556 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Part III. 



vine protruded itself, and grew in the open air. The bunch or bunches of grapes 

 remained within the hand-glass, and enjoyed the advantages of protection from cold 

 winds, dews, and rains, during night, and of a high degree of confined solar heat during 

 the day. 



3046. Forcing vines in j^ots. This is not a very common practice, because the vine 

 requires a greater extent of pasturage for the roots than any other fruit-tree. It has, 

 however, been occasionally attempted by gardeners in pits and stoves, and three or four 

 bunches are sometimes thus obtained from one plant. The soil must be as rich as pos- 

 sible, and every attention paid to keeping the plants regularly supplied with water and 

 liquid manure. Knight employed water impregnated with pigeons' dung to the color of 

 porter, and found, in consequence, the most vigorous growth. He states, that a pot 

 containing two cubic feet of very rich mould, properly supplied with water and manure 

 in a liquid state, is fully adequate to nourish a vine, which, after being pruned in 

 autumn, occupies twenty square feet of the roof of a hot-house. Such vines he con- 

 stantly found to produce more vigorous wood when forced very early, than otliers of the 

 same varieties, whose roots were permitted to extend beyond the limits of the house. 

 {Hort. Trans, vol. ii. 373.) 



3047. Marsla7id, of Woodbank, near Stockport, has a succession of grapes during eleven months 

 in the year, by forcing vines in pots. The pots are placed on stages, and as the fruit is cut, they are 

 removed and replaced by others ; the plants are from one to four years old, and at the latter age they 

 bear abundantly, and produce large bunches. {Hort. Trans, vol. ii. 373.) 



3048. Buck finds this method of obtaining grapes answer particularly well, and by removing the pots 

 in the winter months, when the fruit is full ripe, into a dry airy situation, he can preserve it fit for 

 the table much longer than he can in the vinery, when cloudy and damp weather prevails. {Hort. 

 Trans, vol. iv. 561.) 



3049. Cultivating for retarding maturation, so as to obtain a supply in the winter 

 season, is thus described in the Transactions of the Horticultural Society, as practised by 

 ArkwT-ight, of Willersley. 



The sorts cultivated for this late crop are the white muscat of Alexandria, the black Damascus, the 

 black TenerifFe, the St. Peter's, the black raisin, the Syrian, and the white Nice. They are grown in 

 houses alternately used as pineries and vineries. About the second week in February, the pine-plants are 

 always removed into another vinery. The grapes which remain on the vines are all cut, and the house 

 thrown open for the free admission of air at all times, till the end of April, when the vine-buds begin to 

 swell, when a gentle fire is applied in the night, and in dark and cold days ; but air is admitted freely 

 when the thermometer is up at 708. At this period, a proportion of the pine-plants is again brought into 

 the house, where they remain till the succeeding February. The treatment from this time is quite in the 

 common way ; and by this late and slow process, the grapes do not begin to ripen till towards the end of 

 October, and the very late sorts, such as the St. Peter's, are scarcely ripe at Christmas. The following 

 note is added to this paper by the secretary : — 



Sjiecimens of grapes ripened in this manner were exhibited by Arkwright to the society on the 3d of 

 February, 1819, and were as rich, perfect, and fresh, as if they had been produced at the usual season : and 

 the leaves of the vine, which were sent at the same time, were in an undiminished state of vegetation. 

 These leaves, Arkwright has since stated, w€re from the late sorts of vines, viz. the Syrian, the Nice, and 

 the St. Peter's ; those of more early kinds, such as the muscat and the Damascus, begin to assume their 

 yellow tinge about Christmas, but their fruit continues quite fresh and good for a considerable time after- 

 wards. The conclusion is obvious, that the vines made to produce these late grapes had acquired the 

 habit of late bearing, and this habit, Arkwright states, has been brought on gradually. Whenever he 

 introduces a young vine into the house, where his late grapes are grown, it is treated exactly like the 

 vines which are in bearing, and in the second or third year after planting, when it begins to yield fruit, 

 it is found to have lost its disposition to break into leaf at the accustomed season. Arkwright began to 

 practise his present plan of growing late grapes about twelve years ago, at which time he also used to 

 force early grapes ; and so successful was his plan of retardation, that, on the 1st of May, 1810, he had on 

 his table fresh-gathered fruit, the produce of two years, viz. of the late crop of the past, and the early crop 

 of the present year. He has now ceased to force any vines for early fruit, and confines his cultivation to 

 that of late grapes alone. 



SuBSECT. 3. Of Gathering and Xeejnng forced Grajyes. 



3050. With" respect to the gathering of grajyes, Nicol observes, " they should be 

 allowed to hang till fully matured and ripened ; especially the thick-skinned and fleshy 

 sorts. Even the thin-skinned and juicy kinds, as the white sweetwater, white Frontig- 

 nac, and muscadine (that are often cut before nearly ripe,) are much improved in flavor, 

 by being allowed to remain on the plant till the skin become transparent, and of a russet 

 or yellowish color." The grapery, when the fruit is ripe, ought to be kept dry and cool 

 in order to preserve the fruit as long as possible on the branches, and thus to prolong the 

 grape season. Covering the border an inch or two withdi-y sand, ashes, or gravel, Nicol 

 .says, contributes to dry the air and dispel damps. The leaves round the bunches are 

 to be picked off for the same end, and a fire to be made in the day-time in gloomy 

 weather. 



3051. Thompson, gardener to Earl Cowper, at Panshanger, preserves grapes in his vinerv till February, by 

 lighting fires in the day-time, and giving plenty of air; but putting them out in the afternoon, and shut- 

 ting the house close up at night. " The fire in the day, aided by the circulation of the air, renders the 

 whole interior of the houses perfectly dry, so that no damp exists in them when shut upj a night fire, on 

 the contrary, with the houses closed, creates a vapor, which causes the fruit to become mould3% and to 

 decay. The sorts used were the Frontignacs, sweetwater, and black Damascus." (Hort. Trans. 

 vol. iv. 132.) 



3052. M'PAaz? observes, " there are some sorts of grapes, such as the black muscat o/ Jerusalem, the 

 Syrian, Tokay, and some others, which will keep on the tree a long time after they are ripe, provided the 

 house be kept dry and cool." 



