ON FRUIT CULTURE. 



lOOQ 



the mornings, so that all excess of moisture may settle 

 before night. 



Pot vines, as a rule, make only moderate growth, and one 

 shoot from an eye is plenty. If too many shoots appear, all 

 that are not required should be rubbed off when only lin. or 

 2in. long, leaving the permanent shoots about ift. apart on each 

 side of the cane or rod. When the shoots are about i5in. long, 

 they should have the points pinched out, and those carrying 

 bunches, at two leaves beyond the bunch. Any sub-laterals 

 forming on the shoots should be pinched back to one leaf while 

 small, thus conserving all the vigour. If the vines are 3ft. apart, 

 and trained about T5in. from the glass, it may easily be calculated 

 hoW' many plants the house will contain. As far as possible the 

 growth should be allow^ed to cover the roof or trellis. Good 

 strong, healthy pot vines ought to carry from six to eight bunches 

 of good Grapes if liberally supplied with diluted liquid manure, or 

 occasionally surface-dressed with a reliable chemical manure. 

 Directly the Grapes commence changing colour, feeding should be 

 gradually reduced and a little more air be admitted on favourable 

 days. When all the Grapes have been gathered, the vines are 

 best thrown away, as they are little good afterwards, and the 

 house may then be employed to grow" a late crop of ]Melons, &c. 



Black Hamburgh is the best variety of Grape for pot culture, 

 being early and excellent in every way. If a white variety is 

 desired, Foster's Seedling is a very good one. Thinning of the 

 bunches is fully described further on. 



In most private gardens the Vineries are in the form of a 

 range, and are often built as lean-to's against a wall. Other 

 forms of vinery are the three-quarter span and the span-roofed ; 

 but in whatever form they are constructed, the heating principle 

 is the same, those most distant from the boiler being for the late 

 Grapes, as it would obviously be a waste of fuel and boiler 

 power to have the vinery requiring the greatest heat the furthest 

 removed. Equally as important as the erection and heating of 

 the vineries are the drainage and formation of borders. On 

 some soils really first-class Grapes are grown without any prepared 

 borders, but in few private gardens is it possible to do this, 

 and it proves most economical in the end to do the work 

 thoroughly in the first place, by excavating the soil to the depth 

 of 3^ft. to 4ft. and the width of the house, laying in a drain to 

 carry away all surplus w^ater, and putting in broken bricks over 

 the bottom to a depth of ift. On this should be laid 2^ft. of 

 good fibrous loam fresh from a pasture, with mortar rubble or 

 plaster refuse and a little bone-meal added ; a good border will 

 then be made. No farmyard manure should be incorporated, nor 

 should the turf be broken up, as the fibre then lasts longer, and 

 the soil does not congest or set together so closely. This 4ft. 

 border being inside, the vines may be planted at almost any 



