628 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



which nothing but syringing can remove ; besides, 

 there may be something advantageous in the 

 movement caused in the foliage by the force 

 with which water is thrown upon them. In 

 regard to the maintenance of a due amount of 

 moisture in vineries, vide vol. L, p. 350. 



Why water is to be withheld from grape-vines 

 immediately before the fruit ripens. — In dry sum- 

 mers and autumns our most hardy fruits are 

 found to be much higher in flavour than when 

 these seasons are rainy. This circumstance, no 

 doubt, gave the first idea of withholding water 

 from fruit-bearing plants prior to their beginning 

 to ripen. Vegetable physiologists account for 

 this on the ground that at that period of the 

 fruit's growth, decomposition, or dissipation of 

 the water that they have been draining from the 

 stem under favourable circumstances, such as a 

 dry season, takes place ; and hence, by diminish- 

 ing the quantity of water given artificially, we 

 accelerate maturation, because less time will be 

 required to dissipate that element, and greater 

 opportunities offered for the formation of sac- 

 charine matter, and the acquirement of certain 

 flavours for which any peculiar fruit may be 

 prized; while an excessive supply of water would 

 not only retard the process of ripening, but 

 would also prevent the formation of saccharine 

 matter, and render the fruit acid and tasteless, 

 by the proper proportion of carbon and water 

 which constitutes the saccharine matter in the 

 grape being destroyed, and water formed in 

 them in excess. It also chills the roots, and, 

 by consolidating the soil around them, prevents 

 the admission of air, so beneficial to the roots of 

 all plants. Most cultivators recommend main- 

 taining a dry atmosphere while the grapes are 

 ripening, calculating thereby to improve their 

 flavour; and such is a very generally received 

 opinion, and seems to accord pretty well with 

 the natural condition of the vine in most coun- 

 tries where it is grown in the open air. We 

 fear, however, that this dry state of the atmo- 

 sphere is carried too far, and the transition 

 brought about too suddenly. To avoid destroy- 

 ing the bloom on the fruit, syringing should be 

 discontinued before colouring begins to take 

 place ; but, on the other hand, a general humid- 

 ity should be kept up until the fruit is fully 

 ripened, and the foliage begins to change, indi- 

 cating that the growing season is past; and this 

 can be easily effected by sprinkling the walls, 

 floors, &c, which will cause a fine genial eva- 

 poration to take place similar to natural dew. 

 At Cabul and Candahar, where the finest grapes 

 in the world are produced in the open air, dew 

 falls heavily at the season of the grapes ripen- 

 ing. There is no doubt, however, that there the 

 sun's influence during the day is much greater 

 than with us, even in our best vineries ; but still 

 there is reason to believe that our house grapes 

 would be greatly improved, both in size and fla- 

 vour, if so important a part of their nourishment 

 were not so suddenly and so completely cut off 

 as is the case in very general practice. 



A deficiency of heat and light injurious to the 

 vine. — No plant will grow in a temperature be- 

 low the freezing point, although some will exist 

 under that point for a time. More or less heat 



is required to cause the germination of every 

 seed, and also to continue the future plant in a 

 healthy condition. This amount of heat varies 

 according to the nature of the species of plant 

 subjected to it. If the heat in which a plant 

 is placed be sufficient to rouse its vital forces, 

 and to bring them into action, under such cir- 

 cumstances a plant will flourish. If, however, 

 the temperature be reduced to that point which 

 is just sufficient to prevent the extinction of its 

 existence, then it becomes incapable of assimi- 

 lating the food it absorbs from the earth and 

 air; its tissue, no doubt, grows, but does not be- 

 come solidified by the incorporation of assimi- 

 lated matter ; watery particles form in its struc- 

 ture, and a sickly yellowness takes the place of 

 its healthy green colour. If a fruit-bearing plant, 

 flavour and fruit become diminished ; and if a 

 flowering plant only, it ceases to produce even 

 flowers. A deficiency of heat is the cause of the 

 inferiority of many of our fruits compared with 

 other countries; and a diminished amount of it 

 in our hothouses, whether caused by accident or 

 want of care, is readily discovered by the want of 

 flavour in our fruits, and the absence of flowers 

 on many of our plants. It is deficiency of heat 

 that prevents the finer sorts of grape-vines from 

 arriving at perfection in the open air of this 

 country, and of the inferior quality of such even 

 of the hardier sorts grown on our open walls, 

 compared with those produced in more con- 

 genial climates. Allowing the temperature of 

 our vineries to fall too low even for a very short 

 period is as injurious to the plants as an excess 

 of it would be; for although these causes are 

 the antipodes of each other, the bad effects in 

 either case are equally apparent. The follow- 

 ing paragraph will explain pretty clearly how 

 this is : — 



" The maturation of the fruit is dependent 

 upon the action of the leaves and roots, and the 

 secretions that it forms are principally derived 

 from light. It is, however, certain that the 

 juices furnished by the leaves undergo a further 

 alteration by the vital forces of the fruit itself, 

 which alteration varies according to species. 

 Thus the fruit of the peach is sweet, but there is 

 no perceptible sweetness in its leaves ; and the 

 fruit of the fig is sweet and nutritious, while the 

 leaves of that plant are acrid and deleterious. 

 Among the immediate causes of the peculiar 

 changes that occur in the secretions of fruits are 

 heat and light, without which the peculiar qua- 

 lities of fruits are imperfectly formed, especially 

 of species that are natives of countries enjoying 

 a high summer temperature. It is found that 

 among the effects of a high temperature and 

 an exposure to bright light, is the production of 

 sugar and of certain flavours, and that under op- 

 posite circumstances acidity prevails. As sugar 

 is more rich in carbon than vegetable acids, and 

 has no free oxygen as they have, the sweetness 

 of . pulpy fruits ripened under bright sunshine 

 may be understood to arise from the decompo- 

 sition of carbonic gas, and the expulsion of oxy- 

 gen being greater under sunshine than in the 

 shade. Another cause may be, the greater faci- 

 lity by which vegetable acids enter into com- 

 bination with gum and starch, and so form 



