u:>T ilEAKING rLO~\YEHS. 



103 



should be cut prett\- severely. It had better be done by 

 an experienced gardener, as written directions will be but 

 an insufficient guide. 



It is a bad plan to leave too many bunches of grapes on 

 a vine, as they will seldom ripen so well when very 

 numerous. The leaves should never be plucked off 

 around the fruit. Muslin bags will be useful when the 

 grapes are getting ripe, to preserve them from wasps and 

 other insects ; but the muslin ought to be very thin. A 

 light-coloured wall will be less fitted for ripening grapes 

 than a dark one. 



iii.-ox eeaPvIxCt flowers. 



Flowers, though not a necessary of life, add much to 

 innocent pleasure, and their cultivation is a healthful 

 employment, which most people like, and by which all 

 may be improved. Solomon in all his glory,'' says our 

 Saviour, " vras not arrayed like one of these." 



Within the last few years a taste for the cultivation of 

 these interesting and beautiful j)roductions of nature has 

 been so rapidly diffused, that it has now become almost 

 universal, and the poorest peasant, who can scarcely find 

 means to supply himself and his family with the common 

 necessaries of life, nevertheless prides himself in having 

 at least a few choice flowers, and experiences a degree of 

 delight in cultivating them and watching their progress, 

 which is almost unknown in the higher ranks of society, 

 or amongst those individuals who possess and employ the 

 means which are afforded them for collecting together the 

 floral beauties of all parts of the world. To meet the 

 wants and wishes of this large class of society, as well as 

 to afford directions by which every person, who has neither 

 the necessity nor the means for employing a gardener, 

 may cultivate in perfection all descriptioDS of iiowering 

 plants which do not require any artificial structure to pro- 

 tect them, except such as every person possesses — a dv>'ell- 

 iDg-room — is the object of the few succeeding remarks. 



The chief principles upon Vv'hich the successful rearing 

 of flowers depends, are, not to gorge them with rich or 

 watery food, which will produce leaves rather than flowers; 



