January 15, 1867. ] 



JOURNAL OP HOETICULTUKK AND COTTAGR GAUDENEB. 



49 



the least unless the day was very sunny ; and we were not sur- 

 prised when, a week or two afterwards. Cousin Walter came 

 running in, sajiug, "The Vinos had the red spider; all the 

 high-up leaves were all but coloured with them." What was 

 to be done ? We dare not syringe for fear of the bloom, which 

 was just opening. 



" Sweep them off with a little brush," said Janet. 

 " You could almost as soon empty the sea with a bucket," 

 said Cousin Walter. 



So there was nothing for it but letting the two grow together 

 for a time. When the berries were once fairly set we could keep 

 down the insects witli syringing ; but the red spider turned out 

 to;be only brickdust, to our great joy and Cousin Walter's an- 

 noyance. 



During May the bloom opened, but the berries set slowly ; 

 they seemed to have a predisposition to twirl and twine them- 

 selves up, and we had our fears lest they should run right off 

 into tendrils, as they had done the year before. Again we hung 

 np our little weighted bags on the bunches and tried to keep 

 them down, but to our great disappointment much of the 

 bloom dropped off, leaving only a bare twisted stem. 



After all our fretting and worry we had a great deal more 

 fruit, every one said, than we onglit to have had the first year. 

 The berries when once set enlarged rapidly, every week there 

 was even measurable difference in the breadth and length of 

 the bunches. There was no looking back now, they pushed on 

 as if vieiiig to outdo each other — went at the rate tired horses 

 go when their faces are set homewards. The number of 

 bunches had to be lessened ; on several of the Vines they were 

 growing too near each other. Cousin Herbert said " he would 

 thin them." I am sure his heart ached the while. It seemed 

 a cruel thing to cut away the very good we bad waited for so 

 long. 



After this there came the time of thinning out the berries. 

 A pair of scissors was bought for the purpose. Cousin Herbert 

 commenced, but soon gave up, saying " the operation was too 

 delicate for his thick fingers." Papa said, " he would send 

 George over to do it for us." Kate and I declared " the berries 

 should go unthiuued first, wo would not have him ! one pro- 

 fessional was enough to work under." Then Cousin Walter 

 would try, but he cut away right and left, without ever thiak- 

 ing or looking what he was doing; taking off whole shoulders 

 at one snip, or a nice cluster of berries that had ample space 

 to enlarge in. It was too much trouble to pick out the poor, 

 little, thin, crowded berries clustering away out of sight behind 

 the big ones; "Besides," he said, "it was not fair play, let 

 the dwarfs have a chance of becoming giants." Then Aunt 

 Margaret would try, but she pricked, and bruised, and cut them 

 in all manner of ways. The " syrup" Janet called it, but it 

 was more akin to vinegar, dropped upon her peach-coloured 

 dress and stained it. " I cannot think how it is Kate, dear," 

 she said, " but I am always cutting the berries instead of the 

 stalks." Then Uncle Tetley would try, and he chose a sunny 

 day for the performance, and very sunny it was, the glass 

 standing up at 80°, though every breath of air was let in that 

 could be — doors, and windows, and ventilators wide open. Poor 

 Uncle Tetley did not do much — ten minutes and he was done 

 for, and more than half the time he spent rubbing the per- 

 spiration from his red face with his white handkerchief; he 

 puffed, and sighed, and finally threvr down the scissors, and 

 rushed out into the cooler fresher air, exclaiming, " Every man 

 to his trade, I would rather pay a gardener £5 a-week than do 

 that. It's murder complete ! I believe, Margaret " (for, of 

 course. Aunt Margaret was all sympathy), "I am so melted I 

 shall never stiffen again." 



Then Kate and I did what we could in some fashion or other. 

 We tried to do it in white kid gloves, for Janet said every berry 

 we touched would be injured, but our hands became hot, and 

 the gloves so stuck to them we could not move our fingers, so 

 were obliged to tear them off. It was neck-breaking work and 

 very hot, though we chose the coolest time of the day, and 

 did not do much at one time. " I am not sure, Maud," said 

 Kate, " which is best or worst, these vapour-baths at sunny 

 midsummer, or lonely vigils iu cold, and dark, and dust in 

 midwinter." 



