VINES. 



VINES. 



requires artificial heat to ripen, but is one 

 of the richest grapes in cultivation. West's 

 St. Peter and the Cannon Mill grape are 

 both favourites for house-culture. 



Ripening Grapes out of Doors. Many 

 expedients have been tried to expedite the 

 ripening of the grape on open walls. The 

 bunches have been put in empty flasks, 

 run on tiles of the house roof, and trained 

 on sloping walls ; they ripen earlier in the 

 flask, but acquire an insipid flavour ; and 

 sloping walls, while they catch more of the 

 sun's rays, catch also all heavy rains. 

 Nettings of muslin, sufficiently fine to keep 

 out wasps and other insects in the ripening 

 season, without intercepting the sun's rays, 

 are, perhaps, the safest protection, unless 

 a few movable sashes can be spared to 

 cover the walls in cold and damp weather, 

 and increase the radiation of heat. 



Keeping Grapes. When grapes require 

 to be kept for some considerable time, they 

 must be shaded during bright weather. 

 If the shoots have been stopped at one or 

 two joints above the fruit, the laterals 

 should be stopped back to one joint. 



Vines, Culture of, near Paris. 



Culture at Thomery, &c. All the best 

 grapes for the Paris market are grown on 

 walls near that city, where their culture 

 becomes a speciality. The culture of the 

 Chasselas de Fontainebleau at Thomery 

 and other places in the vicinity of Paris 

 is the best example of open-air culture 

 anywhere to be found ; and this variety, 

 more generally known in England as the 

 Royal Muscadine, is also far the best for 

 culture in the open air in this country. 

 Therefore an account of the Thomery 

 system from the pen of the best grower 

 there will meet the wants of those who 

 wish to try grape-growing out of doors. 



Soil and its Management. At Thomery 

 the soil is of a sandy and clayey nature, 



and mixed with pebbles in those parts 

 which are near the river. The soil is at 

 all times easy to work. Near the Seine it 

 lacks depth so much so, indeed, that 

 before cultivation it has to be dug and 

 trenched, so as to remove some of the 

 stony subsoil. Everywhere else the layer 

 of vegetable mould measures from 4 feet 

 6 inches to 6 feet in thickness. This layer 

 lies on a reddish clay of about the same 

 thickness, and beneath the clay a broken- 

 up stratum of building stone filled with 

 fissures. This building stone is easily 

 extracted. The grapes ripen a fortnight 

 earlier in the flinty districts than in those 

 parts in which the soil is deeper and richer. 



Walls. The gardens at Thomery, taken 

 altogether, present much the appearance of 

 those of Montreuil-sur-Bois. There is 

 nothing but walls in all directions, distant 

 from each other about 40 feet, and 10 feet 

 high. This height has only obtained during 

 the last fifteen years, before which period 

 they were rarely higher than 6 or 7 

 feet. This change has been advantageous 

 for two reasons first, the grape-growers 

 have been able to increase the space re- 

 quired for their purpose by taking posses- 

 sion of a larger portion of air, instead of 

 having to bring fresh ground ; and, secondly, 

 the high walls are found to improve the 

 appearance and quality of the grape. The 

 walls are built of hard stone quarried in the 

 neighbourhood, the stones being laid with 

 mud only. The face of the wall is then 

 covered with a mortar made of lime and 

 sand, and is finally covered with the same 

 material thinned to a cream. 



Roofing of Walls and Protecting Frames. 

 Every wall is topped with a roof of pan- 

 tiles, surmounted by a row of gutter tiles. 

 These roofs project about 10 inches, and 

 below them are fixed at every yard iron 

 rods, inclined slightly downwards. These 

 supports project about 20 inches beyond 

 tfcc edge of the tiles, affording altogether 



