452 



CULTURE OF THE GRAPE-VINE. 



increasing the temperature from 70° to 90° or 95°, with atmospheric moisture 

 in proportion. In this way queen pines have been grown to the weight of 

 five or six pounds, and New Providence pines from twelve pounds to fifteen 

 pounds. 



953. Insects. — Where a proper temperature and atmospheric moisture 

 are kept up, the pine will be little troubled with insects ; but in consequence 

 of careless treatment they are sometimes infested with a species of coccus, 

 which is got rid of by immersing the plants, when being shifted, in a mix- 

 ture of soft soap, sulphur, and tobacco water. The proportions do not seem 

 of much consequence, for they are very dififerent with different gardeners. 

 Mr. Dall takes 4 lbs. of soft soap, 2 lbs. flower of sulphur, 1 lb. of leaf 

 tobacco, and 2 oz. of nux vomica, and boils them in eight gallons of rain 

 water. After shaking the plants out of the pots and trimming their roots, 

 he washes them well with this mixture, and also the sides and ends of the 

 interior of the pit, and all the inner part of the house, excepting the roof. Mr. 

 Glendinning takes — sulphur, 2 lbs. ; soft soap^, 2 lbs. ; tobacco, 1|- lbs. ; nux 

 vomica, 2 oz. ; camphor, 1 oz., dissolved in a wine-glassful of spirit of tur- 

 pentine ; and boils the whole in eight gallons of water for an hour. When 

 the mixtiire has fallen to 120°, he immerses each plant in it separately, 

 keeping the liquid as near as possible to that degree of heat. {Practical hints 

 on the culture of the pine-apple, p. 51). Plants subjected to the mixture 

 either of Mr. Dall or Mr. Glendinning have an unsightl}'- appearance for 

 some months afterwards ; but when they commence growing, the new part 

 of their foliage assumes the usual healthy, vigorous hue. ^\^here there is 

 room in the pine pit for laying down a quantity of fermenting horse-dung, 

 the steam produced is perhaps the best destroyer of every description of insect 

 and it does no injury to pines. This was Baldwin's remedy. 



TI. — Culture oft?^ grape-vine under glass and on walls, 

 SuBSECT. l.^Natural data on which the culture of the grape-vine is founded. 



954. The grape-vine is a deciduous ligneous climber, indigenous or culti- 

 vated in a considerable portion of the temperate parts of the northern hemi- 

 sphere. It is found wild in Greece, Turkey in Asia, and Persia, the Morea, 

 and near the Black and Caspian Seas, and in many other places ; but the 

 countries in which it is found in the highest degree of perfection are Armenia 

 and Syria. In Armenia and Syria, judging from their latitudes, the mean 

 temperature of the coldest winter month in the region of vine culture is 

 probably between 45° and 50°, and the mean temperature of the warmest 

 summer month between 75° and 80°. It is certain, however, that the vine 

 will bear a much lower ^vinter temperature than 45° ; for on the hills in 

 Germany, where several kinds are cultivated vdth success, and the vines are 

 every winter buried under the snow, the temperature for two or three 

 months cannot be much above 82°. It is also found in our forcing-houses 

 that the vine will bear a summer temperature of between 70° and 80°. It 

 may, we think, be assumed that the vine is not calculated to sustain unin- 



V jured a winter temperature much below 40° ; and this is confirmatory of the 

 excellence of the practice of British gardeners, in wintering the shoots of 

 vines grown under glass under some kind of protecting cover : such as 

 between outer and inner front sashes, or tied loosely up in mats or in thatch, 

 so as to keep them quite dry without excluding the aii*. 



955. With respect to atmospheric- moisture^ it can only, as far as we know, 



