34 



THE FRUITING YEAR. 



be so thin that every berry is able to swell perfectly 

 without being jammed, and at the same time the bunch 

 should be so firm that, when cut and laid in a horizontal 

 position on the dish, it preserves the same shape as 

 when hanging vertically from the branch. This I con- 

 sider the perfection of thinning, and can only be attained 

 by experience and a knowledge of the size of the vari- 

 ous sorts of grapes, as well as of given vines of the same 

 sort. 



I consider 70° of fire-heat sufficient for grapes as a 

 night temperature, except for Muscats when in bloom. 

 I may here remark, that in March 1867 1 had a house of 

 this vine in bloom, and during the whole month the sun 

 was only visible for about three hours, with rain nearly 

 every day. I kept the fire-heat 75° by night and 85° 

 by day, and every bunch in the house set like Ham- 

 burgs. No moisture was given, while they were in 

 bloom, in. any form ; and at that stage, if a bunch 

 received a shake in any way, a complete cloud of pollen 

 flew from it. This is the whole secret of setting Mus- 

 cats. When they are set, however, I let them fall back 

 to 70° at night, and give a steady but not excessive 

 moisture to the air, letting them rise with air on to 

 90° during the day with sun-heat. I make it a rule, 

 except during severe frost, to keep the back ventilators 

 open an inch, and the front ones half an inch during the 

 night. This gives a supply of fresh air, and keeps the 

 foliage healthy and of good substance, and more able to 

 resist the scorching: effects of the sun when it makes its 

 appearance. On the other hand, a thin, almost trans- 

 parent foliage, grown in a close, over-moist atmosphere, 

 though it may have expanded to a large size, gets 

 brown and destroyed by a few days of bright sunshine 

 in May. 



