] 76 On the Black Raisin and other Winter Grapes. 



planted in the same house, it should be at the hottest end ; it 

 requires more heat to bring it to perfection than any grape I 

 know ; the fruit is of a red colour, berries oval, fleshy, and 

 thick skinned, bunches large, with shoulders. It is not so 

 high flavoured as the St. Peter and Raisin, and one vine in 

 a house I consider sufficient. 



My vines at Spring Grove are planted in front of the house 

 outside ; the house at that time being a pine stove would not 

 admit of their being planted inside : but I know from expe- 

 rience that they will both swell and ripen their fruit better 

 when planted inside than out, especially if a good rich border 

 be made, and the front wall and front flue be built on arches, 

 so that the roots can make their way under them to the out- 

 side. I consider the chief cause of the house at Spring Grove 

 keeping grapes so well to be, its being low, with a good slope 

 to the roof, and flued all round, so that a gentle heat can be 

 kept without making the flues very hot in any one place ; the 

 house is also proof from wet or drip, which is a very essential 

 point to be observed, as a very little wet will rot ripe grapes 

 at this season of the year. 



The Raisin grape has a property which few other grapes 

 have, when in a healthy state ; it produces fruit at its lateral 

 shoots in succession, so that there is ripe fruit, green fruit, and 

 fruit in blossom at the same time. With judicious manage- 

 ment, therefore, a supply of fresh grapes may be produced 

 from it through the winter. I am, &c. 



Isaac Oldaker. 

 Spring Grove, Nov. 23. 1826. 



In the last paragraph of Mr. Oldaker's letter, he mentions 

 a property of the raisin grape vine, which but seldom occurs 

 in other vines, viz. the circumstance of its bearing and per- 

 fecting fruit on the lateral shoots of the same year, and so 

 giving in succession a long extended vintage. This is a most 

 valuable property of the raisin grape, and opens to the view of 

 the cultivator a prospect, hitherto entirely beyond expectation ; 

 because, additional care and requisite cultivation may be pro- 

 ductive of advantages never before contemplated; indeed, it 

 may be the foundation of an entirely new trait in our vinery 

 management. Mr. O. should be requested to write again on 

 this quality of his favourite vine; because, in our ordinary 

 summer management, the lateral, or water shoots, as the 

 French call them, are usually displaced, and if displaced 

 entirely, whence is the second crop ? — Note by an experienced 

 Grape Cultivator. 



