214 



CULTURE OF FOREIGN GRAPES IN POTS. 



plied with animal matter and good leaf 

 mould. The former may consist of refuse 

 matter from a glue factory, or slaughter- 

 house ; or, better still, the refuse wool from 

 a woolen factory; this, being saturated with 

 animal oil, is a powerful and lasting ma- 

 nure, and when half decomposed and formed 

 into compost as above, I have found it very 

 suitable for vines in pots, with the addition 

 of some ground bones for drainage. The 

 plants are very well reconciled to their 

 confined state. 



I prefer allowing the plants, the first sea- 

 son, to make all the length of cane they 

 are able, without stopping them ; believing 

 that by this mode the young vines are able 

 to store up a larger amount of organizable 

 matter; and in this fine climate, there is 

 no difficulty in ripening a sufficiency of 

 wood. For the remainder of the season 

 they will require but little water ; but do 

 not let them flag at any time for want of it. 



In February, or before, let them be 

 pruned. On those that are strong enough 

 for fruiting, from three to four feet of wood 

 may be left, according to their strength and 

 kinds ; the weaker ones should be cut down 

 to three eyes. All should now be placed 

 perfectly at rest in their winter quarters ; 

 if put under the green-house stage, the pots 

 had better be placed on their sides in order 

 to guard against too much moisture. 



In March they may be again plunged in 

 a hot-bed, prepared for them, and the first 

 stage of forcing carried on, until the green- 

 house plants are withdrawn from the green- 

 house, when the young vines may again 

 occupy the stage ; there to perfect their 

 fruit, or gain sufficient strength to fruit the 

 succeeding season. 



In summer, pruning the vines rather than 

 disbud, I would sufl^er all the side shoots 

 to grow until you have selected the clusters 

 you intend to keep ; let these be stopped 1 



at one joint beyond the fruit, and all the 

 rest cut back to four eyes. All laterals 

 should be stopped as they appear ; also the 

 leading shoot, after it has made about three 

 feet of new wood. The shoots that are cut 

 back to four eyes, will form fine plump buds 

 at their base for fruiting next season ; and 

 by every year cutting clean back the shoots 

 that have fruited, the plant will last several 

 years, and be free from unsightly spurs. 



I would by no means recommend the 

 growing in pots as profitable ; but to the 

 amateur, or curious cultivator, it affords a 

 means of growing many varieties that would 

 not be found profitable to occupy a perma- 

 nent place in the vinery. The object we 

 have in view for growing them in pots 

 here at Blithewood, is to occupy the stage 

 of the centre house, where, as we treat this 

 house as an early vinery, grapes in pots are 

 more in character than flowering plants 

 would be. 



Mr. Donaldson, the proprietor of Blithe- 

 wood, has been among the earliest and 

 most successful cultivators of the grape un- 

 der glass on the Hudson river. The bor- 

 der of his first grape-house, (which I under- 

 stand was signally successful,) consisted 

 entirely of leaf mould, or decayed vegetable 

 matter. This house, however, has given 

 place to a beautiful range ; an engraving 

 of which, together with the plan, is given 

 in Vol. I, No. 2, of the Horticulturist. 

 When I commenced the management of 

 these houses, I anticipated difficulty in 

 ripening such grapes as the Muscat of Al- 

 exandria, Flame-coloured Tokay, Black 

 Morocco, &c., being 100 miles north of the 

 city of New-York, but strange to say they 

 have all ripened two weeks earlier than 

 most of the houses on the Hudson. I can 

 only account for this from the houses being 

 protected at the north by a thick belt of 

 woods, also from their being placed in a 



