JAMAICA. 



BULLETIN 



OF THE 



BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT- 



Vol. IV. 



New Series.] JULY, AUGUST, SEPT., 1897. Parts 7, 8, 9. 



THE GRAPE INDUSTRY. 



By W. Ckadwick, Superintendent of Hope Gardens, being notes read 

 at the Kingston Horticultural Society's Meeting. 



I do not intend to occupy your attention t>night f jranyleigthof time 

 but simply and as briefly as I am able to describe the methods which 

 we have practised in carrying our vineyard at Hope so far ; and to put 

 before you my opinion on the merits or demerits as the case may be of 

 those methods. 



Many of the vines which are now growing at Hope were n )t raised 

 by me but were large plants transferred from another viuery ; — this as 

 results have shown us, is one of the least satisfactory methods of estab- 

 lishing a vinery. 



When it was decided that grape growing was to be taken up at Hope, 

 the first thing which naturally claimed attention, was the position in 

 which they were to be growu. 



The first indispensable qualification for the site of the vinery was that 

 it should be where the vines would receive all the sunlight possible ; the 

 next was that it should be in such a positien that the roots of trees 

 should not penetrate into the snug place I contempla'ed preparing for 

 the roots, and so rob them of the store of plant food which I intended 

 to place at their disposal. 



I finally decided on a spot which after cutting down a good many 

 trees was withou' shade, I then dug a big trench between my embryo- 

 vinery and some other trees to prevent their rcots from travelling into 

 it, — and it really is astonishing how far the roots of even moderate 

 sized trees will stretch, when food and moisture are to be their reward. 



For the accommodation of the roots of my vines I dug a trench four 

 feet wide and four feet deep, taking care, as it was being done, to sepa- 

 rate all the good alluvial soil which was found on tho top, from the gra- 

 vel of which three fourths of the removed soil consisted ; the top soil I 

 returned to the bottom of the trench, the deficit caused by not returning 

 the gravel was made good by the addi'ion of other good alluvial soil 

 and a cartload of manure added to every four feet of the border. 

 In the border thus prepared, we planted our vines five feet apart. The 

 planting was done ia the spring of 1895 : of the large vines which we 

 phnted some were plants of three years old, the others being younger, 



