JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 11, 1882.] 
379 
down as close to 80° as I can till there are signs of the 
skin swelling, when the Grapes may be pronounced safe 
as far as scalding is concerned. 
TREATMENT AFTER STONING. 
With the best cultivated Grapes colouring com¬ 
mences almost simultaneously with the second swelling, 
and then for the first time the treatment required for 
Hamburglis on the one hand and that required for 
Muscats and late Grapes on the other, in order to 
bring them all to the greatest state of excellence, is 
rather different. Supposing there is no necessity to 
hurry the Hamburglis, the slower we proceed with 
them now the better so long as the temperature is just 
sufficiently high to keep them moving a little ; 55° at 
night is now a very suitable temperature, but a lower 
or even a slightly higher one will do very well, the 
principal point to insist on being an abundance of air. 
Indeed, so long as there is no cold draught Hamburglis 
cannot have too much air at this time, and they cannot 
be coloured properly without an abundance of it. I am 
not able to go far into the theory of Grape-colouring, 
but I can go so far with the practical part as to say 
that any house of Hamburglis when it reaches this 
stage, provided it has abundance of healthy foliage in 
proportion to the crop of fruit, can be coloured simply 
by giving sufficient air and sufficient water. It is very 
seldom indeed we see the Black Hamburgh properly 
coloured, and consequently it is generally deficient in 
flavour. A purplish black will not do ; it must be a 
real black with a blue bloom, and then the Black 
Hamburgh is to a great many palates the best-flavoured 
Grape in existence. The berries can perhaps be swollen 
to a slightly larger size by keeping the house closer than 
I recommend during the colouring, but they will cer¬ 
tainly lose something in colour, and colour and flavour 
in this case may be considered to be almost synonymous 
terms. 
But many readers will say they do give abundance 
of air and yet fail to colour their Hamburglis, and 
many such cases have come under my notice, but I 
have generally been able to satisfy myself as to the 
cause of failure. The most general cause is an insuffi¬ 
ciency of healthy foliage, brought about sometimes by 
too close stopping; at other times the watering has 
been insufficient, and red spider has had too much of 
its own way, or the leaves have been drawn out too 
thin at starting by excessive heat, and now by their 
warted appearance show that they have been trying to 
make up their deficiency in substance by patching, 
which patching must be but a sorry substitute for the 
genuine article. You will never see this warted appear¬ 
ance come on the surface of leathery-looking foliage, it 
only comes on that which has been drawn out very 
thin by insufficient light in proportion to the heat 
acting on it, and which is consequently deficient in 
texture. But the foregoing faults we may say come 
from what is generally acknowledged to be unskilful 
treatment, and there are other cases to be met where 
the treatment which is followed is such as is given in 
the best published treatises, and is carried out by skilful 
hands, yet there is a deficiency of colour, as we may 
witness in the second-prize stand afc nearly any show 
in the kingdom, and too often also in that which takes 
the first prize even at our best shows. 
If we visit the establishments where these Grapes 
were produced, we shall probably find none of the evils 
1 have just pointed out; but there is another which is 
far from uncommon, and that is, that although there 
is a good proportion of healthy foliage, and the venti¬ 
lators have been open on all favourable occasions, yet, 
from the crowded state of the Vines and the fact that 
all the best leaves rest with their upper surface press¬ 
ing close to the glass, they are constantly damp, so 
that no inhalation nor exhalation can take place ; and 
in addition to this they, dog-in-the-manger-like, by block¬ 
ing the passage prevent to a great extent the air and 
light reaching the rest of the foliage. 
The remedy for this is to have the trellis further 
away from the glass. It should never be less than 
2 feet away, and 30 inches if the house is a light one 
is better ; then there is a chance for the circulation of 
air between the glass and the foliage, and not only is a 
circulation guaranteed, but the leaves, all having their 
pores exposed to its influence, are at perfect liberty to 
inhale and exhale, and besides they are not exposed to 
such great variations of temperature. We cannot tell 
what it is exactly that Grapes require to colour them 
properly, nor why Black Hamburglis should require a 
greater amount of it than other varieties do; but we 
know from practice that when the foliage is healthy 
and the opportunity is given for it to do so, it can 
abstract all that is necessary for the purpose from the 
natural atmosphere, and till some philosopher tells us 
how to supply the necessary gases and take away the 
objectionable exhalations in some other way, we must 
be content to bring about the desired end by the simple 
yet very effective old-fashioned plan of giving air not 
only to the houses but to the foliage. And we must 
remember that in our modern houses there is not so 
much chance for air to reach the foliage through the 
laps of the glass as there formerly was, for apertures 
are less in size and fewer in number. 
As distinct from the Hamburghs, which only take 
from six to nine weeks (according to the size of the 
berries) to ripen thoroughly when colouring has com¬ 
menced, it must be borne in mind that Muscats and 
thick-skinned Grapes when they reach this stage re¬ 
quire fully three months to do them justice, and that 
in the case of such varieties as Alicante and Lady 
Downe’s the swelling is continued after the colour¬ 
ing appears perfect. Muscats, if the oldest foliage 
can be kept on them, will continue to improve in 
colour from July to the end of November, and when 
they do this, and a Avhole house put on such a colour 
as we now and then see in an odd bunch at a Chrysan¬ 
themum show, no prettier sight can be imagined. 
True, there is a greater contrast between the black 
fruit and the foliage of crimson and gold in the late 
house, but the delicate harmony between the amber- 
coloured fruit and the quiet mixture of brown and gold 
in the foliage of the Muscats is, I find, the most pleasing 
to those who may be supposed to possess refinement 
of taste. 
I should say it is impossible to have this picture in 
its fullest perfection in a house treated on the high- 
temperature principle during its early stages, as the 
older foliage would not have sufficient substance in it 
to enable it to last so late in the season, and later 
growth, though it may act as a rather poor substitute 
for assisting the swelling fruit, can never put on such a 
beautiful appearance, and in fact it is not nearly so 
good in point of utility. This much being admitted, it 
