322 THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



The temperature of the grape-room should be kept equable, aiming at 40 to 45, 

 The best safeguard against damp is to have a little warmth in the pipes, and a 

 circulation of air in mild weather after a severe period; but avoid a very dry 

 atmosphere, which will cause the grapes to shrivel. It is unnecessary to close up the 

 space in the neck of the bottles, for the little moisture arising from the water is 

 not inimical to the keeping of the fruit. Great care, however, must be exercised in 

 filling up the bottles not to spill any water on the fruit, or decay is sure to follow. 

 The bunches should be examined once a week, and any berries that have the smallest 

 speck of decay be promptly removed. 



Grapes Cracking. The cracking or splitting of the berries is most prevalent when 

 the skins are thin and the foliage scanty. The best preventives are : 1, adequate water 

 at the roots until the grapes are well advanced in ripening ; 2, a good spread of foliage 

 as stout in texture as possible ; 3, a genial condition of the atmosphere so as to ensure 

 the steady and regular swelling of the berries ; 4, enough warmth in the pipes to ensure 

 a circulation of air in dull periods ; 5, free ventilation by front and top sashes, leaving 

 sufficient at night to prevent moisture being deposited on the berries, and increase it 

 early in the day ; 6, if the roots are outside prevent the soil becoming saturated by 

 placing lights or shutters over the border so as to throw off rain; 7, water inside 

 borders in the early part of fine days, admit air freely so as to dissipate the surplus 

 moisture, and mulch with short dry material after the last watering ; 8, above all things 

 avoid a close moist atmosphere when the grapes are ripening, or the fruit will split 

 through endosmotic action (see page 25, Vol. I.). 



KENOVATING VINES AND VINE BORDERS. 



Unsatisfactory and apparently worn-out vines may often be renewed in vigour by the 

 removal of effete soil and the supply of fresh compost. This is the only sure remedy 

 for those ills which result from torpid roots, and the consequent inadequate supply of 

 proper food. Dread of a year's loss of grapes often deters many persons from adopt- 

 ing the means essential to a better supply. There is just reason to apprehend such loss 

 where the roots are in bad condition. To lift vines with a few strong fibreless trunk- 

 roots extending across a border and thus cut away all the fibry portions at their ends, 

 wherever they may be, is simply courting disaster. Instead of lifting such vines, the 

 better practice is to clear away as much of the top-soil about the collars as possible 

 early in the autumn, laying the roots bare and notching them, then supplying fresh 



