194 Preserving Grapes through Winter and Spring. 



Then of course we must have fire heat and give air when foggy 

 days occur, "as," says Mr. Thompson, of Chiswick — 



" The mean temperature of this month (November) is on the 

 average little above 40°, and the air is generally saturated with 

 moisture. When this is the case, moisture will be deposited on all. 

 substances exposed to the air, if they are not warmer than it is. 

 Grapes that are ripe should, therefore, be kept warmer than the air, 

 otherwise they will be liable to damp. The application of fire heat 

 would effect this : but if it were applied suddenly, and without air 

 being given at the same time, the heated air would deposit moisture 

 on the berries ; for although these would ultimately acquire the 

 same temperature as that of the air surrounding them, yet for a 

 time they would be colder, and so long as this is the case tliey 

 would act as condensers of the moisture in the warmer air in con- 

 tact with them. The more rapidly the air is heated, the greater 

 for a time will be the difference between the temperature of the 

 fruit and that of the air, and, of course, the slower the heating the 

 less at any time will be the difference. Give therefore, in damp 

 weather, a little fire heat in the morning and admit air. If the 

 nights are cold, the temperature of the house should not be allowed 

 to fall lower than 4j°." 



Here, then, are nice operations and a lot of trouble to bestow on 

 perhaps half a dozen houses during the winter months ! If the 

 greenhouses are shaky and badly heated, the task is most difficult 

 and annoying ; in the best-constructed vineries it is a great, and, as 

 I hope to show, a needless labour. The trouble of regulating the 

 atmosphere, the expense for fire heat, and the necessity of keeping 

 the house almost entirely devoted to the grapes, must render any 

 improvement very acceptable, and I have a decided one to describe. 

 Several times during the spring of 1867 I noticed grapes hanging 



from branches the ends of which were inserted in vases of water 



grapes which the exhibitors described as having been for a long 

 time so preserved in a fresh state. From such few specimens I did 

 not derive sufficient confidence in the method to speak with cer- 

 tainty of its merits, but having visited a good many gardens during 



