259 
they are picked up in baskets and spread out in the sun on trays 
which are stacked up before the evening dew is felt. Hand picking 
a single fruit at a time would be too lengthy and costly a process 
for drying. 
THE GRAPE VINE. 
Probably no other more rustie plant is suitable for intense cul- 
ture than is the grape vine. It is particularly well adapted for the 
conditions of soil and climate that portion of the South-West of 
Western Australia presents which extends from the Leeuwin to 
the Murchison River. On that belt, stretching between the Darling 
Range and the coastal sandhills, it can be profitably cultivated 
almost anywhere. 
In the following notes the kinds recommended are grouped un- 
« ¢der the three classes of Drying, Table grapes, and Wine grapes. 
For Drytne. 
In France the period of ripening of wine grapes has been 
reckoned by Pulliat from the time of ripening of the Golden 
Chasselas thus:—First period of maturity, to which belong all 
vines which ripen their grapes five to six days before or after 
Golden Chasselas. Second period of maturity, including all vines 
ripening their grapes 12 to 14 days after Chasselas. Third period, 
ineluding those ripening their grapes 24 to 30 days after Chasselas. 
Fourth period, including those ripening their grapes 36 to 40 days 
after Chasselas. Fifth period, including those grapes which ripen 
later than eight weeks after Chasselas. 
Wurtr Muscat or ALEXANDRIA.—An oval white Muscat grape. 
Season medium; will keep in good condition long after ripening. 
Merits: medium to first class; the most handsome and valuable 
table and drying grape in cultivation. Extensively cultivated for 
raisins in Valencia and Denia, in Spain, and also in Southern 
California, the Cape, and Australia. Vine: A short, rather strag- 
gling and bushy grower, well adapted to short spur pruning, as it 
forms rather a bush than a vine; very free fruiting, but the 
bunches sometimes set badly, except where local circumstances are 
favourable. Leaves of medium size, round, bright green above, 
light green below, deeply lobed, somewhat wrinkled, commencing 
early to turn, and becoming yellow round the edges. The leaf- 
stalks, or pedicel, and veins reddish; young shoots a light green. 
Wood gray, with darker spots, short jomted. The laterals produce 
a second, and even, sometimes, a third crop. Fruit bunches very 
long, from 12 to 20 inches, loose, tapering, and often strongly 
shouldered; a somewhat shy setter. Berries very large, long ovate 
on stout stalks. Skins rather thick, clear greenish vellow, or, when 
