3 l8 THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



had Lady Downe's grapes plump and full-flavoured on June 7th, when the vines from 

 which they were cut in January were having the current year's crop thinned. 



Bottling Grapes. Although grapes may be kept in a cupboard, a spare dark room, 

 or one end of the fruit room partitioned off, a proper grape room is desirable where large 

 quantities are required to be kept in good condition to a late period. It should have a 

 cool aspect, a dry site, hollow walls, a double roof, double doors, one or more windows, 

 with woollen blinds and shutters, an opening at the apex for ventilation, hot-water 

 pipes to heat it, and be lined with boards tongued together, a space being left between 



Fig. 99. GRAPE KOOM (left-hand figure) (Section through W\, Ground Plan, Vol. I., page 71) (Scale : inch= 1 foot). 

 PART SECTION OF GRAPE ROOM (right-hand figure) (Scale: |inch=l foot). 



References: Left-hand figure : w, 4-inch hoc- water pipes ; x, racks against board-lined wall ; ?/, upright let into 

 the floor and secured to the purlins ; z, roof ventilator, with shutter. Right-hand figure : a, grapes bottled without 

 wood above the bunch; 6, with woo,d ; c, distance between the rack-stands when bottled without wood above the 

 fruit ; d, greater projection of grapes when the bottle- rest is fixed level with the under side of the rail ; e, desirable 

 portion of wood to leave above the fruit ; /, uprights ; g, rails ; h, bottle-rest bars ; i, scallops ; j, hole for bottle ; 

 k, 4-inch hot-water pipes. 



the board lining and the wall. The floor may be boarded and raised two steps above 

 the ground level, but a cement or tile floor is preferable for excluding predatory pests. 

 Its construction corresponds with the fruit room, Vol. I., page 204, racks taking the 

 place of shelves. 



The side uprights (x) should be 3 inches by 2J inches, fixed narrow face outwards, 

 3 feet apart ; on the face affix rails, 2 inches by H inch, with scallops cut out on the 

 inside narrow side 1 inch deep, 9 inches apart, to suit the bottles, the first rail 1 foot 

 from the floor, and the other not less than 15 inches apart. Between the uprights, and 

 1 inch below the under side of the rails, fix a bottle-rest bar, 3 inches by 2| inches, 



