CHAPTER XIII. 



Preserving Grapes through Winter and Spring — Preserving 

 the Peach — Fig Culture and Protection. 



HE preservation of grapes over the winter with the least 

 amount of trouble is one of the most important of all 

 matters to the British grape grower. Every cultivator, 

 young or old, knows to his cost what a task it is to keep grapes 

 hanging all the winter after they are ripe, especially in places 

 where there are a good many houses devoted to vines. The latest 

 books on the vine give directions for regulating the houses, so as to 

 preserve the grapes on the vine after they are ripe, and every 

 calendar of operations tells how to manage them in that respect, 

 though I fear the directions are not always intelligible. 



Here, for instance, is an extract from a recent issue of a leading 

 garden paper : — 



" Those who wish to keep grapes hanging as fresh and plump as 

 possible to the longest possible period, must take care not to afford 

 them too much heat, as an excess of this, no matter how dry the 

 structure may be, or how favourably treated otherwise, is sure to 

 cause them to shrivel more or less prematurely. Give only just 

 such warmth to the pipes or flues as will insure sufficient buoyancy 

 to any humidity (!) which may arise in the house as to enable it to 

 make its escape. Independently of the ill effects caused by actual 

 heat, a too warm atmosphere, even in the driest house, will cause a 

 correspondingly excessive evaporation and consequent condensation." 



o 



