320 
JOURNAL of horticulture and cottage gardener. 
[ October 4, 1888. 
Hamburgh as badly as Lady Downe’s is “ gross carelessness,” I do so 
conditionally that the scalding of the latter is due to the same cause. 
I have never suggested that these two varieties grown together in the 
same house would both scald, but I should be surprised if Lady Downe’s 
did not under the conditions to which it is subjected by Mr. Riding. On 
this point Mr. Simpson has hit the right cause. The Black Hamburghs 
will have completed the stoning period long before Lady Downe's, and 
the treatment it is then subjected to is the cause of scalding. The 
treatment the former receive after they are stoned is too forcing for 
Lady Downe’s during the critical period of stoning. 
Your correspondents have overlooked one of the main points to which 
I attributed scalding. They will find in the third paragraph, page 162, 
that I there wrote, “ Overforcing, whether due to an increased tem¬ 
perature by sun heat or the anxiety of the cultivator to push the crop 
forward when Nature requires to move slowly, will certainly end 
in scalding, to a greater or ’ess extent according to the amount of 
forcing to which the Vines may be subjected.” Here is the secret of Lady 
Downe’s scalding in Mr. Riding's two early houses. Overforcing at 
that critical period will cause Black Hamburgh or any other Grape to 
•scald. Who would expect anything else to take place when Lady 
Downe’s and Black Hamburghs are grown together? Who would ex¬ 
pect Sea Eagle or Walburton Late Admirable Peaches to do satisfac¬ 
torily in an early house with Hale’s Early Peach or Lord Napier 
Nectarine? If the two latter had the treatment they required to bring 
them forward quicklv to have them ripe as early as possible, who would 
be surprised if the two late varieties threw off the whole of their fruits 
•or split their stones ? If complete success with the latter was antici¬ 
pated, then the early varieties would have to be materially retarded in 
their favour. Why should Grapes be an exception ? Take the early 
Peach and Nectarine named ; overforce them during the stoning period, 
or just before they have finally completed stoning, and what would be 
the result? Would not a fair percentage of the fruit fall, if not all ? 
Why, then, should your correspondents single out Black Hamburghs and 
•other early and midseason Grapes as not being liable to be affected in 
the same way ? Scalding is not always due even in the case of Lady 
Downe’s to “gross carelessness” in ventilation. Natural conditions over 
which the cultivator has no control render it next to impossible to 
regulate the day temperature to prevent it proving too forcing to this 
particular Grape during the time it is stoning. Overforce in like 
manner Black Hamburghs or any other variety during the time they are 
stoning, and I will guarantee any of your correspondents can scald 
them as badly as Lady Downe’s. Ventilate as freely as you like in the 
morning, and until the temperature commences declining, and then 
•close the house so as to run up the temperature considerably, and the 
•berries will be scalded. This can be done before and after the stoning 
period without the slightest harm. Shade the house but maintain a 
high temperature, and the berries will be scalded. I think this is clear 
that scalding is not entirely due to the action of the sun striking on the 
berries while they have condensed moisture upon them. My advice 
then is, whether the Grapes are early or late, to let Nature at this 
•critical time take its_'course, and suspend, as it were, for the time being 
forcing operations. It is wiser to err on the side of keeping the 
temperature rather too low than to attempt to excite the Vines at 
this stage. The only certain way of carrying Lady Downe’s safely 
through the stoning period without scalding (I am writing of those 
growing in a late house) is to raise the night temperature slightly 
.and ventilate the structure during the day like a greenhouse, so that 
the Vines have time to complete the important work in which they 
are engaged. During bright hot weather keep the day temperature as 
low as possible, and the cultivator will be rewarded with bunches, not 
bits.” 
Mr. Young says the latter part of my article needs no comment if 
1 keep to the text; it is merely a comment upon the matter he intro- 
-duced into his first letter, and which if foreign to him is not foreign to 
•the subject at issue. It is perhaps convenient for Mr. Young to ignore 
those portions of my article that tell against him. It is, to say the 
least, only a poor way of conducting a discussion—to pass over ques¬ 
tions that need an answer by asking questions in return. But the 
•.amusing part of Mr. Young’s letter is, that he asks questions on a 
matter that is practically foreign to the subject, and at the same time 
-•advises me to stick to the text. What has the price of Grapes to do 
■with scalding? The market grower to whom I alluded syringes his 
'Grapes until they commence colouring ; all the varieties that he grows 
receive the same treatment in this respect. The work is not done by 
•experienced hands. Last year I saw the Grapes, and the work had been 
•entrusted to a boy who had never had anything to do with Vines before. 
His reward for keeping the Vines free from red spider was a new suit of 
•clothes in addition to his wages. He earned it, and I have no doubt 
received it. The quality of the Grapes may be judged when it is stated 
■that some of them were staged last year against those from such men as 
Messrs. Hunter and Mclndoe, and gained the premier position for six 
bunches amongst ten competitors ; again, first for Alicantes, seven 
•-showing in the class ; third for any other black with Lady Downe’s ; 
for the heaviest bunch of Grapes, second with Alicante. That is not a 
bad record at one show, and in company of some of the best Grape 
•growers in the country. Is this grower for the market “ worthy of the 
•name?” 
