AMPELIDE*. IV. VITIS. 



707 



the supplies of water with the advancement of the season. But 

 when the fruit has begun to change colour, and swell off for 

 ripening, the quantity of water hitherto liberally given must be 

 lessened by degrees, and towards the coming to full maturity 

 must be entirely withheld, that it may not be insipid. The 

 operation of engine cleaning must also cease : but previously be 

 particularly severe, and be careful to wash the plants well, that 

 no vestige of the red spider may be left. 



Ripening of nood.- Abercrombie says, if the fruit be not off 

 by the middle of August, the continuation of fine dry weather, or 

 the heat dependent on the natural climate, will hardly be suffi- 

 cient to ripen the wood ; and therefore, as soon as the external 

 air declines to 68, resume gentle fires morning and evening, so 

 as to keep the min. temperature to 70. Give plenty of air in 

 favourable weather, and if it continues mild after the fruit is cut, 

 take off the glass frames altogether ; but in October the glasses 

 should be put on again if the wood is not completely ripe. 

 Nicol says, if the lower parts of the shoots be not by the be- 

 ginning of August turning brownish, then it is adviseable to 

 apply a little fire heat, in order to further the growth of the 

 plants, and the perfection of the wood. Less trouble and ex- 

 pence for fuel will attend the process of ripening the shoots in 

 September than in October. When the growth of the plants is 

 over, expose the house day and night, except in rain. 



Exposure and resting of the nood. Vines which have been 

 exposed to the weather, or freely to the dry air in a state of rest, 

 when forced, after a proper interval, generally break at almost 

 every eye. But if the plants are in the pinery, the branches must 

 be withdrawn from the house after the fall of the leaf, to remain 

 outside till the proper time of again beginning to force the plants. 

 M'Phail says, "I advise that the glass frames of grape-houses be 

 suffered to remain on all the year excepting in July and August, 

 and the grape-vines in pineries should not be taken out to re- 

 main for any length of time at any season of the year. It is 

 natural for the grape-vine to produce only one crop in the year, 

 and when it is accustomed to grow in a hot-house appropriated 

 for the pine-apple, its nature is not changed, nor will it offer to 

 put forth its buds before January in hot-houses kept to a heat 

 sufficient to grow the pine-apple, when the pine plants are plunged 

 in a bed of warm tan." T. A. Knight is highly favourable to 

 putting the vine into a state of repose as early as possible in the 

 autumn preceding the season in which it is to be forced. Nicol 

 exposes the house day and night, except in rain. After the 

 autumn pruning he shuts up the house for 10 days, particularly 

 if there be any appearance of frost, admitting air freely during 

 the day. The object in this is in order that the pores may con- 

 tract and their wounds heal gradually, or otherwise they are apt 

 to bleed. 



Forcing vines in a pinery. Speechly considers that vines and 

 pines may be grown advantageously together ; but most gar- 

 deners prefer growing them separately. Abercrombie says, if 

 any gardener gets a good fine-flavoured crop of grapes in a 

 pinery, it is sufficient to confer very great credit on the manager. 

 M'Phail says, in the month of November or December cut down 

 all the old wood to about the height of the pit, leaving only two 

 young shoots, the one to bear the crop, the other to be cut 

 short, to grow long shoots to bear the fruit the succeeding year. 

 As soon as they begin to shoot, let them down from the glass 

 about a foot, so that they may receive the benefit of warm air 

 round about them ; if the stem miss shewing fruit on the fourth 

 or fifth joint they will shew none at all, and therefore these 

 ought to be cut out, as they would only take the nourishment 

 from others that have shown fruit. T. A. Knight (Hort. trans. 

 6. p. 232.) had a Verdelho vine growing in a pot in the stove 

 early in the spring of 1823, where its wood became perfectly 

 ripened in August. It was then taken from the stove and 



placed under a north-wall, where it remained till the end of 

 November, when it was replaced in the stove, and it ripened its 

 fruit early in the following spring. In May it was again trans- 

 ferred to the north wall, where it remained in a quiescent state 

 till the end of August. It then vegetated strongly and shewed 

 abundant blossoms, which, upon being transferred to the stove, 

 set freely, and the fruit having been subjected to a very high 

 temperature, ripened early in February. The plant will retain 

 its foliage till April, and will not be prepared to vegetate again 

 till late in the spring. The experiment will probably succeed 

 well with those varieties of the vine which produce blossoms 

 somewhat freely and are of hardy habits ; abundant crops of 

 these may be obtained at all times of the winter and spring, by 

 proper previous management of the plants, and by the application 

 of a higher or lower degree of temperature. 



Forcing vines by dung heat. Justice, Lawrence, and Swit- 

 zer state instances of this being done on wooden walls in their 

 time. Fletcher, a market gardener near Edinburgh, has prac- 

 tised it with great success in a glass-case, keeping constantly, 

 till the fruit is about to ripen, a heap of dung or dung and 

 weeds in a state of fermentation in the area of the house. J. 

 French, about the beginning of March, commences to force by 

 introducing a quantity of new long dung, taken from under the 

 cow-cribs, which is laid upon the floor of his house, extending 

 from end to end, leaving a path next the wall. The dung 

 being new, at the beginning a profuse steam arises, which 

 is beneficial in destroying the ova of insects, but which 

 would prove injurious if permitted to rise in so great a 

 quantity when the leaves have pushed forth. In a few days the 

 violence of the steam abates, and the buds open, and in the 

 course of a fortnight the heat begins to diminish, and then it 

 becomes necessary to carry a small addition of fresh dung, laying 

 it in the bottom and covering it over with the old. The quantity 

 of new dung to be introduced at each turning must be regulated 

 by the degree of heat in the house. The temperature kept up is 

 pretty regular, being from 65 to 70. Anderson, in hort. trans, 

 vol. ii. J. Mearns (Hort. trans. 4. p. 256.) approves greatly of 

 applying the steam and heat of dung to the forcing of grapes, 

 and uses it in the earliest part of forcing with great advantage, 

 forming a large ridge of it in the back part of his vinery, and 

 introducing the recent litter always under the old dung. Dung 

 heat is always highly noxious to insects. A method of forcing 

 vines in beds raised above dung is described in Hort. trans, 

 which does not appear to us worth trying. 



Forcing the vine in hotbed-frames and other glass-cases. 

 T. A. Knight says (Hort. trans.) I have often used with great 

 success a frame and hotbed thus formed for forcing grapes, by 

 placing the bed at 3 feet distance from the wall, to which the 

 vines are trained, and introducing their branches into the frame 

 through holes made on the north end of it, as soon as the first 

 violent heat of the bed had subsided, the vines having been 

 trained to a south wall. The White Chasselas grape thus ripens 

 in July if the branches of the vine be introduced in April ; 

 but the branches that have been forced, having been so closely 

 pruned, renders them unproductive next season, therefore others 

 must be substituted from the wall. Small holes should be made 

 through the sides of the frame, through which the young shoots 

 of the vines can extend themselves in the open air ; for this 

 purpose the frames should not be more than 8 or 10 feet long 

 and 5 or 6 wide. The holes should of course be closed till 

 wanted. When the grapes are nearly full grown, and begin to 

 ripen, it will be advantageous to draw off the glasses altogether 

 during the day in fine weather, by which means the fruit will 

 obtain a degree of perfection that it rarely acquires in the vinery 

 or hothouse. J. Mean (Hort. trans. 2. p. 330.) has practised 

 a mode similar to that of Mr. Knight's. This method is parti- 

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