121 



quire a larger size, and other fruits a higher flavour, 

 under such management than under any other. 

 (Knighfs Papers, 255.) 



DISEASES. 



The diseases afflicting our grape vines are chiefly 

 confined to their fruit, and we conclude that they are 

 caused by the vines being over-stimulated to produc- 

 tion at an unnatural season, without there being 

 secured to them either a due supply of sap, or a 

 favourable atmosphere to ripen in. The probability 

 is, that a chief source of the maladies is the absence 

 of an accordant temperature of the soil and the at- 

 mosphere ; for grapes grown in the open air are liable 

 to none of the diseases which afflict them under glass. 



Shrivelling of the berries of the grape in stoves 

 appears to arise from the roots of the vine not supply- 

 ing a sufficiency of sap, as well as from its not being 

 duly elaborated in the leaves. This occurs if the roots 

 are in a cold soil, or are vegetating in an outside bor- 

 der, the temperature of which is too low compared 

 with that of the stove. In the first case, thorough 

 draining and the incorporation of calcareous rubbish ; 

 and in the second case, protection to the border and 

 stem, will remove the evil. If the sap be not duly 

 elaborated, it must arise, either separately or con- 



