yj 



ON VINERIES. 



heat they came out of. In about three or four weeks they 

 will be ready for another shift; and this time the soil 

 may be a little stiffer, with a small quantity of old mortar- 

 rubble added to it. They may now be put in the pots they 

 are intended to fruit in. The size of fruiting-pots may 

 vary from 10 to 20 inches in diameter, as it may seem 

 convenient to the cultivator; the depth being in propor- 

 tion to the diameter. Assuming they have received their 

 final shift, plunge them in a gentle bottom heat about 65°. 

 As often as the surface becomes green and sour, which it 

 sometimes does, stir the soil on the top with a sharp 

 peg or iron skewer'; be very watchful about the watering, 

 and see they don't get either too much or too little. 

 When the vines have grown to the length of seven or 

 eight feet, and of a good thickness, and it is found the 

 pots are nearly full of roots, they may be taken out of 

 the bottom heat. Tie them to wires underneath the roof 

 of the house or forcing pit, say about seventeen or eighteen 

 inches from the glass, until the wood is thoroughly ripened 

 (I am now assuming they have been grown in a per- 

 pendicular position). When the canes are well ripened, 

 lower the temperature of the house by degrees to that 

 of the atmosphere outside, which will probably take a 

 month from the time they are ripened. They will now be 

 ready to be placed outside to rest. I recommend plunging 

 them in old bark or coal ashes, and placing them against 



a north wall — that is to say, on the side of a wall which 



39 



