Book I. 



CULTURE OF THE VINERY. 



553 



cut, that is, about six or eight feet upwards, become brownish. The portions of air, hitherto freely ad- 

 mitted, must be lessened by degrees, as the weather turns cooler ; and so as that, in sunshine, the mercury 

 may not fall below 75. When thegrowth of the plants is over, expose the house day and night, except in 

 rain. Water must also be withheld, as the growth of the plants abates, and somewhat in the proportion in 

 which you would have vegetation stop ; not all at once, but gradually. Continue the operations of the en- 

 gine to the latest ; not merely to subdue the enemy at present, but, as far as possible, to prevent his ap- 

 j>earance next campaign." 



3028. Exposure and resting of the wood. " Some managers," Abercrombie observes, 

 " leave the house quite exposed when the vines have done growing ; and whether it be 

 covered or not, there should be constantly a circulation of air through it. Vines which 

 have been exposed to the weather, or freely to the dry air, in a state of rest, when forced 

 after a proper interval, generally break at almost every eye." The rest proper to a de- 

 ciduous plant cannot be given to vines where the branches are kept subject to the influ- 

 ence of a permanent heat after the 'leaves are fallen, as in the case of vines grown in pine 

 or other stoves. The top of its stem, with its branches, must therefore be withdrawn 

 from the house immediately after the fall of the leaf, to remain on the outside till it be 

 proper again to force the plant. Abercrombie says, " the branches will require no cover- 

 ing in this climate ;" but many gardeners lay them down, or tie them to stakes, and cover 

 them with litter or mats. 



3029. M'Phail says, " Some modern writers on gardening recommend that the glass frames of the 

 grape-house be taken off the vines as soon as the vines are all cut ; and also to take the vine-plants out of 

 hot-houses appropriated to the culture of the pine-apple when the grapes are over. This they tell us is to 

 ripen the wood, and give the plants rest, &c. I do advise that the glass frames of grape-houses be suffered 

 to remain over the vines all the year, excepting in July and August, and that grape-vines in hot-houses 

 for the pine-apple should not be taken out to remain for any length of time at any season of the year. If 

 fruit-trees ripen their fruit well, the wood for bearing the following year will be sufficiently matured ; but 

 the plants, whether they be the grape-vine, peach, &c. had best remain in that artificial climate made for 

 them all the year, for though the fruit be over, the wood of the plant requires protection. As well," 

 he adds, " might they expect the cherry-tree to blossom in September and October; which months are 

 some years warmer than the month of April, when the cherry-tree is in full Wow, or that the Christmas- 

 rose may be excited by summer heat to blossom in July or August It is natural for the grape-vine to 

 produce only one crop in the year ; and when it is accustomed to grow in a hot-house appropriated for the 

 pine-apple, its nature is not changed ; nor will it offer to put forth its bud before January in hot-houses 

 kept to a heat sufficient for growing the pine-apple, when the pine pots are plunged in a bed of warm 

 tan." 



3030. Knight, as we have seen (2185.), is highly favorable to putting the vine into a state of repose, as early 

 as possible in the autumn preceding the season in which it is to be forced. 



3031. VieoL after the growing season, and when the wood is ripened, " exposes the house day and 

 night, except in rain." After an autumn pruning, he 

 shuts up the house for ten days or a fortnight, particu- 

 larly if there be any appearance of frost ; admitting air 

 freely through the day. The object in thus keeping 

 the plants from the extremes of heat and cold, is, in or- 

 der that their pores may contract, and their wounds heal 

 gradually ; as otherwise they are apt to bleed now, and 

 to break out afresh on the application of fire-heat in 

 the spring. When they are judged to be safe, expose 

 the house night and dav, as before {Kal. 428.) 



3032. S. Galton describes a plan of exposing the 

 branches of vines growing in a stove to the external 

 air, without the necessity of suspending the forcing or 

 heat in the stove, or of drawing the stems back through 

 apertures by which they are introduced into the house. 

 This was put in practice at Derby, in the garden of 

 Joseph Strutt, of that town, where it has been in suc- 

 cessful use, for above fifteen years. The foundation wall in 

 front of the house is capped with a stone sill {fig. 460. a); 

 the front upright lights^move on centre pins, and can be 

 taken out from their places without disturbing the rafter- 

 plate (c), or the uprights which support the plate ; these 

 lights, when taken out, can be fixed by the lower ends 

 to the inner side of the stone sill, the spaces of the 

 uprights being filled by other pieces, whilst the tops are 

 held by a board (rf) longitudinally fixed to the rafter by 

 hinges (e), and capable of being raised and let down at 

 pleasure. When the vines are to be exposed they are 

 unfixed from their places between the rafters, and laid 

 down on the stone sill (a) ; the front upright lights (b) 

 are then taken out and fixed on the inner side of the 

 8ill(/), thus leaving the whole of the vine on the out- 

 side of the house, and under cover, protected from rain, 

 until it is desired to put it again into heat, when the 

 situation of the upright lights is changed, and they are 

 replaced in their former situation. {Hort. Trans, iv. 567.) 



Subsect. 2. Of particular Modes of cultivating the Grape, adapted to particular Situations. 



3033. The particular modes of cultivating tlie grape which we shall now enumerate, re- 

 fer to its culture in pineries, green-houses, and other plant structures, by dung-heat, in 

 hot-bed frames, temporary frames and glass covers, hand-glasses, and cultivating for re- 

 tarding maturation. 



3034. Forcing the vine in a pine or other stove. Abercrombie, in a comparison between 

 the hot-house or general stove and vinery, justly observes, that the former " has many cir- 

 cumstances of inferiority to the vinery ; and, although its shades of inconvenience or im- 



