Jane 8»,18!)0. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
625 
most serviceable and widely cultivated Magnum Bonum Potato. This 
was obtained from seed of the Early Rose in 1871, and the stock passed 
into the hands of Messrs. Sutton & Sons in 1874. 
NOTES ON A TRIP TO JERSEY. 
QCuncluded from^age 507.') 
The Champiox Grape Thixxers. 
Grape-thinning is quite a business in Jersey to some men. From 
January to the end of June they do nothing else, so they have plenty 
day. There are few men that can equal him in his work, and I believe 
he has never been beaten in a contest, although he is run very close at 
times, as the following instance will show. A large grower of Grapes 
had a house of Gros Colman Grapes, and being desirous of having them 
thinned as quickly as possible, he put this man and two others on to do 
them, and offered a prize to the man who thinned the most bunches in a 
day. The bunches were regulai in size all over the house, about IJ lb. 
each. The house was divided into three parts, and the men were not to 
be disturbed by anyone. At the end of the day the Frenchman had 
thinned 365 bunches, the next man 360, and the other 349. The work 
■of practice, and are able to do far mere work than ordinary gardeners. 
The lean-to house at Highfield Vineries is 90 feet long by 17 feet wide. 
The crop was a light one last year, about 800 lbs. (Black Hamburgh). 
Time taken to thin the Grapes, two and a quarter days (by one man), 
and the work was done well. In the house of Gros Colman Vines at 
the same place the crop was between 600 and 700 lbs.; the bunches 
being larger took more time to thin, but the same man thinned them 
in rather more than two days. He is a Frenchman, and is con¬ 
sidered one of the fastest Grape thinners in Jersey. He does nothing 
else during the Grape-thinning season ; going from one place to another 
he usually thins about 300 lbs. of Grapes per day. He does not work by 
the day, but takes the houses for a given sum, and earns about 12s. per 
was done very well, and the men worked from six in the morning until 
eight at night. 
After bidding good-bye to the old farmer and Grape grower, we made 
our way down through a deep and well wooded valley that looked 
splendidly after tfie recent lain, to Grove de Lecq, and here were our 
friends. This place is evidently well patronised by visitors, for there are 
large dining rooms and stabling. After partaking of refreshment and 
enjoying a stroll, we returned by the St. Aubin’s Road, and calling at the 
residence of a friend, who has some eight or nine houses of various 
sizes, where he grows Grapes, Melons, and Tomatoes for market, the 
proprietor being an old sea captain. There were some good Lady 
Downe’s and Black Hamburgh Grapes. He adopts a different plan 
