3i 6 THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



of the vines at their different stages, the fermenting bed and the free moistening of 

 surfaces as they become dry securing a genial atmosphere. The general management 

 of vines in pots is precisely the same as those planted out in vineries. 



Vines in Small Pots for Table Decoration. Attractive vines, with one or two ripe 

 bunches of grapes, may be secured by layering welt-ripened canes in 6-inch pots, filled 

 with soil and placed on a shelf, similar to those shown in Fig. 17, B, o, p, Vol. I., page 

 103, training the shoots upright, stopping them at one joint beyond the fruit, pinching 

 the laterals to one leaf above or level with the fruit, removing those from the joints 

 below, but retaining the main leaves. Keep the soil moist, give water copiously as 

 growth advances, and when the grapes are ripe cut the cane through by degrees inside 

 the rim of the pot, and trim the laterals back, leaving the amount of foliage only that is 

 considered desirable. Larger vines may be had by layering a ripe cane into an 8-inch 

 pot, leaving three or more good buds to produce bearing shoots, as shown in Fig. 17, 

 C, Vol. I., page 103. 



Another plan is to fix 6 or 8 inch pots on iron standards, with rings at the top suit- 

 able for supporting the pots where convenient for taking a ripened cane to the extent 

 required, through the pot, and then filling it to within \ inch of the rim with turfy loam 

 pressed rather firmly and kept moist. As the growth advances water must be supplied 

 copiously. The growths may also be secured to an umbrella-shaped wire trellis fixed in 

 the pot. Thus vines may be had in 6-inch pots, with one or two bunches of ripe 

 grapes, or in 8-inch pots with more growth and fruit. All the buds not wanted to grow 

 are rubbed off, and the cane detached by degrees close to the bottom of the pot when 

 the fruit is thoroughly ripe. Surfaced with Selaginella denticulata to grow and droop 

 over the rim of the pot, such miniature vines, with ripe fruit, are effective for table 

 decoration. 



KEEPING GRAPES. 



Jet-black, thin-skinned grapes turn more or less red when allowed to hang on the 

 vines a few weeks under strong light or powerful sun. Mill Hill Hamburgh, Black 

 Hamburgh, and Madresfield Court lose colour the most and the soonest. Colour also 

 departs rapidly where the foliage is thin ; least beneath a good spread of leaves, and on 

 the north side of a span-roofed house. The time that grapes lose colour most is during 

 the summer and early autumn. We have found a double thickness of herring or a 

 single pilchard net, drawn over the roof beneath which ripe grapes were hanging, to 



