BOOK I. CULTURE OF THE VINERY. 557 



3053. Braddick covers the floors of his vinery in autumn about three inches thick with coal-ashes 

 which, by preventing any damp from rising, to mildew or injure the fruit, enables him to preserve 

 the grapes hanging on the tree in a very perfect state till the end of January, or later. (Hart. Trans. 

 vol. iv. 143.) 



3054. Torbron,in a temporary vinery, or a glass case placed against a wall on which grapes were trained, 

 has ripened a late crop, and kept the fruit on the trees in a state fit for use till February. (Hort. 

 Trans, vol. iv. 118.) 



3055. Various modes for drying the air in a grapery. Decayed granite or trap, which 

 has been discovered by Professor Leslie to be powerful absorbents of moisture, where 

 they can be obtained, would be excellent substitutes for ashes ; or oatmeal might be 

 used (being swept up and dried occasionally), were the harboring of vermin not to be 

 dreaded. (See Supp. Encyc. Brit. art. Cold.) 



3056. To preserve grapes by removal from the tree, Forsyth directs, " Where there are 

 several bunches in one branch you may cut it off, leaving about six inches in length, or 

 more, of the wood, according to the distance between the bunches, and a little on the 

 outside of the fruit at each end ; seal both ends with some common sealing-wax, such 

 as wine-merchants use for sealing their bottles with, which you may buy at the wax- 

 chandler's ; then hang them across a line in a dry room, taking care to clip out, with a 

 pair of scissors, any of the berries that begin to decay or become mouldy, which, if left, 

 would taint the others. In this way I have kept grapes till the 6th of February ; but, if 

 they are cut before the bunches are too ripe they may be kept much longer." 



3057. Grapes may be kept by packing them in jars, " every bunch being first wrapped 

 up in soft paper, and covering every layer with bran, which should be well dried before 

 it is used ; laying a little of it in the bottom of the jar, then a layer of grapes, and so on, 

 a layer of bran and of grapes alternately, till you have filled the jar ; then shake it gently, 

 and fill it to the top with bran, laying some paper over it, and covering the top with a 

 bladder tied firmly on to exclude the air ; then put on the top or cover of the jar, observ- 

 ing that it fits as close as possible. These jars should be kept in a room where you can 

 have a fire in wet or damp weather." (Tr. on Fr. 2V.) 



SUBSECT. 4. Of the Insects and Diseases attendant on forced or Hot-house Grapes. 



3058. The insects and diseases of the vine are not numerous : of the latter there are 

 few or none, unless bleeding may be excepted, the remedies for which we have already 

 given. (2999.) The insects which infest the vine, are chiefly the red spider and coccus. 

 To remove these, Speechly and Abercrombie recommend washing the stem and all the 

 shoots with soap and water ; the stem being previously divested of the loose bark. 

 Abercrombie adds, give the border two or three soakings over the roots with soap-suds. 

 If the plants get infested with the pine-bug or turtle insect, it is to be extirpated by 

 syringing the leaves with a strong infusion of tobacco-stalks. Watering is the best pre- 

 ventive of the red spider, and aphis or green fly, and fumigation keeps down, and in 

 part destroys the latter and the thrips. 



3059. M'Phatt observes, that the red spider, the mealy white bug, and the brown turtle insect are the 

 most injurious to the vine. " These insects lodge upon the wood of the trees, and upon their leaves, and 

 upon their fruit. To prevent accidental infection, care should be taken not to introduce infected plants into 

 the house ; keeping the air in the house among the plants sweet, and to a strong degree of heat, with 

 constant admission of fresh air, are good preventives against insects. To help to destroy insects on the 

 vine, peel off, in the autumn, winter, or spring, before the plants begin to grow, all the loose outside bark, 

 and wash, with soap-water mixed with sulphur, the stem and all the branches, rubbing them well with a 

 sponge or brush, which will destroy the insects, and the spawn of them that have been deposited thereon. 

 If they happen to be infested very much, after they are well washed with clean water, let the stem and all 

 the branches be smeared with a mixture of sulphur, soot, and water, put upon them with a painter's 

 brush." Rotten and decayed berries or leaves are to be removed, that they may not spread their 

 infection. 



3060. Nicol considers the red spider as the grand enemy to the vine. After every winter pruning and re- 

 moval of the outward rind on the old wood, he directs to anoint the branches, shoots, and trellis, with the 

 following composition, the object of which is the destruction of their eggs or larvae. 



3061. Nicol's recipe. " Soft soap, two pounds; flowers of sulphur, two pounds ; leaf or roll tobacco, two 

 pounds ; nux vomica, four ounces ; and turpentine, an English gill j boiled in eight English gallons of soft or 

 river water, to six." This composition is to be laid on, milk- warm, with a painter's brush, " then with a 

 sponge carefully anoint every branch, shoot, and bud ; being sure to rub it well into every joint, hole, 

 and angle." If the house is much infected, the walls, flues, rafters, &c. are also to be painted over with 

 the same liquor. Watering over the leaves and fruit at all times, except the ripening season, is the pre- 

 ventive which he proposes, and which all gardeners approve. 



3062. Birds, wasps, flies, &c. several gardeners direct to be excluded by gauze frames, 

 calculated to fit the openings by which air is given. Some recommend putting bags of 

 gauze over each bunch ; others hang up bottles, boiled carrots, &c. M'Phail says, " Fix 

 nets on the parts of the house where you admit air, and fix them in such a way as that 

 the sashes will slide backwards and forwards either in the outside or inside of the nets. 

 The net should be as thick in the meshes as that a wasp canpot fly through them." It 

 may be noted, that a flying wasp (the wings being distended) will not require meshes 

 smaller than an inch square. 



