Plan far ripening Grapes. 



331 



be introduced into the frame; these you train along the 

 trellis already mentioned, with their points directed down- 

 wards, towards the front of the frame. By these means, 

 through the heat of the dung, and that of the sun from 

 the glass, your vines produce an abundant crop ; and it is 

 found, that the ripening of the fruit is accelerated, by laying 

 slates or tiles all over the dung. At the end of the season, 

 those shoots which have borne their crop are cut entirely 

 away, and a fresh supply introduced of young shoots, which 

 have been making and ripening their wood on the wall; 

 these are treated in the same manner, the wall annually 

 yielding a successive supply of young wood to be taken 

 into the frame. 



Mr. Mean has practised the above method, very success- 

 fully, for a number of years ; and although it may not be 

 altogether new, yet I believe he has the credit of being the 

 first to turn it to a useful account, and I think the Horticul- 

 tural Society will promote the improvement of gardening 

 very much, by making generally known such simple and 

 useful discoveries as the present, the adoption of which is 

 within the means of almost every cultivator. 



It ought to be observed, however, that Mr. Mean's me- 

 thod is widely different from that which is described at page 

 245 of this Volume, as practised by Mr. French, and 

 which is applicable to a different purpose ; yet it confirms 

 the truth of his observation, that the effluvia arising from 

 fermenting dung are beneficial, instead of being injurious, 

 to the Vine, in its fruit-bearing state, 



VOL. II. 



