1870.] GRAPES AT CHATSWORTH. 411 



day sun, the scaring tempest, the " swift dark whirlwind," and the keen edge of 

 the northern blasts. It is a lovely spot in the charming grounds of Gunnersby — 

 beautiful, sublime, and peaceful. It is one in which 



" To meditate 

 In these calm shades Thy milder majesty, 

 And to the beautiful order of Thy works 

 Learn to conform the order of our lives." 



GRAPES AT CHATSWORTH. 

 A collection of Grapes exhibited at the recent show of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society at Oxford by Mr Speed, gardener to the Duke of Devonshire, which con- 

 sisted of three remarkably fine, compact, and well-finished bunches, each of Mill 

 Hill Hambui'g, Black Hamburg, and Black Prince, gave occasion for much con- 

 gratulation among the advocates and adherents of the Extension System in Grape 

 culture. The following information relative to the production of these Grapes 

 has recently been furnished by Mr W. P. Ayres to the ' Gardeners' Chronicle.' 



"The Vines have, it appears, been planted about thirty-seven years, and 

 occupy one of the first houses built at Chatsworth upon the ridge-and-furrow 

 system. The border has been well raised above the surrounding soil, and Vines 

 have been growing both inside and outside the house, but in distinct borders. 

 For years, we are informed, the Vines had been failing ; the bunches, in the first 

 year of Mr Speed's charge, being disfigured by shanked berries, and some of them 

 shanked altogether. The leaves, though of good size, were flaccid and poor, in- 

 dicating the presence of too much moisture in the border and atmosphere, and 

 considerable prostration of vital energy. All the Vines were in nearly the same 

 state, the more recently-planted ones, though immensely strong, being soft and 

 pithy — so much so that in the leading shoots an ordinary pencil might be inserted 

 down the centre with little or no trouble. The consequence of this immaturity 

 in the wood was the development of long, lean, loose bunches, shanked berries, 

 and deficient colour and quality. The gardens at Chatsworth lie low and damp, 

 considerably lower than the flood-level of the river Derwent, which runs close to 

 it. Consequently Mr Speed knew that the Vines were not likely to suffer from 

 the want of water, but they were more likely to receive injury from the want of 

 heat. To this end he at once arranged the surface of the borders, sloping them 

 so as to afford a ready discharge at the surface for storm water. Where the bot- 

 tom-heat of the borders had been disconnected it was restored, and through the 

 parching summer of 1868 not a border, inside or outside the vineries, received 

 any water beyond that which fell from the heavens, or an occasional surface 

 sprinkling. The rents in the borders were such as to suggest a copious watering, 

 but Mr Speed's object was the perfect maturation of the wood, and he knew that 

 could only be effected by encouraging short sturdy growth, with clean well- 

 developed foliage and buds. Air, so soon as the foliage was sufficiently hardened, 

 was admitted by a free circulation night and day ; and when the fruit was cut, 

 heat was kept on until the leaves at last fell from the Vines from sheer matura- 

 tion. Under such treatment the practised eye could soon detect that the wood 

 was close-grained and hard as ebony, and hence in a fit state to produce well- 

 formed bunches of finely-coloured fruit. In 1869 the Grapes were much superior 

 to what they had been the preceding year ; and this season we should say there 

 can scarcely be a finer series of vineries in the country. Several of the vineries 



