OF THE VINE. 



i 



57 



The grapes for seed should be permitted to re- ' 

 main on the plant till they are perfectly ripe, as the 

 seed is not till then quite matured, when it gene- 

 rally is of a very dark-brown colour. As soon as 

 the seed is taken from the pulp, or flesh, of the 

 grape, it should be laid on a sheet of paper, or the 

 like, in some airy, but shady place, to dry, and then 

 carefully preserved till spring. If, however, the 

 seed were to be immediately sown, and the pots 

 kept in the hot-house, and moderate waterings given 

 them during the winter, the plants would rise and 

 come up in the spring : but the great disadvan- 

 tage attending this method is, that the plants would 

 be liable to come forward too early, and, of course, 

 come weak. For although the seed would lie dor- 

 mant during the winter, notwithstanding the arti- 

 ficial warmth of the hot-house, yet as soon as the 

 days began to increase, and the sun to regain his 

 force, the genial warmth of his rays will soon, and, 

 perhaps, too soon, bring them up. It will, therefore, 

 I think, be the most eligible to sow the seeds about 

 the end of February, or the beginning of March m . 



m The beginning of March seems to be the most proper 

 season for sowing the seeds of plants in a hot-house. In the 

 spring, it is customary to raise a succession of crops of kidney 

 beans in most hot-houses, which are generally sown at intervals 

 of 10 or 12 days, from the middle of December to the begin- 

 ning of May. I have constantly observed a very distinguish- 

 able difference in every crop till the beginning of March 5 

 each crop coming better, and growing more robust and vigor- 

 ous than the preceding one. But, after the vernal equinox, the 

 case alters, and the crops then come more weak, the plants 

 growing tall, slender, and long-jointed. 



