September 8, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
SOI 
are on the alert for first-class varieties, but if I were 
compelled to grow only half a dozen I would unhesitat¬ 
ingly select Countess of Hopetown, Ardwell Gem, Archie 
Grant, Mrs. Chas. Turner, Elegans, and Queen of Lilacs; 
•each and all of these are of sterling merit, possessing 
sound constitution, are of good habit, and withal free 
and abundant bloomers.—E. Jenkins. 
METHODS OF KEEPING GRAPES. 
Grapes are now ripe, or nearly so. in many houses, and the owners 
aiot unnaturally desire to know how best to preserve, them for 
;3S long time as possible. To sell them, as many try to do, is almost 
out of the question, customers worthy of the name being few and 
far between. The markets are glutted with inferior produce, and 
^Ins spoils, for the time being, the sale of good fruit. Jt must then 
ibe almost given away, or be kept, either for home use, or the 
markets, as long as can be accomplished. 
A long spell of exceptionally hot and dry weather has not only 
•compensated for the time lost earlier in the year when so little 
■progress was made, owing to the uncongenial weather, but it has, 
<>r ought to have, well ripened the fruit. The experienced girdener 
Knows that heat with a good circulation of dry air is necessary to 
insure the formation of the saccharine matter, without which 
Grapes will not keep for any length of time, and acts accordingly. 
On dull sunless days a little fire heat is employed, whereas the 
novice or careless cultivator is content to let matters take their 
course. Closed ventilators and plenty of moisture in the house, 
perhaps given to a number of pot plants of no great value, but yet 
persistently kept under the Tines, is altogether unsuitable for 
ripening fruit. Sour watery Grapes usually resu't from this 
treatment, and mildew is oftentimes most abundant and de¬ 
structive. Continue that system well into September, and many 
of the Grapes will decay, and no wonder. 
At the present time there are thousands of small vineries and 
greenhouses well stocked with Grapes, and if these could be kept 
till November, or later, if the sorts are suitable, they would afford 
much pleasure to the owners. Seeing that the early sorts, such as 
Black Hamburgh, Madresfield Court, Foster’s Seedling, and Buck- 
land .Sweetwater are ripened so well, there is every reason to 
anticipate better success than usual in keeping them. Conditions 
^favourable to ripening the fruit are equally necessary for preserving 
it. There must be a free circulation of air in the daytime, and 
both top and bottom lights ought to be slightly open during the 
night. If it is necessary to close the top lights when heavy rains 
are falling, these must again be opened directly rain ceases and the 
•e m appears. If this precaution of re-opening is neglected, or if 
Aie top ventilators are not opened as scon as the sun reaches the 
house in the morning, the air soon becomes heated, and moisture 
condenses on the colder Grapes. If not seen in time, and the house 
well ventilated, the moisture collected on the berries trickles off, 
carrying with it much of the bloom. Moreover, this “ sweating,” 
as some term it, has the effect of softening the skins of the berries, 
and an early decay sets in. Plenty have wondered why their 
Grapes kept so badly, and I have given them one very frequent 
cause. 
Now for another. Wasps are very fond of Grapes, and if not 
checked soon play havoc with a crop. Some attempt to keep them 
out of the house with the aid of canvas, muslin, or other kind of 
rather closely woven material, while others prefer to enclose the 
bunches in muslin bags. Both plans are successful as far as the 
wasps are concerned, but as any material capable of excluding 
wasps also excludes much air, the remedy may easily be worse than 
the complaint. I found it so whenever I tried the plan, and not a 
few Grape growers have opened their muslin bags only to find a mass 
of mould and decay inside. In our warm, yet rather moist climate, 
we find it necessary to have the doors, as well as all the ventilators, 
wide open, the openings being covered with fish nets, in order to 
shut out the birds. Whenever wasps put in appearance, a few of 
the berries eaten are coated with a small quantity of Davis's Wasp 
Destroyer. Incredible as it may appear, and as it did seem to me 
before I tried it, this remarkable mixture soon clears the house of 
wasps. A few are poisoned, the rest take the hint, and clear out 
as rapidly as they can, nor do any trouble us again for a few 
days. 
If there are plants unavoidably kept in a house where Grapes 
are ripe, these ought always to be watered in the morning soon 
after the ventilators are opened, taking care not to slop water 
abrat needlessly. On dull showery days watering should be 
dispensed as far as possible, and this may often be safely 
done for several days in the case of plants in a shady house. The 
outer atmosphere being very moist, the fire should be lit, and the 
warmed pipes or flues will maintain a drier or more buoyant atmo¬ 
sphere, and be the means of saving many bunches. It is in the 
daytime, when the ventilators are open, that these fires are of most 
service. 
