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FOREIGN NOTICES. 



years pursued a mode of training which has been 

 attended with complete success. It consists in 

 leading the branches of the trees on horizontal 

 trellises only ten or twelve inches from the ground. 

 When the winter sets in, there are heavy falls of 

 snow; and as the frost increases, the snow gene- 

 rallv augments, by which the trees are entirely 

 buried, and receive no injury from the most intense 

 frost. The winters of 1819 and 1820 were very se- 

 vere, notwithstanding which, last summer, I had a 

 <Treat crop of apples, and all of the tender sorts, 

 while none of the gardens in the neighborhood pro- 

 duced any; even many of their trees, although 

 doubly matted, were killed. From my Green 

 Gajre and Orleans Plums I gathered ripe fruit on 

 the"29th September last ; I had also a very full 

 crop of Morello Cherries. Another very great ad- 

 vanta<Te of training trees in the above method con- 

 sists in the growth of the wood, it being of equal 

 strength, and the fruit produced being all alike, the 

 bloom comes out much earlier, and the crop ripens 

 sooner. The trees are always clean and free from 

 insects ; I have observed this even while some 

 standards near them have had their leaves curled 

 by aphides. Tlie only cherry that does not succeed 

 in this way is our Black-heart ; this I attribute to 

 the damps which affect the early blossoms, but in a 

 milder climate this injury would be obviated by 

 placing the trellis higher from the ground. When 

 the trellis decays under the apples, I never renew 

 it, as the trees always keep (from the strength of 

 their branches) their horizontal position. There 

 are other advantages of treating fruit trees in this 

 manner : they come sooner into bearing, and their 

 fruit is not affected by high winds. I never gather 

 the apples, but let them drop off, for the distance 

 they fall is not sufficient to bruise them. Probably 

 pears trained in this way would answer well in 

 England. Hort. Magazine. 



The Forcing of Grapes. — Supposing a house 

 devoted to grapes, and we were desirous of having 

 several seasons of fruit, there is nothing more sim- 

 ple than the required management. But it should 

 always be remembered that the same plant should 

 always be forced in the same degree, and by such 

 means it is never cheated of its season of rest. We 

 are not going now to describe a thing actually car- 

 ried out, but contrary to our general mode of doing 

 things, we are starting a theory to explain a prac- 

 tice U)at we have adopted at separate periods, but 

 which we have never fully developed in one house. 

 The grape we have chosen for our experiment is 

 the Black Hamburg, a grape that is a universal 

 favorite, not less for its beauty than its flavor. 

 Plant as many vines to your house as you have 

 rafters to the roof ; grow but one branch to each 

 rafter ; construct your house so that you can with- 

 draw this branch from the inside, and keep it for a 

 while outside whenever you please. This branch 

 has to be renewed every year, so that, inside the 



house you have the branch which has fruit, and the 

 shoot which is going to supply its place next year 

 growing by the side of it. Now, the regulation of 

 the seasons for the different grapes may be thus 

 planned : — Plant the vines outside, and contrive to> 

 take them into the house close under the roof, by 

 leaving out one pane of glass, and providing some 

 moans of stopping up the vacancy round the stem 

 when it is in ; the same vacancy will enable you to 

 draw out the vine whenever you wish it. Say one- 

 third of the vines are put in tlie house at Michael- 

 mas, one-third in January, one-third in May ; keep 

 the house up to forcing heat always ) as soon as 

 the single shoot of the Michaelmas vine has grown 

 fully to the length of the rafters, top it, and when 

 the leaves turn, draw it out of the house through 

 the vacant space left for it (and only temporarily 

 filled up to keep the air out,) and there let its wood 

 ripen. In like manner, when the vines taken into 

 the house in .January arc in the same state, that is 

 to say, the shoots have grown the length of the 

 rafters, top them, and when their leaves turn, draw 

 the shoots out of the house. So also with the third 

 lot put in, in May. Replace them in the house at 

 a proper season, that is to say, the same time as 

 the previous year. There may be bunches of 

 grapes on the vines when the side shoot intended to 

 bear the next year is withdrawn, but this need not 

 be disturbed until the grapes are oil, when the vine 

 may be cut away to just above the shoot. It may, 

 however, be necessary to disturb the bearing part 

 before you can draw out the young branch. This 

 will not matter if half of it were drawn out, so that 

 the part which had the grapes on were inside ; and 

 if there were any half way up, it is clear that the 

 vino might be dragged half way out before it would 

 withdraw any grapes. This is mentioned because 

 many people keep the grapes hanging as long as 

 they can ; and it will not interfere with the bearing 

 branch for the next year if they do so. The con- 

 trivance for withdrawing the vine is not new, but 

 very few practice it where they can afford to keep 

 separate houses for the different seasons ; when, 

 however, you have but one house, and wish the 

 grapes to come at different seasons, this is the only 

 way that we know of. As soon as the grapes are 

 off, you may either draw the fruiting part out, and 

 cut it off at the time you put the new branch in, or 

 you may cut it off directly. It is to be observed, 

 that the great object is to bo exact with the seve- 

 ral seasons of returning the new branch to the 

 house ; and the temperature of the house must 

 never materially vary, except when the sun is pow- 

 erful and raises the temperature more than usual, 

 but these are the times to give air. Nothing need 

 be done to the branch when returned to the house 

 but laying it along the rafter by means of staples, 

 and cords or wires ; the treatment in other respects 

 the same as usual. Here will be three seasons of 

 grapes, lasting nearly the whole year in perfec- 

 tion. Hort. Magazine. 



