GEA 



[ 444 ] 



GRA 



that of the vines, it is best to con- 

 fine these to the rafters on the 

 spurring system. For early forcing, 

 and where the house is specially de- 

 voted to vines, it is another affair 

 here either the long rod system or the 

 spurring may be used. We need not 

 repeat advice as to border making, and 

 the usual routine of disbudding, stop- 

 ping, thinning the berry, and the fre- 

 quent pinching of the lateral. One 

 remark may be permitted as to bor- 

 ders ; let them be inside the house if 

 the interior arrangement will permit, 

 and the front wall on arches. When at 

 rest, we would not allow the thermo- 

 meter to sink below 85. 



Vines in Pots is a mode of culture 

 only to be recommended as an adjunct 

 to late vineries, and where the pos- 

 sessor, not desiring to build a house 

 for early forcing, yet desires to have 

 a few early grapes. The plants should 

 be reared from eyes, and receive very 

 high culture ; and at the end of the 

 second summer they should be strong 

 canes, and in high perfection for forcing. 

 They must receive liberal shifts when 

 they need repotting, and their shoots 

 be constantly trained in a very light- 

 situation. The young plants, at the 

 end of the first season's growth, will 

 require pruning back to two buds, from 

 which one may, during their progress, 

 be carefully trained, and the other re- 

 moved. When the cane has grown 

 about five feet in length, during the 

 second season, it is well to stop it, in 

 order to strengthen the lower leaves, on 

 the healthy action of which the future 

 crop depends. The leader, however, 

 which succeeds, may be laid in full 

 length, well exposed to the light, but 

 the laterals which push from the sides 

 must be pinched back, leaving one bud 

 only, and this pinching must be con- 

 tinued all through the season, when 

 necessary. In the second autumn 

 they will be strong canes, with remark- 

 ably plump buds, and they may now, 

 when the leaves are decayed, be pruned 

 back to some five or six eyes, according 

 to the Avish of the cultivator. Having 

 received their final shift into pots of 

 about fifteen inches in diameter, in the 

 preceding June they will require 



nothing but a rich top-dressing. They 

 enjoy a bottom-heat of 70 to 80, but 

 they may be made to succeed on the 

 j kerb stones or back shelves of the 

 I stove, away from cold draughts, and 

 , near the flues or piping. Liquid ma- 

 | nure must be liberally supplied, and 

 j the same course of culture as to dis- 

 budding, stopping, thinning the berry, 

 and training, pursued as with the 

 rafter vines. A rich turfy loam must 

 be used as compost three parts of 

 ' this to one of rich, half-decomposed 

 manure, will be found excellent, ad- 

 ding some charcoal, and a little lime 

 rubbish. The turfy loam should be 

 nearly a year old, and must be well 

 chopped with the spade, not sifted. 

 The pots must be most carefully 

 drained nearly one- fifth of their depth ; 

 any stagnation whatever will surely 

 prove fatal. If the pots were un- 

 plunged, some screen, such as moss or 

 old matting should be interposed be- 

 tween them and the sand, or they may 

 have double pots. 



Diseases. Shrivelling of the berries 

 of the grape in stoves appears to arise 

 from the roots of the vine not supplying 

 a sufficiency of sap, as well as from its 

 not being duly elaborated in the leaves. 

 This occurs if the roots are in a cold 

 soil, or are vegetating in an outside 

 border, the temperature of which is too 

 low compared with that of the stove. 

 In the first case, thorough draining and 

 the incorporation of calcareous rubbish ; 

 and in the second case, protection to 

 the border and stem, will remove the 

 evil. If the sap be not duly elaborated, 

 it must arise, either separately or con- 

 jointly, from the leaves vegetating in 

 an ungenial atmosphere, or from their 

 being too reduced in number. 



If the roots of the vines are found 

 to have penetrated the soil deeply, they 

 should be lifted very carefully, brick- 

 bats 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. 



