GRAPE VINES LEAVES SCORCHING. 305 



Mrs. Pince require special attention to secure compact bunches. Madresfield Court 

 should have nearly all the berries removed from the centre of the bunch, as they have 

 not room to develop there, and are difficult to detect should cracking take place. The 

 berries, being long and tapering, do not require such severe thinning as the large round- 

 berried varieties. Vinous grapes are generally large. Gros Colman ought to have the 

 berries thinned to 1 J inch apart ; Gros Maroc to about an inch at the point of the 

 bunch, but more sparingly at the top, as the footstalks are longer there. Alicante and 

 Lady Downe's have short footstalks, which do not lengthen out, and the berries ought 

 to be thinned to about 1 inch apart. West's St. Peter's should be left a little closer, 

 also Gros Guillaume and Trebbiano. when the bunches are large. Bunches intended 

 for late keeping should be more freely thinned (leaving few berries in the centre) than 

 those for early use. 



After all the bunches have been thinned they will require looking over again to give 

 more room to the berries if needed, and to cut out any small ones which have escaped 

 observation at the first, as these, if left, spoil the appearance of otherwise handsome 

 clusters, because the berries are not even-sized. Some growers loop up the shoulders 

 with S-shaped pieces of thin galvanised wire ; others prop them up with bits of lath 

 notched at each end, supplied when they are retained by the weight of the berries. We 

 have said that late grapes intended to be kept as long as possible ought to be thinned the 

 most freely, but no bunch should ever be so loose that, when cut and laid on its side, the 

 berries roll out of their places. 



Scorching. Cultivators may have noticed a beautiful dew on grapes, also sometimes 

 on the edges of the leaves, on a fine morning. This is a good sign, showing that the 

 night temperature has not been too high, and that the vines have been invigorated and 

 refreshed ready for the work they accomplish under the influence of light. There is no 

 harm whatever in the dew, but its evaporation is often attended with damage. The 

 foliage and fruit, being cooled throughout by the comparatively low night temperature, 

 does not get warmed nearly so quickly as the close, moisture- laden atmosphere does by 

 the great and sudden increase of heat from the sun, and the result is scorched leaves. Air 

 is the preventive of scorching, and if admitted so that the moisture is steadily dissipated, 

 the sun will not injure vines. When ventilation is neglected till there has been a great 

 rise of temperature, air must not be admitted in a large volume, or the outrush of the 

 heated and the inrush of cold air will dry the atmosphere and produce a chill, thus 

 crippling the foliage, stagnating its tissues, and causing warts, whilst the berries may 



VOL. II. B B 



