212 



JOUKN'AL 01'' HOllTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



t Maidi Y, 1872. 



X 



out the aid of artificial heat. As a rule, the temperature is 



nearly 48°, and this can with careful attention be maintained 



for weeks without artificial means. 



At each end of the room are arranged fruit-shelves for the 



best varieties of dessert Pears and Apples, whilst the centre of 



the room is devoted to the keeping of Grapes. AVe have here 



eight standards, 6J feet high and 2 inches sguare, into two 



sides of which are let, alternately, brackets 



IJ inch thick, and wliich, after being thus 



fixed, measure 4J by 3J. Four of these 



standai'ds are placed on each side of the 



room, leavuig a passage-way all round them. 



The bottle-receptacles are then laid on the 



brackets, so as to rest perfectly flat, and 



are made fast with one screw-nail driven 



through the under side of the bracket into 



the under side of the bottle-receptacle. A 

 light facing of wood fitted on the front of 



the standard rests upon the receptacle, and 



fits under each bracket, thus preventing 



the receptacle from rising up behind, and 

 giving the whole a neat and finished ap- 

 pearance. Each pair of standards has 

 seven lO-feet lengths of bottle-receptacles, 

 four on one side and three on the other, 

 each length holding eleven bottles, so that 

 each pair of standards cariies seventy- 

 seven bottles ; it has also an iron spike in 

 the top. There are two laths of wood 

 along the top of the standards, with holes 

 in them at the same distance as that at 

 which the standards are placed, and bound 

 together by means of an iron spike, which 

 passes through the holes. Fip. 1 shows 

 the standard. Fip. 2 shows the top of 

 the bottle-receptacle. Fig. 3 gives a full- 

 sized sectional view of the receptacle containing the bottle. 



I have tried many different mixtures for filling the bottle?, 

 but I find there is none equal to charcoal and pure rain water. 



room, the use of sealing-wax or any other material is dis- 

 pensed with, as the shoot becomes perfectly haa'd and dry, and 

 will neither take in nor give off moisture. 



I have the bottles prepared beforehand, and after cutting the 

 shoots off at the second eye beneath the bunch, if possible, I 

 carry the bunches, with all the green foliage untouched, to the 

 storing room, and place them in their respective positions. 

 This foliage should be allowed to die-off of its own accord, 

 after which it must be carefully removed. 



When I have put the first lot past I go to the vinery and 

 make another selection, to come in at the proper time. Al- 

 though this may seem a slow process to some, I am, neverthe- 

 less, perfectly satisfied in my own mind that it answers better 

 in the end. The foliage was nearly all gone from the Lady 

 Downe's when I cut them, but this autumn I intend to select 

 them in the same way as I did the Muscats. 



I think the time is not far distant when Grape-rooms will be 

 as common as our fruit-rooms, and answer the end in view 

 just as well, provided they are carefully attended to, for with- 

 out this Grapes will not keep four or five mouths. — Richaei> 

 Nisnr.T, A.iu-arhi/ Park Gardens, FaU;in<iham. 



P.S. — The Muscat Vines were started on the 7th of March,. 

 Lady Downe's on the 27th of March, 1871. The bottles are- 

 all stoppered with wadding, as mfifl. 3. 



I HAVE practised this plan for three years ; I let the Grapes: 

 hang upon the Vines as long as possible, but never late upon 

 one Vine two years consecutively. A Vine that carries fruit 

 late one year is one of the first to have its fruit cut in the- 

 following season ; thus the Vines have a rest every alternate 

 year. Of course there are cases where it is desirable to cut the 

 whole of the Grapes early, as where the house is required for- 

 plants, but this is done at the expense of flavour. If they are 

 required so late as March or April, I think Grapes should 

 not be cut sooner than the end of Januaiy, for they will not 

 keep long with the ends of the shoots in water without loss of 

 flavour. 



On February 10th, 1871, I cut the last bunches of Alicante 

 that ripened the preceding August. The ends of the shoots; 



n n n nn 



n n n n 



close to which tlic stalk of the bunch of Grapes is placed, as 

 shown in fi<j. 3. The Grapes should be cut as they ripen, and 

 not taken oti all at once irrespective of then' exact condition. 

 Ten or twelve days before I cut any bunches I went over all the 



Fig. 3. 



Vines in the Muscat house, trained on the extension system, 

 the foliage of which was at that time perfectly green and 

 healthy. From these I selected from forty to fifty ripe 

 bunches, the shoots of which I shortened to two eyes above 

 the bunch, at the same time letting remain what small laterals 

 there were attached to these eyes. By thus cutting back the 

 shoots ten or twelve days before taking the bunches to the 



were put in bottles filled with rain water, with a few pieces of 

 charcoal added ; the mouths of the bottles were then sealed- 

 up. The bottles were placed in a dry room, where the tempe- 

 rature ranged from 35° to 4.5°, the light was not excluded, and. 

 due regard was paid to ventilation. In this way the Grapes- 

 kept in fine condition until the end of April — no berries burst. 

 After April 30th the footstalks began to shrivel, and the, 

 berries to shrink a little. 1 cut the last on May 12th, and the 

 first new Grapes the same day, and though the old Grapes had 

 been ripe nine months — six on the Vine and three in bottles, 

 they were nearly as handsome as the new ones. There was an 

 evident loss of flavour the last few weeks. 



In reference to the Grapes that burst at Belton, may they 

 not have been cut too soon, while the sap of the Vine was ^ill 

 active ? It seems probable, if the shoots were put into water 

 in that state, that they would have the power to take up 

 moisture to such an extent as to burst the berries. — John Potts, 

 Tiic Gardens, Heaton Grange, Bolton. 



BEAUCAENEA EECURVATA. 



The subject of the illustration, Beaucarnea rccurvata, some- 

 times known also by the name of B. tuberculata, is at once 

 graceful and exceedingly ornamental. The genus Beaucarnea 

 is of somewhat recent introduction, and belongs to the order 

 Liliaeea;. At present there are but few sjiecies known, but 

 those with which we are acquainted are all natives of the tem- 

 perate regions of Mexico. Beaucarneas are lemarkalile for the 

 bulb-like swelling at the base, and un arborescent stem. The 

 swollen base in the species we here figure is nearly smooth, 

 but in some others it becomes rough and woody, resembling 

 somewhat the Elephant's-foot plant (Testudinaria elephantipes) 

 of the Cape of Good Hope. 



As an ornament to the conservatory, for giving a tropical 

 effect to the out-door garden during the summer, or for hall 

 decoration either in summer or winter, there are few plants to 

 excel Beaucarnea recurvata, its ample spreading head of long 



