APRIL 22, 1862. " 385 



F 



while a Second Pbize ^vas awarded to Messrs. Ivery. The Bess 

 Pool exhibited by Mr. Hall, is the same apple he has submitted 

 to the Committee on several other occasions, aud 'NN'hich at one of 

 the meetings was shown as Fordhook Bellefleur. 



In Class 0, there were no exhibitors. 



In Class D, Mr, Turner, of Slough, exhibited three heads of 



the FrogiROie Protecting* Broccoli, to which the Prize was 



awarded; but the Committee desired it to be recorded that the 

 award was made solely on account of this being the only exhibi- 

 tion, and not because of the merit of the subjects exhibited^ the 

 heads being *' leafy and frothy." 



Mr, Thomson, gardener to His Grace the Dtjke of Buccleuch, 

 Dalkeith Park, sent a very fine bunch of Lady Downe's Grape, 

 the berries on which were large, plump, and quite fresh, the 

 flavour rich and very fine, with the following communication : 



The GrAKDEFS, Dalkeith Pakk, 

 Ap7-ill9th, 1862- 

 Deak Stk, 



I hare just eut from the vine, and sent off for the inspection of your 

 Fruit Committee on Tuesday, a bunch of Lady Downe's Seedling Grape. You 

 ■will oLserre from the young shoot on the piece of lateral the bunch is attached 

 to that the vine from which it was cut was coming into leaf. 



I set the vine from which this bunch was cut apart to experiment upon, and 

 it has enabled me to make the following observations, some of which may be 



interesting to your Committee. 



I found that as soon as the buds on the vine began to swell, so did many of 

 the berries in the bunches that were previously beginning to shrivel a little; 

 but those that were much shrivelled did not swell in the least. Those berries, 

 however, that did receive the sap began to burst their skins, and drop sap 

 slightly tinged with the colouring matter of the berry as compared with sap 

 direct from the wood. I found I could stop this swelling and cracking of 

 the berries by making two incisions with the knife, right and left, in the 

 lateral the bunch hung on ; these incisions drew off the sap that was being 

 forced into the berries of the bunch. 



The sap from the berry, as well as a slight tinge of colour, had a slight 



flavour of the grape. 



I begun cutting grapes in the house from which I send the bunch on the 

 12th August, and hope to cut from it in May, The sorts cut in August were 

 Hamburgs ; they lasted in cut till Christmas ; then West's St* Peters and 

 Calabrian Raisin (the latter a grape that when better known will be more 

 appreciated). In the latter end of January we had still 200 bunches of Lady 

 Downe's hanging. In February I cut a great many bunches off the Lady 

 Downe's. I left the bunches attached to the branches that bore them, sharp- 

 ened the points of the branches where they had been detached from the 

 parent stem, and ran them a couple of inches into mangold wurzel roots. 

 These I laid on the shelf of the fruit room, and allowed the grapes to hang 

 over the shelf aud cut them aa required. In this way they kept perfectly 

 plump in berry till the last bunch was consumed this month. 



Believe me, yours truly, 



To KoBT. Hogg, E^q., LL.D. W. Thomsok. 



