86 Shriveling of Grapes. 



The sketch {fig. 8.) shows a mode with which I have been very 

 successful, in propagating all the different species of green-house 

 plants. In this figure, « is a 32-sized 

 pot ; h^ a No. 60. turned upside down 

 in the pot No. 32. ; c, small pebbles ; 

 6-, a layer of peat earth or moss ; and 

 cf, a covering of sand. The channel 

 which is given for the escape of all over- 

 watering, by the inverted pot, will be 

 found to be most useful for such spe- 

 cies as are apt to damp off; and, when 

 the pots are plunged in gentle heat, 

 the vacuity thus obtained, being- 

 filled with the moist warm vapour, it 

 ascends through the pebbles and moss, and will be found greatly 

 to forward the growth of the cuttings. This method answers 

 well for cuttings of heaths. Every one who has been in the habit 

 of propagating heaths must be aware that, when not properly 

 drained, or if the water is allowed to stand about them, they turn 

 black, and at last damp off. By using the inverted pot, a good 

 quantity of pebbles, with a covering of spongy peat, and about 

 two inches of clear washed sand, no bottom heat being required, 

 every gardener may be successful in propagating all the Cape 

 ericas. Particular care ought to be taken in watering cuttings of 

 heaths, never to allow them to be completely dried up; as 

 nothing is more injurious to this tribe of plants in all stages, 

 whether cuttings or specimens. 



Milton Bryant, Oct. 16. 1837. 



Art. VIII. On the Shriveling of G}-apes. By George A. Lake, 

 F.L.S., Tulse Hill House, Brixton. 



It is not a little mortifying that, amongst the very many im- 

 portant additions which have been made of late years to the 

 science of gardening, that of a knowledge of the causes and 

 prevention (for cure there is none) of the disease in vines called 

 *' shriveling" is not to be found, and that such knowledge is a 

 desideratum still anxiously to be sought. 



I do not pretend to much experience in the cultivation of the 

 grape ; and, although I had frequently noticed this disease, it is 

 only within the last few months 1 have paid any serious attention 

 to it. I think it right to state this, that I may not lead any one 

 to think that the observations and speculations contained in this 

 paper are founded upon a long experience, and that they may 

 not pass for more than they are really worth. 



Accident may sometimes bring us acquainted with the cure, 

 prior to the discovery of the cause; but, in the greater number 



