THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 333 



but tlie Alicante, Lady Downes, Gros Colman, and the Calabrian 

 Raisin will remain perfectly sound until March, or even April. One 

 of the chief points in keeping ripe p;rapes during the winter is to 

 maintain a dry atmosphere about them, and this is quite impossible 

 in a greenhouse, or a vinery filled with plants ; for the latter will 

 require supplies of water at intervals, and the dampness arising from 

 them will so charge the atmosphere with humidity, as to render it a 

 work of extreme difficulty to prevent the decay of the grapes. The 

 advantage of removing the grapes from the vines is immense, for it 

 sets the houses at liberty to be filled with bedding and other plants, 

 and it renders it possible to prune and dress the vines when there is 

 very little work going on outside, which to my mind are two very im- 

 portant considerations. 



Nothing could be more simple than keeping the grapes perfectly 

 plump and fresh after their removal from the vines, and I will at once 

 briefly explain it. Procure as many soda-water, lemonade, or similar 

 bottles as there are bunches of grapes, fasten a piece of wire or string 

 round the neck of each, by which to suspend it to the shelves of the 

 store-room, and then put in each a dessert-spoonful of crushed char- 

 coal ; fill with perfectly clean water, and hang them up in the store or 

 fruit room. Any room that is dry, and not likely to be influenced 

 much by the weather outside, will do. Cat each branch about nine 

 inches below the point where the bunch is joined to it, and at once 

 insert the end of the branch in the bottle, so that the bunch will hang 

 down in its usual manner. 



Wo part of the branch above the bunch must be removed, for it is 

 found that when they are cut across beyond the bunches the berries 

 soon shrivel; they also shrivel if the branch is separated from the 

 vine half-an-hour or so before its insertion in the water. The bunches 

 should be examined occasionally, for the purpose of removing any 

 berries showing signs of decay, to prevent their contaminating 

 others. But as a rule, they should be sent to table before there are 

 many decaying berries that require removal. 



This plan of keeping grapes has been in operation six or seven 

 years, and in no one season has there been anything approaching a 

 failure. Amateurs, therefore, who have grapes still hanging in their 

 greenhouses may at once cut, and put them in bottles as above 

 advised, without any anxiety whatever. It was at first feared that 

 there would be a deterioration in flavour through the insertion of 

 the ends of the branches in water ; but several years' experience has 

 shown that there is no real danger to be apprehended on that score. 



"' ' Crinum Moorei has flowered finely at Glasnevin tliis season, and^justifies Dr. 

 Hooker's figure and eulogistic description of it iu the Botanical Magazine. It is a 

 grand hardy lierbaceous plant, and, in common with others of this interesting genus, 

 is a thirsty soul. 



The Century Plant- — The variegated form of Agave amerieana has lately 

 flowered in tlie grounds of Windmill Ludge, Bishop's Stortford, and attracted a con- 

 siderable amount of attention. In this ca?e the history of the plant was certainly 

 over ninety years, but how much over no one could say. 



November. 



