96 Method of retarding the Ripening of Grapes 



for the free admission of air at all times. This opportunity 

 is taken of washing the glass and wood, and of painting, if 

 requisite ; and also of whitewashing all the walls, flues, &c. 

 with quick lime, so that, by one means or other, every kind 

 of insect, as well as their eggs, is destroyed. About the 

 latter end of April, or beginning of May, the vine buds 

 begin to swell, when a gentle fire heat is applied, in the 

 night, and in dark and cold days ; but air is admitted freely, 

 whenever the thermometer is up at 70°. 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, as 

 practised by Speechly, and most other gardeners, more care, 

 perhaps, being taken not to apply too much heat, and to 

 admit air as much as circumstances will allow. By this late 

 and slow process, the grapes do not begin to ripen till to- 

 wards the end of October, and the very late sorts, such as 

 the St. Peter's, are scarcely ripe at Christmas. 



I profess to have no general horticultural knowledge ; 

 but having given my attention to the culture of the vine, 

 for many years, I will venture to suggest, what I conceive 

 to be a material point to be attended to, by those who are 

 desirous of producing late grapes, and that is, the exposure 

 of the vines to the common atmosphere, at all times, be- 

 tween the periods I have mentioned, namely, the beginning 

 of February, and the end of April, or early in May : for, 

 by so doing, they become, and remain, torpid for a consi- 

 derable time, and, I conceive, break almost at every eye 

 more vigorously, and are kept in a healthy growing state, 



