CANNON HALL MUSCAT GEAPE. 27 



the leaves ; the bunches are large, and at the end formed like 

 the flower of a cock's-comb, with a stem nearly as thick as the 

 branch from which they grow, and the flowers are so thickly 

 set on them that they have not room to expand. With a pair 

 of sharp-pointed scissors we cut off all the little clusters of 

 flowers in the inside of the bunch, and thin the others as soon as 

 they separate from one another, which is generally three or four 

 days before they open, taking care to make them thin enough ; 

 in doing this the bunch should never be touched by the hand, 

 and a little practice will convince any one it is unnecessary. 



As soon as the Grapes are fairly set they should be well 

 thinned out, and a steady moist atmosphere kept up in the house 

 until they are ripe. They should never be syringed, as water 

 thrown upon the berries makes them turn black upon the sides 

 and fall off, and this will also be the case with them if the bor- 

 ders at any time get too wet, more especially during the time 

 the fruit is stoning. 



Last year I selected three good plants of Cannon Hall Mus- 

 cat, and plunged them in three different pits in which we grow 

 melons ; one of tlie pits was filled with tan, the second with good 

 oak leaves, and the third with half rotten leaves, which had been 

 previously used in a pine pit. Tliese pits are heated by two hot- 

 water pipes, which run along the front, and the air from tlie out- 

 side can be made pass over them ; the atmosphere in the pits 

 was kept as nearly as possible the same, but the bottom heat 

 was very different. The tan soon heated to between 80 and 90 

 degrees ; the fresh leaves never got above 80 degrees ; and the 

 rotten leaves had scarcely any heat in them at all ; they might be 

 said to be neither hot nor cold until the vine began to grow, and 

 the heat in the pits increased, when a little heat could be perceived 

 in them about the time the vines were in blossom. All the 

 plants grew vigorously, and one bunch was left on each plant. 

 They were treated as I have already stated as to thinning and 

 temperature, and I do not think there was one blossom which 

 did not set, and when they ripened there was not one bad berry 

 upon one of them. Those which had most bottom heat ripened 

 the first, but the last were the finest fruit ; if, therefoi'e, the 

 border of a vinery can be heated a little, and that heat increased 

 as the vines advance in their growth, success will be sure. And 

 does not this account for the eminent success of Mr. Murray, of 

 Polmaise ? His vines are planted in the inside of the house ; 

 and as the temperature of the house is increased, so must that of 

 the soil, from the air being necessarily hotter which passes 

 through the drains to the furnace, and on its way giving out 

 heat to tlie border. In such a house the Cannon Hall Muscat 

 may be as easily grown as the Black Hamburgh in ordinary 

 vineries. 



