CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



black grapes, and not without advantage ; yet the 

 system of yearly renewal leaves the vine at the 

 entire command of the pruner, and procures large 

 clusters of fruit. The few remarks above offered 

 enter little into minutiae, but they elucidate general 

 principles ; and if applied practically, will, we 

 believe, lead to improvement in grape-growing. 



The fruit of the vine grows in clusters or 

 bunches, as many, perhaps, as a hundred grapes 

 in the bunch. It is not desirable that so many 

 should cluster together, for, when numerous, they 

 are apt to be very small, and to be so compact in 

 the mass that those within do not ripen. Bunches 

 with many grapes, therefore, should be thinned, 

 by clipping out those of the smallest size, which 

 will allow the others to grow to the proper dimen- 

 sions. In very many instances, grapes grown on 

 walls in gardens are spoiled by vermin, the inter- 

 stices in the bunches being often filled with spiders' 

 webs and insects of different kinds. All this is a 

 result of carelessness in not keeping the walls 

 clean, and thinning and otherwise attending to 

 the bunches. As a preventive, let the walls in 

 winter be limewashed, including all branches of 

 the vines, and take some pains to remove all 

 vermin which appear in the fruit-season. 



Forcing. Of the growing of vines in hothouses 

 or vineries, it is not our intention to speak ; but 

 for the class of persons whom we address, the 

 following suggestive account of a method for 

 forcing vines in humble edifices, given by Mr 

 M'Intosh in the Orchard, seems so suitable that 

 we take leave to offer it : 'In many parts of the 

 continent, and even, in some few instances, in 

 this country, vines are forced in very humble 

 edifices. The Dutch, Flemings, and Germans 

 use pits, often not exceeding three or four feet in 

 depth. These are sometimes heated by dung or 

 tan being placed within them, which gives out a 

 mild, humid heat, serviceable to the vine while 

 the buds are breaking ; and this, with the proper 

 husbanding of the solar heat by judicious ventila- 

 tion, is often found sufficient to produce ripe 

 grapes at an early period. Other instances occur 

 of such pits being heated by a smoke-flue, to 

 which very moderate fires are applied. But what 

 is most novel in these pits is, the vines being 

 planted outside the wood that is to produce the 

 fruit is trained under the glass within, while the 

 young wood for succeeding crops is allowed to 

 grow without, where, under a brighter sunshine 

 than we enjoy, the wood becomes perfectly 

 ripened ; and when the crop is gathered, the old 

 wood, or that which produced fruit this year, is 

 entirely cut out, and replaced with the young 

 wood hitherto growing without the pit. Vines are 

 also ripened on the continent by having glass 

 frames placed against the wall on which they 

 grow, about the time the fruit is half or three 

 parts swelled, at which period those glasses are 

 not in use which have been employed in forcing 

 early crops of melons, salads, &c. The solar heat 

 collected by this contrivance ripens the fruit well, 

 and fully matures the wood for the following 

 season.' Ground vineries, formed of small port- 

 able glazed frames, have of late years been largely 

 recommended for cottage gardens. They are 

 fully described in most trade horticultural peri- 

 odicals and trade catalogues of the day. 



The Grape Blight stands prominent among vine 

 diseases, and is due to a minute fungus (Oidium 



690 



Tuckeri}, which consists of delicate cobweb-like 

 threads, which spread over the surface of the 

 young shoots, leaves, and fruit of the vine, decom- 

 posing its juices, and interrupting development of 

 the tissues. Dusting with sulphur proves highly 

 beneficial where the plantation is sufficiently small 

 i to permit of its being well done. In hot-houses, 

 this remedy is of the greatest service, and ought to 

 be resorted to in all cases where the disease makes 

 its appearance. 



The Fig. 



The fig-tree is a delicate exotic like the grape 

 vine, and great care is required to bring crops of 

 the fruit to maturity in the open air. There are 

 many kinds of the fig-tree, but the greater number 

 are adapted to culture under glass only. 



In this country, the nomenclature of figs is very 

 unsatisfactory ; but the following list embraces 

 | most of those known in cultivation. The kinds 

 best adapted for forcing are marked with an 

 asterisk, the others being suitable for the open 

 wall in warm sheltered situations. 



*Black Ischia. 



Brown Ischia. 



White Ischia. 



Black Genoa. 



Brunswick or Madonna. 

 Castle Kennedy. 



Pregussata. 

 *Lee's Perpetual, or Brown 



Turkey. 

 * Early White. 

 Early Violet. 

 Marseilles or Figue blanche. 



The best soil for fig-trees is a light fresh loam ; 

 but the chief essential to promote fertility is a 

 hard and dry bottom of chalk, gravel, or artifi- 

 cial pavement ; a dry substratum, and little depth 

 of soil that is, from one foot to eighteen inches 

 are therefore what the gardener must pro- 

 vide, if he expects to render the trees permanently 

 fruitful. 



As to culture and training, both are extremely 

 simple. Rogers says, and very justly, 'that the 

 knife is seldom wanted ' [that is, in shortening ; 

 though, from the extreme luxuriance of the wood, 

 it is frequently necessary to cut out many entire 

 shoots] ; ' pinching off the points of the young 

 shoots during the months of May and June with 

 the thumb' and finger is the most effectual 

 pruning.' Mr Knight restricted himself to com- 

 pressing the points of the green shoots till the 

 substance was felt to yield under the finger and 

 thumb, by which pressure a check is given to 

 luxuriance. 



To secure fruit in due season, the pruner must 

 recollect that in Italy and the south of Europe two 

 crops of figs are produced yearly. Those large 

 figs which are seen on fruitful trees here late in 

 summer, are developed in spring, and would ripen 

 early in a warm climate ; but our winters check 

 their progress, and generally destroy them. The 

 crop which ripens in August is developed late in 

 the preceding summer, and is extremely minute, 

 almost invisible, in September ; these figs are 

 situated near the terminations of those green 

 shoots which have been pinched or compressed ; 

 therefore, the large green figs should be displaced 

 by mid-August, and then it will frequently be seen 

 that two minute fruits form in lieu of the one ; and 

 these, if the tree be protected, will ripen at the 

 season mentioned. As to protection, it will be 

 proper to unnail and bend down the upper shoots, 

 so as to bring them into moderate compass, then 

 to pass a few straw bands among and across them, 

 and finally to cover the whole with a mat 

 canvas sheet. 



