40 



mUITING GRAPE VINES IN POTS. 



Vines in pots are frequently grown for dinner-table 

 decoration ; but I have seldom seen them look natural 



and well, as they are generally 

 grown in large pots, and coiled 

 round stakes. Fig. 7 is an illus- 

 tration of the way I have grown 

 them in Dalkeith gardens for 

 table decoration. When the vines 

 are placed in heat, a small pot 

 is slipped over the rod, and in 

 this pot a neatly -made stake, 

 painted green, is placed, and the 

 soil filled in round it. Through 

 this stake a set of strong wires 

 are run at right angles with each 

 other, to which the branches of 

 the vine are tied, as shown. 

 The small pot gets filled with 

 roots by the time the grapes 

 are ripe, when it may be detached from the large pot, 

 and can be set in a small vase on the table, where the 

 tree-like plant with fine pendulous bunches of grapes 

 looks all that can be desired. I have had one of these 

 vines fourteen days in the fruit-room, with nothing to 

 support it but a small pot, without a flagged leaf, 

 and the bunches as plump as when detached from the 

 original roots in the large pot. 



For growing for table in pots the black Hamburg is 

 by far the best. The vine is a sure bearer, has fine 

 shapely foliage, and the fruit, being dark, contrasts 

 beautifully with it. 



Fig. 7. 



