FORCING DEPARTMENT. 865 



of air may pass among the berries, which will, in a 

 great measure, prevent their getting mouldy, or rot- 

 ting in cloudy damp weather. The thinning, how- 

 ever, must not be done all at one time ; the bunches 

 should also be examined two or three times before 

 the fruit is beginning to colour, and those berries 

 that appear too close together, removed, so as to 

 allow room for the remaining ones to hang quite free 

 and detached. Care should also be taken not to 

 prick any of the berries that are intended to be left 

 in the bunches with the point of the scissors. The 

 large growing kinds should have their shoulders sus- 

 pended to the trellis by matting ; which will keep 

 them free from the lower part of the bunch, and 

 admit of more air to the berries, which is so essen- 

 tial for their swelling to perfection. Those shoots 

 that were stopped at the joint above the fruit, will 

 be throwing out laterals ; these may be permitted to 

 grow a few joints, and then pinched back to the 

 first, and kept shortened so as to prevent their 

 depriving the fruit, or young wood destined for next 

 year's crop, of any portion of their nourishment. 

 When the Grapes begin to shew the least symptoms 

 of changing their colour, the steaming and watering 

 of the house is abandoned, as, likewise,, the supply 

 to the roots ; which, if liberally applied during 

 their previous growth, the borders will be sufficiently 

 moist to sustain. But if the border within the house, 

 where the Vines are planted, appears dry, which 

 will very likely be occasioned by the hot-water pipes 

 that run close by that space, it must be watered, yet 

 sparingly, as too much moisture, when the fruit is 



