Januaxy 20, 1881. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
41 
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Royal Society at 4.30 P.M. Linncan Society at 8 p.M. 
Royal Botanic Society at 3.45 p.M. 
3rd Sunday after Epiphany. 
Society of Arts, 8 P.M. 
FORCING VINES IN POTS. 
INES in pots are now very popular and largely 
grown for supplying early Grapes, and the prac¬ 
tice is doubtless advantageous to the health of 
permanent Vines that would but for these be 
subjected to much earlier forcing. Those known 
as cut-backs are the best for very early work if 
grown at home, otherwise those grown from eyes 
in one season in the nurseries are as good. If 
Vines are cut-backs and home-grown they can be 
started into growth at any time, and in consequence the 
wood will be ripened earlier and better than those from eyes. 
The principal point where pot Vines are employed for early 
work is to have them ripe, so that they can enjoy a good rest 
before forcing time ; this is most essential _to success, and 
renders the work afterwards much more easy. 
When grown from eyes it is difficult to have them ripened 
sufficiently early to allow a good rest before starting, for if 
the Vines only lose their foliage ai d are started almost at 
once success cannot be expected. In the majority of cases 
they are a long time commencing growth, and under such cir¬ 
cumstances are liable to be overforced in their early stages 
and break irregularly ; but with well-rested cut-backs success 
is more certain in every way. 
There are many systems of forcing the Vines, one being 
starting them by applying bottom heat, and another without it. 
Success can be attained by both, but when the former system 
is carried out it requires to be done by practical men, or the 
result may be a failure. A bed of leaves and litter is made 
up in the majority of cases by those who supply the bottom 
heat they think necessary to cause the roots to grow, while the 
canes have a similar temperature to those started without it. 
By this course the roots are forced unnaturally into activity 
before any growth is apparent upon the canes. It is a question 
if the Vines supplied with bottom heat break into growth 
much earlier than those started without it, although in one 
case the roots are active, and in the other they are not. What 
this early root-action is required for before they have any leaf 
growth to supply with food I am at a loss to understand. The 
Grapes will not ripen much earlier than those started without 
bottom heat. In seasons like those of last year, when the 
wood of young Vines is not very ripe and bottom heat is 
applied in forcing them into growth, it is in my opinion critical 
if not dangerous. As before said, they are liable to be 
overforced and apparently continue well until the bunches 
appear and should begin lengthening-out, but if the wood is 
not fully ripe and the Vines had insufficient rest the bunches 
invariably curl and turn yellow, while those brought forward 
under a more natural system of forcing are not so liable to 
fail. Last year I forced Vines under both systems, and those 
grown without bottom heat in their earliest stages were 
decidedly the better. I have no reason to condemn the bottom- 
heat system, because the Vines succeeded fairly ; but I cannot 
see the utility of starting the roots before the other portion of 
the Vines, and I advise those anxious to achieve success to 
start their Vines without bottom heat. Those started in this 
way w T ere placed upon ashes, tvhile the principal bed in the 
same house was filled with fermenting material for the purpose 
of forcing Rhododendrons, Azaleas, and other plants into 
flower. The moisture rising from the bed of leaves and litter 
is a great advantage in assisting the Vines to break regularly. 
Those forcing Vines in pots could not do better, if con¬ 
venient, than make up a bed of leaves for the purpose of sup¬ 
plying a genial heat and moisture, but not to act as bottom 
heat, in the early stages of forcing. Although I advise 
starting without the aid of bottom heat, it can be employed 
with advantage after the roots have naturally commenced 
growth and the berries are set. Slight bottom heat is then 
rather an advantage than otherwise, and assists consider¬ 
ably in maintaining root-action, which is necessary for the 
proper swelling of the berries and the thorough maturation 
of the crop. Bottom heat if applied after the fruit is set, so 
far as I am able to judge, would bring them forward quicker, 
and if any time was lost in starting the deficiency would 
then be made up. Much of the difficulty of forcing Vines in 
pots is removed if the canes are ripened early, and when such 
is the case there is less need than ever for bottom heat in any 
stage. After a good rest they not only start into growth 
quicker and earlier, and any system of hard forcing that would 
under other circumstances have to be applied can be dispensed 
with, and a crop of Grapes ripened with comparative ease and 
certainty. 
Potting Matured Vines .—It is by no means a common prac¬ 
tice to remove Vines intended for_ fruiting from the pots in 
which they have been grown the previous year into those of a 
larger size. The system may not be new or original, but I 
have never seen it carried out until I practised it here in 1879 
as an experiment, and was then ridiculed by more than one, who 
said if the Vines had been plunged in pots of a larger size, and 
the bottoms knocked out of those in which they were growing, 
there would have been some sense in the plan. This consider¬ 
ably daunted my courage for a time, and I entertained grave 
doubts about the success of transferring Vines into larger pots. 
However, they succeeded so well that I was tempted to try it 
again last year, which I did with marked success, and can now 
recommend the system to the readers of the Journal as a safe 
and satisfactory one. This operation must be carried out 
with care both in potting and supplying the Vines with water 
afterwards for some time, or the result may not be very 
satisfactory. 
Grapes can be grown finer in pots both as regards bunch, 
berry, and flavour—in fact, in all respects when subject to re¬ 
potting if carefully done—than could be the case if the Vines 
remained in the pots in which they were grown. After the 
Vines become established in their new pots they are not so un¬ 
certain as when fruited in the pots in which they were grown. 
They are not s® liable to become dry at the roots, or to suffer 
from too large a supply of water, as is sometimes the case on 
the other system. Not unfrequently, for fear of erring on the 
No. 30 .—Vol. II., Third Series. 
No. lisee.—von. LXT., ld Series. 
