VITIS. 



a^rain, and will generally biiag two clufters. Sometimes, 

 alio, the fecond and third eye will pudi, and bring a clufter 

 or two. In winter pruning, (horten down the firft, or 

 fpring-made part of the fhoot, to two or three feet. This 

 method may be repeated, he thinks, with pretty good fuc- 

 cefs once in two or three years : but, if done every year, it 

 will (in the courfe of three or four years) occafion the cut- 

 ting of the plants down to the ground, in order to make 

 them put forth a frcfh (lock of wood. He adds, however, 

 that in the event of fevere froft, and the plants being in an 

 early ftate of vegetation, the border on the outiiJe (hould 

 be covered with a quantity of ftable dung, or long litter, 

 to prevent the roots from being injured by tlie weather. 

 And unlcfs the plants are wiflied to produce a fecond crop, 

 they mull not be pruned for good fooncr than Oftober, and 

 at the fame time, that operation (hou'd not be deferred longer 

 than the firft week of November, left, when they begin to 

 vegetate, they (hould bleed. He concludes by obferving, 

 that grape-vines will bear forcing, and laft for many years, 

 when under judicious management. 



Some ufeful remarks have lately been oflFered, by the 

 writer of a paper in the fecond volume of the Tranfaftions 

 of the Horticultural Society of London, on the manage- 

 ment of the grape in forcing-houfes, in the view of improv- 

 ing the quality of the fruit. There are fome circumftances 

 attending the ftate of vegetation in forcing-houfes, it is faid, 

 which are not fufRciently regarded by gardeners in general, 

 a ftrict attention to which is, however, abfolutely indif- 

 penfable for obtaining good fruit of this fort. When a vine 

 is planted in a forcing-honfe, it receives, it is faid, an in- 

 creafe of warmth from the folar influence operating upon 

 the coniined internal air, or from artificial heat communi- 

 cated by the flues, or conjointly from both thefe fources. 

 In each fuch cafe, when the foliage is expanded, a large 

 portion of moid vapour is, it is maintained, given out from 

 the under fides of the leaves, and becomes mixed with the 

 air in the interior of the houfe. Plants will not only live,- 

 but grow with greater rapidity than ordinary, in a moift at- 

 mofphere, if tlie moifture do not exceed certain bounds. 

 Under thefe circumllances, however, the annual (hoots be- 

 come large, foft, and fpongy, and the fruit, notwithftand- 

 ing it may have a promifing appearance, will prove watery 

 and infipid. A dry atmofphere produces effefts, it is faid, 

 the reverfe of thefe ; the growth in this cafe is flower, the 

 wood is of a more compaft texture, and the fruit, when it 

 .trrives at maturity, attains a rich faccharine flavour. 



The flavour of the fruit fecms, therefore, it is thought, 

 to depend, in a great meafure, on the quantity of water 

 daily evaporated from the leaves. Hence the fuperior 

 ftrength of the wines made in the warm dry province of La 

 Mancha, in Spain, when compared with thofe of Portug.il. 

 It is from this caufe too, it is fuppofed, that vines growing 

 on the fides of mountains, in the fouth of Europe, where 

 they experience more ventilation, yield richer grapes, and 

 make better wine, than when cultivated in the neighbouring 

 valleys ; though in the latter fituation, they experience 

 greater warmth, and the fruit arrives fooner at maturity. 

 Many forts of common fruit, capable of bearing tlic open 

 air, on (landard trees here too, have it of much better 

 flavour, though of inferior fize, than when trained to a wall, 

 owing to the more perfeft cxpofure of the leaves and fruit 

 to the effefts of light and ventilation. There is rcafon to 

 fuppofe, it is thought, that the injury fome varieties of 

 grapes, habitants of warm dry countries, fullain in the hot- 

 houfes here, during a contiimancc of damp and cool cloudy 

 weather, is owing to the accumulation of water in the veflels 

 of the leaves and green fruit, as the writer has frequently 



remarked, that an increafe of ventilation, during fuch i 

 ftate of the atmofphere, will often prevent the injury, par- 

 ticularly if a little warmth be given at the time by the flues. 

 Perhaps, inftead of the deep rich compofts in wliich vines 

 are commonly planted, if a light foil, of from eighteen to 

 twenty inches in depth, mixed with ftones, or old mortar 

 rubbifli was ufed, the fuccefs would be better with the prin- 

 cipal fummcr and autumnal crops of grapes. Vines planted 

 in a foil of this fort will not, it is thought, grow with fuch 

 exuberant vigour ; and that as lefs water will pafs into the 

 plants through the abforbent veflels of the roots, the vines 

 will probably receive lefs injury in moift cloudy weather, 

 and the fruit will be better flavoured. 



When vines arc intended to be forced in the 'winter 

 months, they require to be planted in a deep and rich com- 

 poft, which fhould be well drained, for the furface of the 

 foil is then fo much chilled by froft, and melting fnow, as 

 to prevent the vigorous aftion of the roots. 



The effefts of ground heat too have been noticed in 

 houfes properly conftrufted for fnpplying it. In the early 

 part of the month of February, the natural temperature of 

 the foil, at the depth of thirty inches, is commonly, it is 

 faid, about 42° by the thermometer. If the lieat of the 

 ground be then railed to 45°, the vines in the courfe of two 

 days begin to bleed ; and when the temperature is gradually 

 railed to 50°, the buds open with as much vigour, as when 

 the forcing is commenced under ordinary circumllances at 

 the latter end of March, when the natural warmth of the 

 ground, owing to the increafed excitability of the plant, is 

 fully fufficient. 



Forced grapes may be brought to a tolerable degree of 

 perfeftion, it is faid, at almoft any feafon of the year, but 

 in this climate they cannot attain their true flavour, unlefs 

 they are ripened in the fummer or autumn, when the tem- 

 perature of the external air is fuch, as to admit of much 

 ventilation, without danger of cliilHng the vines. It is faid 

 that experienced gardeners need not be informed of the ne- 

 cefTity of keeping up a regular warmth during the time the 

 vines are in flower, and till the fruit is fet ; it is, however, 

 a common error, it is believed, which many fall into in the 

 long days of fummer, that of clofing the hghts of the iiot- 

 houfes they manage too foon in tlie evening, and not open- 

 ing them fufficiently early in the morning. In the writer's 

 management, it is the praftice, in general, to leave feveral 

 of the upper lights open about tivo or three inches all night, 

 from the beginning of July until the middle of OAober, 

 which prevents that fuftocating degree of clofenefs and 

 mufty fmcll, occafioncd by the aftion of the light on the 

 leaves and condenfed water on the inner fide of the glafs. 

 The flavour of the ripening fruit is greatly improved by 

 allowing this ftagnant vapour to cfcape, and the grapes may 

 by this method be kept from rotting many weeks longer. 

 It is faid that in the hands of a judicious gardener, the liy- 

 gromcter will be found as ufcful an appendage to the liot- 

 houfe for grapes as the thermometer. A due degree of 

 moifture during the night, in the early ftagc of the growth 

 of the plant, accompanied at all times with dry warmth and 

 ventilation in the day time, is a very elTcntial matter to be 

 attended to ; as alfo tlie avoiding of all artificial inoillure, 

 by fprinkling the floor of the lioufe, either in the day or 

 night, in the latter llage when the fruit is ripening. See 



VlNlCHV. 



The fame method of management is equally applicable 

 and ufeful for fever;d other forts of fmit, luch as tnofe of 

 the peach and fig kinds, and many others. 



Uefides thefe modes of cultivating vines, they are capable 



of being grown with advantages luider hand-glafftJ, fo as to 



P p 2 produce 



