Jan.] 



THE FORCING GARDEN. 



579 



are exposed to the direct influence of the weather. A sort of 

 winter is, in some cases, produced, or at least prolonged, by 

 ti'aining the shoots so closely under the roof glass as even to 

 be in contact with it: that position being, in the winter season, 

 the coldest in tlie house, owing to the radiation of heat from the 

 exterior surface of the glass. Mr. S. strips the leaves off the 

 vines every year, in the end of October or beginning of No- 

 vember, because, soon after the latter period, the sap begins to 

 rise. In general, the Sweetwater vine so treated ripens its fruit 

 about the beginning of April, and the Hamburg about a month 

 later. The plants at the warmest end of the house, where the 

 flues enter, in some cases ripen their fruit a month earlier 

 than those at the cold end, and the vines in the succession- 

 pineries are, of course, much later than those which are ripen- 

 ing their fi'uit. By this means, a succ-ession of grapes is ob- 

 tained from April to J uly. The stems of most of the plants are 

 within the houses, in general in the back path, and the vines 

 trained under the glass over that path ; but sometimes they are 

 planted in fi'ont, and trained under the rafters. In the latter 

 case, the roots extend into a front border ; in the former, they 

 extend under the tan-pit, and into a border behind the back 

 wall. The borders are never dug, but every year a coating of 

 about a foot in thickness of half-rotten dung is spread over 

 them, to keep out the frost in winter and the drought in sum- 

 mer, and to nourish the roots and encourage them to come 

 to the surface." 



We find our own opinion coincides with that of Mr. Aeon, 

 a very successful cultivator of the vine, in a communication to 

 the Hort. Soc, the substance of which is as follows : the elastic 

 powers of the wood are restored by a few weeks exposure to a 

 cold atmosphere, which it never fails to lose when long con- 

 fined in a warm dry one ; exposure to frost promotes a dispo- 

 sition in them to break into bud much stronger and more uni- 

 form. 



A supply of grapes throughout the year is a desirable mat- 

 ter, and has been often attempted with more or less success. 

 In a communication in the Hort. Trans, by Mr. Aeon, we find 

 the following to be his practice : he arranges it so, that " the 

 late house crop lasts from the middle of January to the end of 



