at the same time, obviates the necessity of so much firing. 

 "We can doubtless dispense very much with fire-heat with late-started 

 houses, as the length of the day, the shortness of the night, the in- 

 crease of the outside temperature, and the increasing powerfulness of 

 the sun's rays, all go to keep up the required average temperature. In 

 our late vinery scarcely any fire-heat has been given, nor will there be 

 any more till the crop begins to ripen, w^hen firing will be carried on 

 as the state of the weather may call for. It may be well to warn 

 those who have been induced to dispense pretty much with fire- 

 heat, to be careful in the application of moisture. Even now, I am 

 careful to have the house thoroughly dry every day, and in the dull 

 •weather damping is very cautiously gone about. Mildew is very 

 easily produced, and not quite so easily got rid of. 



I cannot agree with Mr Simpson, that, as he "wrote in a contemporary 

 a few weeks back, the main cause of failure in Grape-growing is 

 caused by too high temperatures. I believe the cause is to be found 

 very generally in over-cropping the Vines, and over-manuring the 

 border, in the shape of manure-water, to induce the Vines to finish the 

 crop. It is notorious that very few have the courage and the common- 

 sense to crop young Vines lightly ; and these few, instead of making 

 an appearance, according to the number of vineries they may have 

 at command to " finish " up, one after another, will hold on the even 

 yearly tenor of then' way, the Vines meanwhile improving year by 

 year. I see no prospect of lowering our "firing" bills to any great 

 extent through lowering the " forcing " temperatures, for what may 



