PRESERVING GRAPES THROUGH THE WINTER. 403 



August following. The soil round the trees should be dug 

 up every year in the spring after having unearthed the 

 branches and before covering in the trenches at the foot of 

 the tree. They should also be well watered several times 

 during the summer and manured every three years. The 

 practice of putting a drop of fine oil into the eye of 

 the fruit just as it colours and shows signs of opening, to 

 hasten its maturity, is employed about Paris, especially during 

 cold summers. 



Preserving Grapes through the Winter without letting them 

 hang on the Vines. 



The preservation of grapes through 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 vineries so as to preserve the grapes on the 

 vine after they are ripe, and every calendar of operations 

 tells us 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 buoy- 

 ancy 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." Then of course 

 we must have fire heat and give air when foggy days occur, 

 " as," says Mr. Thompson of Chiswick — " the mean tempe- 



