CULTURE OF THE FOREIGN GRAPE. 67 



get a large bunch without good seeds. He questioned whether the 

 exhibitors at our shows could duplicate their bunches. 



C. M. Hovey alluded to the bunch of grapes brought by the 

 spies from the Promised Land, requiring two men to carry it. 

 He did not believe they had a very dry climate where these were 

 found. Grapes require water, but it must be given with judgment, 

 and at the right time. When he read the account of the grapes of 

 Eshcol he thought there might have been cultivators at that period 

 who were in advance of some of those of our day. 



Mr. Watt said that he had been at the horticultural exhibitions 

 at Edinburgh, Glasgow, etc., and had seen as poor bunches shown 

 there, even by Charles M'Intosh, as he ever had in this country. 

 He had seen little stones hung to the ends of bunches to draw out 

 their length. He had seen better grapes grown here than in the 

 old country. And yet here we dig out a hole and fill with fertil- 

 izers for a grape border, while in the old country the graperies are 

 built in the middle of the garden, where the roots can ramify at 

 pleasure. The famous Hampton Court vine is believed to have 

 sent its I'oots into the common sewer, and he had himself seen an 

 instance when the roots of a vine had left the border and travelled 

 through six feet of garden walk and seven feet of cobble stones, 

 to feed on the decomposed manure of a hot-bed. If we made our 

 borders wider and not so deep we should be more successful. 



E. H. Luke said that he left his house open at the top, from the 

 middle of June until the grapes were pretty nearly ripe, except in 

 foggy weather. He had three lights down now, and they had been 

 so all winter. 



The Chairman remarked that Mr. Luke's and Mr. Smith's method 

 of throwing the house open was almost as simple as out-door 

 culture. 



Hervey Davis said that he cultivated a grapery from 18G2 to 

 1872, and never opened it in winter, and never lost a vine. They 

 were laid down and covered with straw. 



Mr. Wood said, in regard to ground vineries, that the vines in 

 them required no more care than if trained on stakes in the open 

 air. The vines are supported on crotched sticks, and the vineries 

 are ventilated by a small triangular opening at the top of each 

 end as well as by openings at the sides. Mr. Frost has had them 

 in use for four years and has never had any mildew. 



The Chairman said that the question is whether the ground 



