310 HOTHOUSE CULTURE OP VINES. 



Painting walls black. 



This course appears to be very conducive towards advanc- 

 ing the maturity of fruit. Mr. Daws, of Slough, near Windsor, 

 has made the experiment of painting a wall covered by a vine, 

 one half black, and leaving the other half in its usual state. 

 That part of the vine which covered the black wall ripened 

 the grapes earlier, and yielded about three times the weight 

 of fruit that the other half produced. A writer in the N. 

 E. Farmer also remarks, that " experience has proved that 

 a vine of an uncommon size, which even in the hottest years 

 would not produce any ripe fruit, has for several years (since 

 this practice was adopted) regularly yielded the finest grapes, 

 and that all other fruits, the trees producing which are planted 

 against the black wall ripen much sooner than those in the 

 neighbourhood." A correspondent recommends substituting 

 for paint, a tar composition, on account of its smell being so 

 offensive to insects. This is formed by an union of charcoal 

 four-fifths, and slaked lime one-fifth, mixed with tar ; and is 

 to be applied hot. 



Hothouse culture of vines. 



Speechly remarks that every hothouse intended for grapes 

 should be either built on a dry soil or where the situation 

 will allow of its being made so. If the ground be wet or the 

 soil inappropriate, the necessary measures should be adopted 

 to change their character, by forming drains to carry off the 

 water, and by either mixing other soils with the natural earth 

 so as to give to it the requisite adaptation, or by a removal of 

 the local earth, and replacing it with that suitable to the pur- 

 pose. The first operation necessary is the formation of the 

 bed into which the vines are to be planted immediately in front 

 of the building. This should extend its whole length with a 

 depth of two feet, and a breadth of six feet, and a variation of 

 dimension in the latter respect by contraction or extension will 

 be attended with correspondent effect on the vines and their 

 product. Having prepared a space of the dimensions desig- 



