Gardening for Amateurs 



1031 



culty in maintaining these figures with the 

 help of a little fire heat ; without fire heat 

 the night temperatures will be a little lower, 

 but that does not matter providing they are 

 regular. The chief drawback in growing 

 Vines in an unheated greenhouse is that in a 

 dull, cold autumn the Grapes may not ripen 

 properly, and in the absence of hot-water 

 pipes there is little one can do to assist 

 them. 



It is a safe rule to give a little 

 air to the vinery when the ther- 

 mometer registers 10 degrees 

 above the minimum night tem- 

 perature, and to increase the 

 amount during the morning, decreasing 

 it early in the afternoon, and again 

 closing the house from 3 to 4 o'clock, 

 according to the weather, choosing the 

 later hour in bright weather. By thus 

 closing the ventilators some of the natural 

 warmth is " bottled up " as it were, and the 

 vinery remains warm throughout the night. 

 Important as the question of ventilation is, 

 it is dependent very largely upon the weather. 

 On a dull day, for example, little air is given 

 because the temperature scarcely rises 10 

 degrees above the night minimum, while on a 

 sunny day it rises quickly, and it becomes 

 necessary to open the ventilators quite early 

 in the morning. The vinery must be kept 

 moist by syringeing the wall and path two 

 or three times a day in bright weather, and 

 possibly only once a day or not at all in dull 

 weather, especially in an unheated green- 

 house. 



As the season advances more air must be 

 given, but it is rarely wise to open the front 

 ventilators before May. In sunny weather, 

 the less warmth there is in the pipes the 

 better, as this tends to make the atmosphere 

 too dry ; at the same time it scarcely can 

 be dispensed with, especially on cold nights. 



Watering. Little or no water at the root is 

 required until the Vines are in leaf, then if 

 the border is moderately dry give it a soak- 

 ing of water and no more until it appears 

 somewhat dry again. After the first water- 

 ing, say in April, put a top dressing of 

 well-rotted manure, 3 inches deep, on the 

 border. This keeps the soil moist and 

 attracts the roots to the surface, a great 

 desideratum in Grape-growing. Speaking 



generally, Vines should be watered once every 

 fortnight or three weeks during the height of 

 summer, but not so often earlier and later 

 in the season. Young Vines are better with- 

 out liquid manure of 

 any sort. As summer 

 wanes, air must be 

 admitted much more 



Grape Muscat of Alexandria, the finest 

 variety of all. 



freely, in order to ripen the wood of the 

 Vines. After the leaves have fallen the ven- 

 tilators should be left widely open, except 

 in boisterous and extremely cold weather. 

 This treatment ought to be continued through 

 the winter, in fact until the Vines start into 

 growth again. 



