626 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



ripened late in autumn are kept on the vines till 

 after Christmas, and in order to secure this, fires 

 must be used occasionally during the day, when 

 ventilation should at the same time be given, in 

 orderto carry away all accumulating damps. " Too 

 great a depression of heat," says Mr G. W. John- 

 stone, (in "The Gardeners' Monthly Volume,") 

 " will induce a state of rest ; too much heat will 

 hurry them through this stage." He " has found 

 by experience that an average of 45° to 55° will 

 suit better than either a higher or a lower tem- 

 perature, unless, indeed, as sometimes happens, 

 the leaves have ripened and are shed ; then, in- 

 deed, 35° will suffice, provided damp can be 

 expelled by such a temperature. Fires should 

 be kept going early in the morning, accompanied 

 with a free circulation of air, more especially if 

 somewhat dry and free from fogs. The house 

 may be closed towards two or three o'clock, p.m., 

 with the exception of a very little back air, to 

 permit the egress of steam through the night. 

 The bunches should be examined with the 

 scissors at least once a -week, and berries re- 

 moved the moment that the slightest decay is 

 visible." After the middle of November the 

 house should be darkened by day by a covering 

 of canvass, which, however, had better be re- 

 moved towards dark, to admit of night ventila- 

 tion through the top of the glass or otherwise. 

 Drip must be guarded against, and where the 

 vinery is badly glazed, a waterproof covering 

 will be found advantageous. 



Ripe grapes are often kept a month or more 

 after being removed from the vine, by placing 

 each bunch within paper or cotton bags, and 

 suspending them by the stalks to cords run 

 across a dry airy room. Speechley preserved 

 his grapes by removing the bunches attached to 

 portions of the shoots on which they grew, 

 having two or three joints above the branch, 

 and a sufficient length of it below to reach to 

 the bottom of a quart bottle filled with water, 

 and changed every twelve or fourteen days. 

 The lower end of the shoots were placed in the 

 bottle, and at every time the water was changed 

 a thin slice was cut off the end of the part of 

 the shoot immersed. Grapes should always be 

 suspended ; but it has been questioned whether 

 by the stalk in their natural position, or reversed, 

 as recommended by Mr Lavanchy, in " Cottage 

 Gardener," vol. i., p. 82., who says : " Instead of 

 tying the bunches by the stalks when hanging 

 them up, take a piece of worsted 2 feet long, tie 

 the two ends in a knot, make a noose, and insert 

 two or three of the berries of the point of the 

 bunch in it: do the same thing at the other end 

 of the loop : hang the two bunches on a nail or 

 a rod, putting one of them higher than the 

 other that they may not come in contact. The 

 advantage of this method is obvious. When 

 the bunch hangs in its natural position, the 

 berries rest on each other; and if one decays, the 

 contusion spreads so rapidly that the whole 

 bunch is soon destroyed. Reverse the position 

 of the bunch, and almost every berry is separated 

 from the others, and disease is far less likely to 

 spread than in the former case. The grapes 

 should be kept in a cool dry room." — Vide 

 Management of the fruit- room. 



The floors of late vineries should be kept 

 covered with dry coal -ashes, removing them 

 when they become damp, and. replacing them 

 with dry ones. A few lumps of unslaked lime, 

 placed in shallow boxes, have also the effect of 

 drying the atmosphere, in consequence of its 

 capability of absorbing moisture; lighting the 

 fires by day, and ventilating freely at the same 

 time, has a similar effect, the moisture being 

 carried off in vapour; night-fire, on the contrarj', 

 with the house shut up, has the very opposite 

 effect. Avoid ventilation in damp and rainy 

 weather, as the air will carry moisture in along 

 with it. With these, and a low uniform tempera- 

 ture,, and, if possible, absence of light, grapes 

 may be kept till the end of February. It is, 

 however, most essential that the roof of the 

 house be in the best possible state of repair, so 

 as completely to exclude rain. While recom- 

 mending the vinery to be kept dry, care must 

 be taken at the same time that this is not carried 

 to excess, else the fruit will shrivel, and become 

 unsightly and almost useless. 



Produce of the vine. — This must vary very 

 much according to good management, size of 

 the house, season of the year, whether the 

 variety produce large or small bunches, &c. 

 As a pretty general rule, a single stem of the 

 vine trained under a rafter of an ordinary-sized 

 vinery, and pruned on the spur principle, will 

 yield upon an average from fifteen to twenty 

 pounds weight yearly ; a vine on the long- rod 

 principle about twenty or twenty-two pounds; 

 and if trained over the house, the same vine, in 

 either case, will yield a third more ; that is to 

 say, if each is allowed the same extent of roof 

 surface. Mr Clement Hoare, in his " Treatise 

 on the Vine in the Open Air," has laid down a 

 rule, taking for his data the circumference of 

 the stem of the plant close to the ground. 



" Scale of the greatest quantity of grapes which 

 any vine can perfectly mature, in proportion 

 to the circumference of its stem, measured 

 just above the ground: — 



Circumference. 

 3 inches 

 3* „ 



lb. 



Circumference. 



lb. 



5 



7 inches . 



. 45 



10 





. 50 



15 



? ;; : 



. 55 



20 



8| „ . 



. 60 



25 



9 



. 65 



30 



9h » • 



. 70 



35 



10 



. 75 



40 







" It will be seen, that if 1\ inches be deducted 

 from the circumference of the stem of any vine, 

 the capability of it will be equal to the matura- 

 tion of ten pounds of grapes for every remain- 

 ing inch of girth. The proportional quantity 

 for fractional parts of an inch may be easily 

 calculated." 



And another writer on the vine says, no vine 

 should be allowed to produce fruit until its 

 girth near the ground measures 3 inches, when 

 it may ripen five pounds, and for every half-inch 

 increase five pounds may be added. It is 

 always wrong to overcrop any tree, a young 

 vine in particular. 



Training the vine.— The vine is trained under 



