672 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



a quarrel over an increase of rent forced the tenants to give up the vine- 

 yard. No one came forward to work it under the new conditions imposed 

 by the landlord, and the valuable vines were completely ruined by neglect. 

 The Habshi also grew in the Government Fort Gardens at Daulatabad ; 

 but as all the plants from time to time were taken away as specimens to 

 Hyderabad and other places, it soon became extinct. When I visited 

 Daulatabad last year to make a selection of plants for the gardens of the 

 Agri-horticultural School, I found only one single Habshi vine, in a 

 deplorable condition, in a private garden. However, I got a few cuttings 

 off this plant, and succeeded in getting some more from the garden of 

 Rajah Rai Rayan at Pakli, some ten miles north-east of Daulatabad. 

 Although there are no fruit-bearing vines of this variety anywhere in 

 Daulatabad or Aurangabad, yet some fifty young and healthy plants of it 

 are now to be found in the gardens worked by the Agri-horticultural 

 School of Aurangabad. The Pakli gardens, however, contain a few fruit- 

 bearing Habshi vines, and arrangements have been made to secure 

 cuttings for the Royal Horticultural Society as soon as the wood attains 

 proper maturity. 



The following is a description of the principal varieties of the Grape- 

 vine grown in and about Daulatabad. 



Habshi. — Fruit deep bluish-black, very sweet, long olive shape ; will 

 keep longer than any other variety. Very scarce now. Skin thick. The 

 berries very like 1 Muskat Grapes,' but the colour a little deeper than 

 ' Black Hamburgh.' 



Fakhri. — Greenish- white, round, bunches medium, very sweet, flavour 

 good ; will not keep long. 



Sahebi. — Resembles 1 Buckland Sweet Water,' but fruit larger ; will 

 keep longer ; flavour good. 



Abi or Bhogri. — Pale green, round, something like ' White Muscadine,' 

 but even at its best of inferior quality. 



The following is the method of cultivation followed by the Grape 

 growers of Daulatabad and the Deccan generally. 



The vine is grown only from cuttings ; no other method of pro- 

 pagation is appreciated by the native gardeners. In August or September 

 the vine grower gets cuttings from the previous year's hard-wooded shoots, 

 each with four or five eyes, and puts them into a well- prepared bed under 

 some kind of shed. Each cutting is buried to a depth of two or three 

 inches, and the top of the cutting is sometimes sealed with a mixture of 

 clay and cow- dung to prevent the sap from being dried out. These 

 cuttings are carefully kept in a moist condition, and are watered fre- 

 quently till they begin to shoot, which happens in about ten days' time. 

 The ground selected by the Daulatabad gardeners for the plantation 

 invariably contains a large proportion of calcareous and argillaceous matter 

 with pulverised basalt. 



It is worth noticing that where the soil is different the Grape never 

 attains perfection, and hence there is a belief prevalent at Daulatabad that 

 good Grapes can only be grown within the walls of the Fort. The ground 

 is ploughed several times till it is free from clods and weeds, and then it 

 is considered ready for the reception of the plants. At intervals of six to 

 ten feet pits are dug a foot and a half square and as deep, and filled with 



