88 THE BOOK OF THE GRAPE 



purple and amber-coloured grapes depending among and 

 below the handsome- dark-green leaves of irregular and 

 prettily serrated outline contrast most effectively with 

 the surrounding objects. Being provided with a few 

 well-grown vines for fruiting in twelve-inch pots when 

 the vines are introduced to the forcing-house that is, 

 a vinery started in the ordinary way as regards heat and 

 moisture place a seven-inch pot over the rod, or rods, 

 as the case may be. Should the holes in the bottoms 

 of the pots be too small for slipping over the canes, the 

 difficulty may easily be got over by enlarging them. 

 This done, place a few small pieces of potsherds in the 

 bottom round the rod ; make a few slight incisions in the 

 stem of the vine in an upward direction, fill the pot 

 with mould, and into this insert a deal stake, tapering in 

 an upward direction, and painted green, through which 

 a few short lengths of strong wire have been previously 

 run at right angles with each other to train the branches 

 of the vine. Press the soil firmly round the stake, 

 which should be quite upright. The small pot will get 

 full of roots by the time that the grapes are ripe, when 

 the young plant should be detached from the parent 

 plant, and removed from the large pot. It is then avail- 

 able for placing in a suitable vase on the dinner table. 

 Sometimes an arch is formed by two fruiting pot vines, 

 which, when stood on a side-table in the dining-room, 

 and secured in position by ties of small string fastened 

 to the wainscot or the wall, has a good effect. In such 

 a position, and secured in the manner indicated, I have 

 frequently used both descriptions of decorative vines. 

 The Black Hamburg, Buckland Sweetwater and Madres- 

 field Court are suitable varieties for decorative work, and 

 the same may be said of Gros Maroc, Black Alicante, 

 Appley Towers and Diamond Jubilee. 



