CULINARY GARDENING. 



BOOK I. 



grown is a stronger loam than is recommended by Speedily 

 and Nicol, or used by any gardener as far as my observation 

 has extended; from which, and several other particulars in 

 management which I observed when there, it is probable some 

 real improvement is effected in the culture of this excellent 

 fruit. But for this I beg to refer to the Treatise which Mr. 

 Griffin proposes to publish. — In the next chapter some farther 

 observations will occur. 



The general culture of the vine * need not here occupy our at- 



seven pounds two ounces .;— and in August 1S04, he cut one of the same kind 

 which weighed nine pounds three ounces : these being the first and only two plants 

 of the New Providence kind ever placed under his care." This is extracted from 

 the Prospectus of a Treatise which he proposes to publish on the Pine. 



* It may be remarked here, that the general imperfection of English grapes is 

 their defect of saccharine matter and want of sweetness. This is, perhaps, in part 

 owing to the humidity of the atmosphere, more than to its coldness ; as very sweet 

 grapes grow, and spiritous wines are made, in much colder and more northern 

 latitudes than a great part of England. A very obvious remedy for both cold and 

 moisture is the adoption of small glass covers, made with lateral openings in such 

 a manner that they might be placed over the grapes and branch of the vine in any 

 direction. Another reason why the fruit of English vines possesses considerable aci- 

 dity, is the general taste for large globular grapes, without regard so much to the 

 delicacy of their flavour, as the grandeur of their appearance. This species of 

 vine does not produce delicious grapes in the hottest climates, and consequently 

 ought not to be so generally cultivated in this. The grapes most abundant in sac- 

 charine matter are always small and round, as those of the currant grape . It must be 

 confessed indeed, that the more exposed the vine is to the most intense meridian 

 sun, so much the sweeter will be the grape, and the greater the quantity of saccha- 

 rine or spiritous juice that it will contain. 



