6F THJi VINE. 



87 



length. In December it was pruned down to 

 twenty-two feet, (or about thirty-five eyes,) and the 



" You sent them in balls of earth* The plants were small, 

 the shoots not thicker than a goose quill, and raised, as you 

 said, from single eyes the preceding spring. They were im- 

 mediately put into pots about ten inches diameter. Their 

 future management was nearly as follows : 

 . " The pots were put into the hot-house, and the plants were 

 cut down to the lowermost eye in each. The soil is a fresh 

 sandy loam, mixed with about one-third of rotten stable-yard 

 dung. 



" The Vines were constantly kept in a moist state ; and, 

 from November to March, were watered with rain-water only > 

 but from March to June we often watered them with soap 

 suds. 



" During the time the Vines were in the hot-house, they 

 were kept perfectly clean and free from insects : only one 

 shoot was permitted to grow from each plant. 



" The last week in June the Vines were taken carefully out 

 of the pots, and planted in a border on the south side of the 

 hot-house, with their balls entire. The shoots were conveyed 

 through holes in the front wall, and trained upwards against the 

 rafters which support the roof of the hot-house. 



" I should have observed, that the border is composed of the 

 same materials as has been described for the pots, its depth five 

 feet, and its breadth fourteen feet : also, that the Vine-shoots 

 were, in length, at the time when planted, from ten to fourteen 

 feet. 



" During summer, the border was kept in a moist state, by 

 watering it sometimes with rain-water, and sometimes with soap 

 suds. 



" Many of the Vines showed fruit ; but, according to your 

 directions, they were divested of all the bunches except one, 

 which was permitted to remain on a Vine, which you called the 

 white Muscat of Alexandria, This bunch was cut on the 26th 



G 4 



