THE 
HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 
August 1st, 1831. 
PART I. HORTICULTURE, &c. 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
Article I. — Account of a snccesftful Method of Cnltivating 
the IMiite Tokay Grape. By Mr. Charles Parkin, 
Gardener to Viscount Gahvay, Serlby-Hall, Notts. 
Gentlemen, 
A VERY great dissimilarity in the size of the berries of the 
White Tokay Grape, is generally obsen-able upon the same bunch of 
fruit, some being tvvo or three inches in circumference, \A'hilst others 
are no larger than peas ; this is accounted for, by the circumstance ot 
a defective or an omitted impregnation of the blossoms. 
The following method of treatment, with this Grape, has uniformly 
been so successful with me, that each berry is alike a desirable size, 
and even much finer than any I hvixe seen elsewhere under a different 
mode of treatment ; and the difference is so apparent, that all gardeners 
who have seen them, have spoken of them in terms of praise, whilst the 
greater part have become converts to the mode of culture I practise. 
When the bunches of fruit have expanded, and before the blossoms 
are opened, I have them carefully thinned-out. Where the blossoms 
are thickly set on the bunches, I thin them out so freely as to have , 
only about every sixth or eighth blossom. If the blossoms are rather 
straggling, I proportionally thin them out ; performing it, so that there 
will be a sufficient space for the berries to swell to three inches or more 
in circumference. After the operation has been once attended to, it is 
easily discovered on what scale it is required to thin. 
The benefit of this early thinning-out of the un-expanded blossom, is, 
that those remaining, are considerably strengthened bj' it. The pollen 
becomes more perfect, and the stamens more erect, and thus a certain 
fecundation is effected. Also, by this early removal of a greater ])art 
of the blossoms, those remaining receive a proportionate degree of 
Vol. 1, No. 2 H 
