VEGETABLE AND FRUIT MARKETS. 369 



I think in such case we should eat them with a far inferior 

 relish. 



Grapes of the very finest description are produced in England, 

 but wholly, as I have already remarked, by artificial culture. 

 This, of course, places them beyond the reach of the great mass 

 of the people ; but they are always found on the tables of the 

 wealthy and noble. In the stalls of Covent Garden Market, they 

 present themselves in such a rich and luscious display, as to 

 tempt a visitor to break at least one of the commandments j and, 

 if it were not for the plate glass, which protects them, it might 

 be, another also. This interposition is certainly humane, as a 

 violation of the latter commandment referred to, under the lynx- 

 eyed system of espionage necessarily practised here, might place 

 one in an awkward position. The violation of the command 

 ment of not coveting what we cannot possess, must be settled in 

 another court. I can only hope that human weakness will be 

 considered ; for, in passing from one part of London to the other, 

 and among the shops crowded with the splendid productions of 

 nature, refined and embellished by the highest art and skill, with 

 all the means of sensual gratification, with every thing to min 

 ister to luxurious indulgence, to feed the animal appetite, and 

 the often more hungry intellect, and to delight and gratify the 

 fastidious and cultivated taste, it requires a most rigid self-control, 

 so far as our desires are concerned, to keep the peace, from day 

 to day, with one s own conscience. 



One of the best gardeners in England has given me some 

 instructions on the management of grapes, which some of my 

 readers may be glad to receive : 



&quot; With regard to the best way to manage the vine, when 

 fruiting, I invariably stop the shoot one eye above the bunch ; 

 and it is the practice of the best gardeners in England. I gen 

 erally leave one shoot not stopped without fruit, and to fruit next 

 season, and cut the shoots out that have borne fruit this year. 

 On the short-spur system, every shoot is stopped an eye above 

 the bunch, except the top one, and then it must be managed like 

 the rest ; all the lateral shoots must be stopped one eye above 

 another, until they cease growing, as, the more leaves you get, the 

 fruit will swell larger.&quot; 



I should add more on the cultivation of this delicious fruit, 

 but I know it is very well understood in the United States, 



