123 



forming ; for a time their increase then seems sus- 

 pended. Immediately after this, the footstalks, 

 sometimes, suddenly turn brown and shrink, and the 

 berries, ceasing to increase in size, shrivel, acquire an 

 unpleasant taste, and ultimately fall off. {Trans. 

 Hort. Soc. vi. 25.) 



If the roots of the vines are found to have pene- 

 trated the soil deeply, they should be lifted very care- 

 fully, brickbats placed beneath the roots, and these 

 trained about nine inches beneath the surface. If 

 drainage of the border has been neglected, let it be 

 effected at the same time. If the loss of the crop 

 which would be occasioned by the lifting of the whole 

 of the vines would be inconvenient, only one or two 

 can be so treated in successive autumns. The most 

 injurious time for an unnatural disparity of tempera- 

 ture in the air and soil to occur is at night ; for, as 

 was justly observed by the late Mr. Knight, an ill 

 effect of high temperature during the night is, that it 

 exhausts the excitability of the tree much more ra- 

 pidly than it promotes the growth, or accelerates the 

 maturity of the fruit, which is in consequence ill sup- 

 plied with nutriment at the period of its ripening, 

 when most nutriment is probably wanted. The 

 Muscat of Alexandria, and other late grapes, are, 

 owing to this cause, often seen to wither upon the 

 bunch in a very imperfect state of maturity ; and 

 the want of richness and flavour in other forced fruit 