All went on well for a few weeks, then the Vines, or rather 

 the berries, seemed stopped in their progress, as though they 

 had received a sudden check, or something or other which had 

 frozeu-up their energies, not that they appeared to be ailing or 

 growing bad, they were simply standing still. It might be 

 they were resting after their long hard work. The rest was 

 long enough to awaken oiu- fears. We had heard of Grapes all 



at once ceasing to grow and never ripening. Surely such a fat^ 

 was not coming to ours '? There was nothing for it ; we must 

 read-up again our old books, and find out the best thing to do 

 under the circumstances. At last we decided that a syringe 

 in warm water every afternoon when shutting-up was the best 

 remedy. Perhaps we followed this too closely, for it brought 

 on what George called a fatal disease. Many of the berries 

 were covered over with small specks of brown. These specks 

 spoiled the smooth uniform greenness of the berries, even if they 

 did not lead to anything worse. George called it the mildew 

 or mould, and said it had come with the " absurd practice of 

 syringing late in the day. I tell you what, Miss, they never 

 will be good for anything, and Mr. Herbert may cut them all 

 off at once and carry them away. If ho do not, the canes 

 will be infected." 



" Whatever it is, I am sure it is not mildew," said Kate, 

 when I told her what George said. " There is no mould or 

 fungus about it. Why, Herbert can take it off with his pen- 

 knife, and there is no mark left on the berry underneath." 



" Then you do not think I need fetch up the wheelbarrow 

 yet," said Cousin Herbert. 



"Not for the mildew," said Kate. " I am afraid we are 

 going to have something worse. Several of the bunches on 

 Lady Downe's are shanking." 



" Shanking ! Dear me, how learned we are !" I said. " Pray 

 what does that mean?" 



" Why, the stem or shank dries up so that it will not feed 

 the berry, and then the berry becomes wrinkled, gets less 

 instead of bigger, and never ripens." 



Here was a real grievance we all went in to see, for Lady 

 Downe's was a general favourite. Four of the bunches had an 

 old, dried-up, shrivelled look, it was very possible all the others 

 might becorne so. What should be done ? 



" I think, Kate, we had best cut them off at once, they are 

 not at all respectable-looking," said Cousin Herbert. 



" No, wait a bit," said Uncle Tetley, " they may improve. 

 In my opinion they are only scorched by the sun, they look as 

 if they were pinched of water." 



" They seem to be always ailing," said Janet, you cannot be 

 managing them right." 



After this there was nothing for it, we must send tor our- 

 Vine doctor, we could not rest without. Janet said he would 

 laugh at us and Cousin Walter, that we were " very silly, for 

 it might turn out to be nothing after all." 



" Well, I dare say we can get over both these troubles," said 

 Kate, "better than losing our fruit." 



So he came, and very gravely looking round exclaimed, 

 " What is the matter you should send for me all this long 

 way •? You will drive me mad yet. I see nothing amiss with 

 them." 



Then we pointed out the shanking and the brown spots. 

 " Why, the fact is just here, you girls want to do things 

 better than other peojjle. Did you ever know any one rear 

 chickens without losing at least fifteen per cent., and I assure 

 you few people can grow Grapes without some going wrong. 

 Every flower that opens will not set into a berry, the Queen's 

 own gardener could not make it ; and every berry that sets 

 will not grow to its full size ; and every full-sized berry will 

 not always ripen equally to the same depth of blackness. As 

 for Lady Downe's, she is rather given to shanking, and then, 

 perhaps, we have let her have rather too much to do. She is 

 a fast worker, and yet that is no reason why she should be put 

 upon. You see she has twelve to fifteen good sound bunches 

 left." 



" Shall we cut off these unsightly ones and so relieve her?' 

 said Cousin Herbert. 



" Well, no. I am not sure it would. Y'ou see the Vine has 

 got over the pull and the strain, and is now ready for the down- 

 hill work, and yet they do not look well." 



"But, then," said Aunt Margaret, " what is this on the 

 berries ? My brother's gardener thinks it is the mildew, and 

 that it will destroy all the fruit both for this ye<«' and next." 



"Nonsense, it is no such thing; it is caused by syringing 

 with water that has stood in an iron cistern. It is rust from 

 the water settling on the berry ; aud, indeed, you must not 

 syringe any more, for these berries are coming to their full 

 size fast, and will soon be "showing colour. You must be very 

 careful for the next two montlis ; water your plants as little as 

 possible, aud then early in the morning; keep a warm, dry, 

 airy house ; if it rain or be windy do not open, but when the 

 sun shines open freely as much as you can ; if a cloud go 

 over and it is cold, close all up again." 



