VIT 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTION ARi. 



V I T 



771 



thence. \Vhen this operation is performed within, every 

 light must be shut; when from without, keep one light only 

 open at a time; the house must be then kept close shut till 

 next morning : this will cause such an exhalation from the 

 glass, tan, &c. that the plants will be covered with the 

 vapour, which will infallibly destroy the cocci, aphides, and 

 other insects : but the watering must be repeated every 

 afternoon, during hot weather only. Before morning the 

 plants will have imbibed all the moisture, and the paths will 

 be perfectly dry. To protect Grapes as they ripen from 

 birds, in the open air, they must be bagged ; or, where the 

 bunches hang very thick, the Vines may be covered with 

 nets, or bunting, which is the stuff of which ships' colours 

 are made ; these will admit the air freely to the Grapes ; and 

 will soon dry after rain. They are also the best covering in 

 the spring, in cold, wet, or snowy weather. For wasps and 

 the large flesh-fly, or blue-bottle, as it is vulgarly called, 

 there is no other remedy but hansing plenty of bottles with 

 some sweet liquor in them upon the Vines. The fly comes 

 first, and is no less destructive to the fruit than the wasp. 

 The bottles should be hung up as soon as the former make 

 their appearance; and should be emptied frequently. When 

 the weather is very hot, and the wasps are numerous, they 

 will frequently be so intent upon the fruit as not to enter fast 

 enough into the bottles : if you then take a little oil in a cup, 

 and with a feather dipped in it, touch their backs, they will 

 instantly drop down. Great numbers may easily be destroyed 

 this way ; and so might the flies, if their motions were not so 

 quick that it is difficult to touch them. The bunches of 

 Grapes should be kept under the shade of the leaves till they 

 begin to ripen; then those which cover the fruit may be 

 picked off, leaving such as are a little above it to be a shelter 

 from the wet and frost in the nights; this will assist in ripen- 

 ing the fruit ; ^.nd take off only a few leaves at a time, 

 according to the'quantity of Grapes to be gathered at once : 

 by these means the fruit will continue three times as long in 

 succession, as it would if the leaves were picked off all at 

 once. If all the leaves should be taken off soon after the 

 fruit is set, the fruit will not swell, but become hard and 

 small, and generally crack. When the leaves are not too 

 thick, they admit the rays of the sun to pass through, and a 

 warm glow of heat will be reflected from the wall. Grapes 

 will often hang on the Vines till the middle of November, if 

 they are well covered with nets or bunting; but when the 

 frost begins to set in sharp, they should be gathered. Where 

 several bunches are on one branch, it may be cut off, leaving 

 six inches in length, or more, of the wood, according to the 

 distance between the bunches, and a little on the outside of 

 the fruit at each endr seal both ends with common sealing- 

 wax, then hang them across a line in a dry .room, taking care 

 to clip out any berries that begin to decay or grow mouldy. 

 In this way Grapes may be kept till February; or, if they 

 are cut before the branches are very ripe, they may be kept 

 much longer. They may also be preserved in jars ; each 

 bunch being wrapped in soft paper, and layers of bran, well 

 dried, being laid between them. Put some bran at the bot- 

 tom and top, shake the whole gently, put some paper over it, 

 and cover the jar with a bladder firmly tied on, to exclude the 

 air. Keep the jar in a dry room, or where you can have a 

 fire in wet or damp weather. With respect to the transport- 

 ing or carriage of Grapes, when they are to be conveyed by 

 water, they may be packed in boxes or jars with sand. They 

 are thus brought from Portugal. But sand is too heavy for 

 land-carriage, and the Grapes must then be washed before 

 they can be eaten. They may also be packed with any small 

 bright seed. Clover-seed is very proper for this purpose ; 

 VOL. ii. 130. 



but this also is heavy, and too valuable to be wasted. Some 

 pack them in tow, wool, cotton, or paper-shavings. Mr, 

 Speechley recommends oat-chaff as most eligible, both on 

 account of its lightness and its elasticity. Care should be 

 taken that it have not any disagreeable smell, and that it be 

 cleansed of all impure matter ; the Grapes should be perfectly 

 dry, and the branches well examined, that if there be any 

 decayed, cracked, or bruised berries, they may be clipped off; 

 each bunch should then be tied in a bag of silver or gauze 

 paper. Grapes packed in this manner, ought not to be more 

 than two courses in depth, otherwise the lower bunches 

 would be liable to suffer injury by the weight above. The 

 course of chaff, between the layers of fruit, and likewise at 

 the top and bottom, ought, when it is well pressed down, to 

 occupy a space of two or three inches. When Grapes are 

 to travel by a stage-coach, the boxes should be made to suit 

 the seats of the coach ; for unless they go within or on the 

 top, they will commonly be spoiled. 



2. Vitis Palmata ; Palmate-leaved Vine. Leaves palmate, 

 smooth ; segments gashed ; umbels racemed. Branches pur- 

 plish, smooth ; racemes an inch long, with approximating 

 umbeliets. This, and the eighth species, are supposed to be 

 mere varieties of Vitis Vinifera. Native of Virginia. 



3. Vitis Indica; Indian Vine. Leaves cordate, toothed, 

 villose beneath ; tendrils racemiferous. Trunk woody, sending 

 out many slender branches, furnished with branching tendrils, 

 by which they fasten themselves to trees ; flowers in bunches 

 like those of the other sorts ; succeeded by fruit of an austere 

 taste. It produces a great quantity of small black grapes in 

 the lower hills of Jamaica; but they are of a rough taste, 

 and would doubtless make an excellent wine if properly 

 managed. It seems to thrive best in the red hills; and in 

 Jamaica it is known by the name oi' the Water Withe. When 

 it grows luxuriant, as it does generally in the higher woody 

 lands, it is so full of juice that a piece of about three feet 

 will yield nearly a pint of clear tasteless water, which has 

 been providentially the means of saving the lives of many 

 who have wandered long in the woods without any oilier 

 refreshment of a liquid sort. Native of both Indies, and of 

 Cochin-china. It will not live in England without artificial 

 heat, but is easily propagated by seeds, brought from those 

 countries of which it is a native, as it does not produce seeds 

 in this climate. The seeds should be plunged into a hot-bed 

 of tanners' bark, shading them from the sun until they have 

 taken new root; then they must be treated in the same way 

 as other tender exotic plants from the same countries, always 

 continuing them in the stove, otherwise they will not thrive. 

 They lose their leaves every winter. 



4. Vitis Flexuosa ; Japanese Vine. Leaves cordate-toothed, 

 villose beneath ; stem flexuose ; panicles elongated, without 

 tendrils, with glomerate floscules. Native of Japan. 



5. Vitis Labrusca; Downy-leaved Vine. Leaves cordate, 

 subtrilobate, toothed, tomentose underneath. Stem very long 

 and slender, branched, and climbing by tendrils ; flowers very 

 small, pale, on short lateral racemes; berries round, black, 

 acid but edible. There is a variety cultivated under the 

 name of Eland's Grape, which Mr. T. Nuttall thinks is no 

 way inferior to some of the best European sorts; it is per- 

 fectly hardy, and exceeds in produce every other Vine of the 

 United States. Native of North America, Amboyna, Cochin- 

 china, and Japan. This and the next species grow abundantly 

 in the woods of America, but have not been known to produce 

 fruit in this country. Their pruning and management is the 

 same as any other sort of Grapes, only they should have 

 fewer shoots, and those shortened down very low, otherwise 

 they will make weak shoots, and produce no fruit. 



9K 



