410 PRESERVING GRAPES THROUGH THE WINTER 



every day growing in popularity — a great deal more enjoy- 

 able and obtainable in tbe winter and early spring months. 

 For if it be a process requiring much care in large well-con- 

 ducted gardens^ how much more difficult must it be for the 

 large class of amateurs and small gardeners to preserve their 

 fruit in good condition ? In places where the stock of grapes 

 is not sufficient to require a special room for their keeping, 

 part of the fruit room might be adopted; or even a diy 

 cellar or store-room. 



The above was written pre"sious to visiting M. Rose-Char- 

 meux_, with whom the system originated. I have since seen 

 his grapes stored for the winter; the method was in. full 

 working order^ and even more simple and effective than could 

 have been supposed. He began by having a stove and a 

 couple of chimneys to try to regulate the atmosphere of his 

 large grape-room; but finding that the grapes keep very 

 much better without this, he now simply devotes to his 

 winter stock a large room in his house, fitting it up in all 

 parts to accommodate handily the little bottles before spoken 

 of, padding the inside of the windows so as to exclude light, 

 and obviate^ as far as possible, changes of temperatui^e. The 

 grapes are cut in October, and preserved in good condition 

 until Aprils when his earliest are ripe. He has frequently 

 shown them in May, and even later, and has kept them till 

 August ; but of course the quality cannot be expected to be 

 good after such very long keeping, which is merely done for 

 the sake of show. A small room in '^l. Rose-Charmeux^s 

 house illustrates to a nicety the fact that a similar one in 

 most houses may be made to answer the purposes of keeping 

 grapes. It has no windows, and scarcely any means of ven- 

 tilation. The house is heated by hot air ; but while there 

 are openings in the floor of the passages and other rooms 

 to admit this, there are none in this little room in which the 

 grapes keep perfectly. Thus it is clear that the ordinary 

 dwelling house will present suitable conditions for the long 

 preservation of grapes. The system was attractive enough 

 when it was considered necessary to construct a room specially 

 to carry it out ; it is much more so now when it has been 

 proved that not only is it not necessary to take any special 



