/o 



open their houses, and allow them to be open until 

 the heat is only 70 or 76 degrees ; they then close 

 the house, and the heat rises again, and does more 

 harm than the sun has done good. (Ibid. 1845, 

 722.) 



Setting the Grape, says Dr. Lindley, like that of 

 all other plants, is accomplished by bringing the 

 pollen in contact with the stigma. The stigma is a 

 viscid space, often extremely small, upon the 

 upper end of the young fruit ; the pollen is a 

 fine powder, contained in the anther, which is a bag 

 that must be split open in order to permit the pollen 

 to escape. To insure the setting of a fruit, it is, 

 therefore, indispensable that the anther should be 

 placed in a situation favourable to its opening. Na- 

 ture rarely provides mechanical means for effecting 

 this important operation, but, by a simple and beau- 

 tiful contrivance, insures its taking place spontane- 

 ously. The anther is formed of a membrane whose 

 lining consists of an infinite multitude of delicate 

 springs, so arranged, that by their contraction in 

 opposite directions they pull open the sides of the 

 anther along a line which is thinner than any other 

 part. In wet weather, or in a green state of the 

 anther, these springs are relaxed, and are incapable 

 of action ; but when the anther ripens, and the air is 

 dry, they contract, and pulling against each other, 

 their combined action is sufficient to rend asunder 