“ What causes moisture to condense on the berries ?” asks Mr. Younv, 
sand he answers this question by saying, “ Why, an overheated atmosphere, 
caused by the sun shining suddenly on the house without sufficient 
ventilation, as well as insufficient heat in the pipes to prevent the 
berries becoming cold.” This is, I should think, the vaguest statement 
on the condensation of vapours that has perhaps ever appeared. It 
would be as well if Mr. Young would take the trouble to look up some¬ 
body’s theory on the “ Liquefaction of Vapours.” The condensation 
of vapours may be due to three causes—cooling, compression, or 
chemical affinity. Condensed moisture on the berries of Grapes is due 
to a low temperature ; and the berries being naturally colder than the 
atmosphere, they cool the air in contact with them, and the consequence 
is some of the vapour it contains is quickly deposited. As the tempera¬ 
ture rises the air takes up the mo ; sture which it has previously de¬ 
posited, and the result is evaporation. Instead of condensation taking 
place when the temperature rises, evaporation takes place and the air 
is charged with heated vapour that practically “ stews ” the berries 
unless means of escape for it have been provided. Condensed moisture 
is a natural process, and vapour is deposited in the form of dew under 
natural conditions most nights in the year, and why should Grapes be an 
exception, that it should injury them ? The condensed moisture does no 
harm, but harm is the result of the artificial treatment to which the Vine 
is subjected by not providing means of escape for the moisture evaporated 
by the sun raising the temperature.— Wm. Babdney. 
It is very good of Mr. Simpson of Knowsley to give your readers, 
and Mr. Riding especially, what he appears to consider an infallible 
recipe for preventing the scalding of the berries of Lady Downe’s ; but 
as I have practised that system for some time without obtaining the re¬ 
sults promised I fear Mr. Riding will not benefit very materially by 
following the advice ; but probably he has already experienced failure 
under the conditions laid down by Mr. Simpson. When I took my 
present charge I acted on the experience acquired under one of the 
best Grape growers of his day in this or any other country in so far as 
the vineries are concerned, but I did not obtain immunity from the 
scalding of Lady Downe’s. I had ventilation when the temperature 
rose to 70°, still scalding was prevalent. It was given at 6 A.M., scald¬ 
ing continued. The ventilators were left slightly open at the top and 
lower part of the house all night ; but all of no use, scalding of Lady 
Downe’s continued. Finding that the evil was not to be checked by 
usual or unusual methods of ventilating I turned my attention to the 
“damping” process. Orders were given for the late vinery to be 
damped once only in twenty-four hours. After two or three days there 
was an apparent diminution of scalding, but not an entire cessation. 
However, this was encouraging; we were on the right track. The word 
was passed that water was to be entirely withheld. This was done ; 
and as soon as the atmosphere was as dry as it is supposed to be requisite 
to have a Muscat house when the Vines are in flower scalding ceased. 
The fire was kept going night and day from first to last, and the venti¬ 
lators were kept open night and day until the berries commenced 
colouring. The vinerv is heated by a flue. There are two fixed lights 
at the top at the east end and one at the west end. The front venti¬ 
lators consist of small shutters 18 inches by 10^ inches opening inwards, 
and from the bottom upwards fixed in the front wall. The nearest 
lower ventilator is 4 feet from the end (east). The angle of the roof is 
about 60° from the horizontal, or 30° from the perpendicular. I give 
these particu'ars because the vinery in some respects is similar to the 
kind indicated by Mr. Bardnev. Under the fixed lights at the east end 
is one Vine of Black Hamburgh. This never has any scalded berries. 
The next six Vines are Lady Downe’s ; then follow two Gros Colmans 
v/hich never scald ; and the last are three Muscats which are liable to 
be scalded by the western sun if not shaded. 
Mr. Simpson’s dictum that Black Hamburgh does not scald when 
grown under the same conditions as Lady Downe's, because the former 
is slightly in advance of the latter, is as fallible as his rule for preven¬ 
tion of scalding. The Black Hamburgh has less air, but yet is 
only about ten days in advance of the Lady Downe’s at the 
stoning period ; and as the scalding and stoning periods vary 
from three weeks to six weeks, it follows that both must be under 
equal conditions for scalding so far as that is concerned, but according 
to Mr. Simpson the Black Hamburgh is under the worst conditions, 
because it is not “ so freely ventilated,” and therefore the “ secret” is a 
myth, a mere fancy. 
It is a notorious fact that Lady Downe's is prone to scald up to the 
colouring period under conditions that such kinds as Black Hamburghs 
would be safe, and whether it is constitutional or not it remains a fact 
and is not a “fancy.” I am aware that it is possible to grow Lady 
Downe’s without scalding taking place, and I have so grown them, but 
it was in a vinery having ventilators the whole length of the house, and 
glazed with rolled glass. The question at issue is not whether it is 
possible to grow Lady Downe’s without scalding taking place, butl 
whether it is more prone to scald than other varieties grown under equa 
conditions, no matter what those conditions are. Mr. Bardney did not 
qualify his conditions.— A. Bightek. 
In answer to Mr. Simpson, the cause of Lady Downe’s Grape being 
more likely to scald than any other Grape is a physiological subject 
beyond me. Probably some scientific readers would advance their 
opinions. I fail to see any logic m Mr. Bardney’s question to me. The 
inconsistencies advanced by Mr. Simpson in support of his argument or 
theory will probably be answered by Mr. Riding.— A. Young. 
Youk correspondent Mr. Young is quite right in saying that Lady 
Downe’s scalding can be prevented by those in charge. A few years 
since in the south of England I was troubled by Lady Downe’s scald- 
