CULTURE OF VINES IN POTS. 



505 



v,7ider him^) and was astonished at the early 

 crop of grapes, in pots. This was on the 

 27th of February, 1847. In one house I 

 saw, plunged in a bed of tan, four hundred 

 plants, bearing from five to eight perfect 

 bunches each, all ripened in the most per- 

 fect manner. Some of them had been al- 

 ready cut for the table These plants were 

 introduced on the 2f5th of October, and sub- 

 jected to a slight fire heat on the 1st of 

 November, and then treated as is the usual 

 practice of all good culiivatnrs, — never al- 

 lowing the hygrometer to ascend above 78; 

 for if this amount of moisture is not main- 

 tained, you will be subjected to all such 

 evils as red spider, thrips, mildew, &c., 

 with their attendant consequences. Even 

 when open, warm water gutters are used, 

 in conjunction with flues, that are not more 

 than three inches in diameter. You can- 

 not saturate the flues, walks, &c., too much, 

 particularly in the night, and in bright 

 sunny weather, — bearing in mind to regu- 

 late the day temperature, as to moisture, 

 &c,, according to the weather, by covering 

 the gutters, in cloady, damp weather, and 

 the contrary in clear sunny days. 



During my stay in London, I called on 

 all the principal places where early forcing 

 is carried on, viz., at the Duke of North- 

 umberland's; Mr. Carton, gardener, Sion 

 House, Islew'orth ; Marquis of Ailsa, St. 

 Margarets, do.; Mr. Wilmot, the great 

 grower for Covent Garden market, do.; 

 Mr. Thompson, do., Great Ealing; Mr. 

 Breffitt, of Barnes ; Mr. Stone, Deptford ; 

 Mr. Geo. Dodds, gardener to Sir Geo. 

 Warrender ; Eoyal Gardens, Trogmore, 

 under the superintendence of Mr. Ingram ; 

 Mr. Gibson, gardener to the queen dowa- 

 ger, Bushy Park; Mr. Mallison, gardener 

 to the king of the Belgians, Claremont ; 

 and a great many other places of the first 

 note, in the vicinity of the great metropolis. 



Although I saw some excellent crops of 

 early grapes in pots, yet none could com- 

 fare with the Gunnersburg Park crop of 

 grapes. 



If you should deem the following remarks 

 worthy of perusal, you are at liberty to pub- 

 lish them. By observing the annexed rou- 

 tine, the cultivator will be amply rewarded 

 by the generous vine. . 



Raising the Plants. — Choose the most 

 prominent eyes ; be careful that the wood 

 is well ripened ; cut them into eyes of 

 about one and a half inch in length; insert 

 them singly in pots four inches in diameter, 

 and plunge them into a hot-bed. When 

 the pot is full of roots, shift them into the 

 fruiting pots ; these should be from sixteen 

 to eighteen inches diameter, or boxes of 

 the same dimensions. Care must be taken 

 to keep them as near the glass as circum- 

 stances will admit of. Train them up till 

 they reach the height of three feet, then 

 top them where the terminal bud breaks ; 

 let it grow two feet and top it again. Be 

 particular when the terminal eye is again 

 excited, not to stop it closer than within two 

 or three eyes of the former place. This 

 will now give a sufficient length of rod (or 

 stalk) to produce twelve or fourteen bunches 

 of fruit ; select the best, and only retain 

 six, which is much better than a greater 

 quaniiiy. If it is stopped back to one eye 

 above the former stopping, you will be 

 sure to excite the main eyes which are to 

 produce the crop of fruit, and which would 

 render the plant useless. Be careful to 

 keep them free from all laterals; and a 

 judicious management of stopping-in their 

 growth is indispensably necessary, to in- 

 sure prolific vines. Water with pure, soft 

 rain water, if obtainable ; and if well water 

 has to be used, add one ounce oi nitrate of 

 soda to three gallons of water, and let it 

 stand in the house till it attains the vinery 



