12 Prolongation of the Grape Season. 



carefully applied, the wasps and flies, those incessant agents 

 of destruction. 



I have practised this method also with grapes, and feel con- 

 vinced from experience that, wherever it is used, this delicious 

 fruit, the most grateful, perhaps, of all fruits to the palate, in 

 the heats of summer and early autumn, may be preserved to a 

 very late season. In proof of this, I may just mention that I 

 have at the present time (Nov. 20.) some very fine fruit of this 

 kind against the walls, which, by the process I describe, will 

 keep admirably well till near Christmas. In hot-houses, where 

 the trees are trained close under the glass, the entire roof 

 must be covered with bunting, admitting at all times plenty of 

 air into the house, by sliding down the sashes, or opening the 

 ventilators. In damp weather, at an advanced period of the 

 year, a little fire occasionally will be necessary to expel the 

 moisture. As regards gooseberries and currants, which are a 

 luxury at the latter end of the year, the season of them is 

 prolonged by enveloping the bushes in either bunting or mats 

 when the fruit is changing its colour. My red and white cur- 

 rants are thus generally in good preservation till after Christ- 

 mas. The kinds of gooseberries I find best adapted for this 

 purpose are the late red hairy sorts ; the greens and yellows, 

 with smooth skins, do not keep so long, nor retain their flavour 

 equal to the former. 



In conclusion, I beg to state that I find both gooseberries 

 and currants keep best by not being divested of their summer 

 shoots till the fruit is all gathered. The bunting will also be 

 found an economical covering for wall trees when in blossom. 



Hoping that these cursory observations may, through the 

 medium of your important Miscellany, be of some service, 



I remain, Sir, &c. 



J. Forbes. 

 Woburn Abbey Gardens, Nov. 20. 1826. 



Art. IV. On the Prolongation of the ripe Grape on the 

 Vine. By J. M. 



Sir, 

 In the middle of June, 1825, 1 removed six three years old 

 black Hamburgh vines from a different part of my garden, 

 divesting the roots from all the mould, and replanting them in 

 a green-house I had then just completed. The roots were 

 planted outside of the house, and the stems were introduced 



