96 THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 



This treatment of the vine will give you delicious fruit, 

 well-colored, and, consequently, high-flavored ; in black grapes, 

 it may be laid down as a general rule, that, when fully ripe, 

 the blacker the grape, the more spirited and richer the juice ; 

 bunches weighing about one pound are usually better ripened 

 than larger ones. The berries of the Black Hamburgh, 

 grown by these rules, will measure three and four inches 

 round. This grape is often grown of a slightly reddish tinge, 

 and sometimes Avith very large berries, very sweet, indeed, 

 but deficient in flavor. 



This is a simple process, but the practical operation of it 

 involves much labor and unremitted attention. After all is 

 done that is required by pruning, thinning, watering, &c., 

 much depends upon the proper ventilation and heat of the 

 house ; this must be opened and shut as the weather changes ; 

 if clouds are constantly passing during the day, and the sun 

 alternately obscured or shining, it will be difiicult to regulate 

 the temperature ; a partial opening of the top lights will allow 

 the heat to escape, and prevent too great an accumulation of 

 it ; the person having charge will soon, by attention, ascertain 

 how much ventilation is required under such circumstances. 



It will be preferable to have a low temperature, and chang- 

 ing between sixty-five and eighty, than by having the house 

 closed, the heat raised, for even a very short time, to one 

 hundred, or one hundred and twenty, which would be the 

 case in changeable weather, should the sun shine forth sud- 

 denly, and the house be entirely closed. This must never be 

 allowed, but, as soon as there is a prospect of the sun shining, 

 open the lights a little, and continue opening as the heat in- 

 creases. 



Avoid sudden changes of the temperature as much as 

 possible, and the air should, at all times, be admitted grad- 

 ually.* 



* In regulating the temperature of the grapery, care should be had to prevent the 

 too great accumulation of heat from the sun ; to avoid this, the \\iudo\N s, or the ven- 

 tilators, must be opened a little as soon as the heat begins to increase, and thus, 