In some cases, those in charge of small vineries and greenhouses 
containing Grapes are bound to utilise these places to their fullest 
extent for housing a great variety of plants when frosts are antici¬ 
pated. The preceding remarks will have made it tolerably plain 
that when this happens the Grapes wdll not long keep in the same 
house. Fortunately, if properly ripened, they may be bottled, and 
if stored in a dry airy room and properly looked after, will keep 
plump and good for a long time. Soda and seltzer water bottles, or 
any of medium size with a fairly large neck, are suitable for this 
purpose. These should be suspended with strings from a rail of 
some kind, and partially filled with clear water. The bunches 
must be cut with a sufficiently long piece of wood attached to 
admit of this reaching well dow’n into the bottle. Any medium¬ 
sized, or two small bunches in one bottle, wdll bring the latter into 
a sloping direction, the Grapes thus swinging nearly clear of the 
bottle. Not caring to cut so much of the lateral growth away so 
early in the year, we frequently cut nearly close to the bunch, and 
insert into the bottles the wood formed beyond the bunch. This 
answers quite as well as the plan of inserting the thickest end. 
The leaves being still fresh and green, it is advisable to preserve 
one or two about the bunch, these serving to attract the water 
from the bottle and keeping the berries plumper. This is espe¬ 
cially advisable in the case of Grapes cut early, say in order to 
preserve their colour or freshness till they are w r anted for a 
special purpose. It is almost needless to add that the bottles 
should he kept sufficiently filled with w r ater, but on no account, 
however, should this be overdone, as water trickled through a 
close bunch proves fatal. The bunches, whether kept in a room, 
or left hanging on the Tines, ought to be almost daily looked 
over, and every bad berry found carefully cut out. If left a few 
hours pressed among other berries, the wdiole of them wdll soon 
become a mass of decay. Neglect of this precaution is also another 
fertile cause of the loss of many bunches Cold currents of air 
should also be excluded, though if it is a question of cold air 
or a stagnant atmosphere, by all means choose the former.— 
W. Iggulden. 
A POTATO TRIAL. 
We have planted a considerable variety of Potatoes here this season, 
and with a view to selecting a few of those most suitable for our purpose 
I had one shaw of each of the following sorts dug up and weighed to-day, 
September 3rd, and as the weights vary considerably, they may be of 
interest to some of your readers. 
Tillage Blacksmith stands at the top of the class with 5 lbs. 8 ozs., 
or something like 43 tons to the imperial acre, for they are planted in 
drills 2 feet apart and nearly 1 foot in the row. Next comes a red 
Potato, name unknown, with 4 lbs. 12 ozs., followed by White Elephant 
-with 4 lbs. 7 ozs., Yates’s Early Emperor wdth 4 lbs., Beauty of Hebron 
3 lbs. 12 ozs., Yates’s Stirling Caitle 3 lbs. 9 ozs., Rintoul’s Early White 
Don 3 lbs. 9 ozs., Yates’s Early Prolific belied its name with 1 lb. 12 ozs., 
Yates’s Early Improved 1 lb. 9 ozs. 
The varieties we mean to retain are Tillage Blacksmith, Early 
Emperor, Beauty of Hebron, the red Potato, and Rintoul’s Early White 
Don. These are grand varieties both as croppers and for table. The 
soil they are grown on is light and gravelly. They had no farmyard 
manure, and as the season was very dry they are perhaps not such a 
heavy crop as they would have been had they got more rain. On the 
other hand, they are perfectly free from disease, and their quality is of 
the very highest order. With much rain no doubt more or less of the 
disease would have made its appearance.— Wm. Thomson, Clovenfords. 
P.S.—Not over 1 lb. weight of the whole are so small as to be 
unfit for table, nor are any of them too large, except White Elephant. 
—W. T. 
HOLLYHOCK?. 
I was pleased to read the remarks of “ W. D.” (page 155) on this 
truly noble flower. The Hollyhock is certainly coming to the front 
again, but slowly. In reading the different accounts of shows reported 
in the Journal, very little mention indeed is made of Hollyhocks. I 
would suggest that if nurseiq men could be induced to give special prizes 
at local shows in their respective districts for say six or twelve blooms, 
we would soon have a strong competition, and competitors would no 
doubt patronise such firms. Mr. Blundell seems to be an extensive 
grower, but “ W. D.” seems to think his flowers are not quite equal to those 
seen in the “ old Hollyhock days.” I had my collection from Mr. John 
Downie, and they are quite up to anything we had twelve or fourteen 
years ago, when I used to grow them more extensively. I have still a 
few of his old varieties which have stood the severe winters all these 
years. The only protection they have is a little river sand put about 
them, and a few branches put over them during the severe weather. 
The Hollyhock likes a good dry ground, and I am sure well repay any 
