328 VILLA GARDENING PART IV 



sunny weather tends to help everything on marvellously. If the 

 syringe is used the heat enclosed in the house by early closing must 

 be strong enough to dry the foliage before darkness sets in, for if 

 damp remains on the leaves all night the green tissues will decay, 

 and the organs which are situated there will not be able to 

 perform their allotted work. I may say, also, that early opening 

 is as important as early closing. As soon as the sun strikes on the 

 house in the morning with any force, so as to cause a vapour inside, 

 the ventilators should be opened a little to let the vapour escape, 

 to be replaced with sweet, fresh, wholesome air. This is very 

 important, for a damp stagnant atmosphere is a precursor to most 

 of the evils which can be traced to faulty internal management. 

 A little chink of air early in the morning, say by six o'clock, or if 

 a little ventilation can be given low down, close to the ground line, 

 on the southern side of the house last thing at night, the roof 

 ventilators need not be ()i)cned quite so early in the morning. 

 When a house containing vines is shut up till eight o'clock in the 

 morning in spring or summer-time something must go wrong. Of 

 course the best built house is not air-tight, but modern houses are less 

 exposed and less influenced by external changes than old-fashioned 

 houses were years ago. The details of vine culture are the same 

 under all conditions and circumstances. The stopping, tying, 

 thinning, watering, etc., are the same if the vine is growing in a 

 structure with turf walls as if the very latest improvements were 

 adopted. The person who brings his intelligence to bear upon all 

 he does will not long be bound down altogether by cut-and-dry 

 rules. Promptitude in everything is of the very first importance. 

 If the young vine shoots are allowed to ramble on with tlieir ten- 

 drils clinging to everything until they become a perfect thicket, the 

 amount of green which will have to be cut away will represent the 

 wasted effort, which, if the stopping had been done earlier, would 

 have been used up in a profitable manner. So it is with the 

 watering and the use of stimulants — act generously, and promptly 

 meet the need as it arises. If the border is well drained in the 

 season of active growth there will be no danger of overdoing it in 

 the matter of watering. 



Vines in Pots. — This is an interesting way of growing Grapes ; 

 not only do they bear well in small pots, comparatively speaking, 

 but when ripe the plants can be moved, and used in any system of 

 room or table decoration if desired. If the vines are raised at 

 home there must be a light position near the glass to place them 

 whilst making and maturing their growth. If the requisite con- 

 ditions as to light and warmth are present, and the cultural 

 attention is right, there shoidd be no difiicuity in growing the 



