598 Shriveling of Grapes. 



Having often tried, and as often failed, to obtain a cross from C. grandi- 

 florus, it seemed to me that it might be from the short time the flower 

 remained open, or the close situation in which it flowered, or both, that the 

 pollen never got matured or dry enough to generate ; and this made me 

 anxious to try what dry pollen would do. 



The year following, I impregnated iJhododendron arboreum (which was 

 flowering in the same pine stove) with dry pollen taken from a fine variety 

 which was flowering in the green-house at Belmont, 1 1 miles hence ; and the 

 result was (after marking the crossed flowers), that all those which were im- 

 pregnated set and matured their seed, and all the other flowers dropped oflf; 

 not one stood ; and the seedlings they produced are more in the habit of the 

 male than that of the female parent. 



From the above, I think it probable that dry pollen, under some circum- 

 stances, and with some genera of plants, may produce in crossing more distinct 

 varieties than pollen immediately taken from the one plant to the other. 



Stoke Edith Gardejis, Aug, 18. 1840. 



Art. V. 0)1 the Shriveling of Grapes. By W. H. 



Several articles have appeared at different times in the Gar- 

 defier^s Magazitie on the shriveling of grapes. I have tried 

 every one of them as they made their appearance, but without 

 the least success. In Dr. Lindley's Theory/ of Horticulture, 

 article Bottom Heat, it is there stated that the cause is, that the 

 roots being in a colder medium than the branches, the supply 

 of sap is consumed quicker than the roots can furnish it, and 

 this brings on the disease. Dr. Lindley, every one must allow, 

 is very high authority, still I doubt this being the cause of the 

 blacking of the footstalks, which is the disease that I particularly 

 wish to refer to. I have the management of three houses in 

 which grapes are grown. One I begin forcing the 1st of Janu- 

 ary, one the 1st of February, and one the 1st of March. The 

 first house ripens its fruit in May, the second in June, and the 

 third in July. In the first and second there shall be no shriveled 

 berries ; in the third, if the weather is cloudy, there shall be a 

 great many. The covering is taken off the borders about the 

 beginning of April, and if the coldness of the borders was the 

 cause, I should suppose that those which ripened in May and 

 June would be more subject to the disease than the July one, 

 for the earth undoubtedly gets warmer as the summer advances. 

 I have been a grape-grower for more than twenty years, and 

 during that time this disease has particularly engaged my atten- 

 tion, as I have always been more or less subject to it, and I am 

 fully convinced that it is caused by the borders being made too 

 rich and stimulating, and by a deficiency of light. My borders 

 are all prepared in the same way, and of the richest materials, 

 and the one that I commence forcing in March produces foliage 

 of the most luxuriant description ; those large leaves require 

 more light to elaborate the sap than smaller ones, and if light is 

 deficient, the sap is not properly prepared for the healthy nou- 



