NOVEMBEK. 
249 
As regards tying and training, the plants may he made to assume a 
variety of forms according to the taste of the cultivator. If large plants 
he the object, liberal shifts, with a higher temperature than that of a cool 
greenhouse, will greatly assist them, especially if the pots could he plunged 
in a dry, half-spent tan or bark-bed: The soil, too, may consist of a small 
portion of peat, chopped up, but not too small, and of very old thoroughly- 
decomposed cow-manure, added to equal parts of good fibrous loam and road 
grit, which is for the most part pulverised stone. 
The season of blooming can be prolonged by removing the plants into 
a cool house, and well shading them from intense sun heat. Should they 
become at all sickly, and the soil about the roots sour and stagnant, they 
may be carefully shaken out of the pots, and repotted into smaller pots, the 
shoots being pruned and regulated, and the whole subjected to the treatment 
advised for plants when rapid growth is desired. In such cases it is neces¬ 
sary to be careful and judicious in the application of water. 
F. K. 
JUDGING GRAPES. 
The garden literature of the day is just now teeming with articles on 
this important subject; but I cannot yet see that a reasonable solution of 
the difficulties with which it appears to be beset has been offered, nor do I 
think that one will be, so long as the advocates for testing by Flavour, urge 
that Flavour should have a predominating influence in making an award. 
I am inclined to the opinion that Colour and Bloom, Size and Compactness 
of Bunch, Size and Evenness of Berry, are equally essential to the perfection 
of Grapes for exhibition, and wherever present in perfection ought to carry 
an equal number of points with Flavour. 
The subject has many aspects. It may be said that Grapes are grown 
to be eaten, and therefore their flavour ought to carry the sway. Granted, 
for a nobleman’s or a gentleman’s table ; and if the owners in these cases 
choose to prefer a thin-skinned “ red ” Black Hamburgh to a well- 
coloured bunch of the same, because it may, perhaps, possess more sweet 
watery juice, and less of the brisk vinous flavour which is characteristic of 
a perfectly ripened well-coloured specimen, why no one can reasonably 
object. But it is different with the exhibition table. Here there are standard 
and recognised points of excellence, founded on appearance; and so long as 
Grapes are submitted to the inspection and admiration of the ladies and 
gentlemen who come to these shows to feast the eye, so long will those 
points of excellence continue to be recognised, and flavour only be called in 
when there is perfect equality in other respects. Such has been my practice 
on the several occasions when I have been called upon to act as a judge of 
Grapes ; and, moreover, I have never hesitated in the case of a disputed point 
to remove a berry or two from an inconspicuous part of a bunch, in order 
that the perfect maturity of the fruit as regards ripeness, and consequently 
flavour, should have a due weight in the decision. But while allowing this, 
I cannot agree with those who would give to flavour an undue predominance 
over all the other recognised points of excellence. We ought to remember 
that the exhibition table is not legitimately the place to decide upon the 
respective merits of Grapes as regards flavour; if it were so, the labours of 
the judges would be multiplied tenfold or more. On the contrary, they must 
there be judged by appearance and fitness for the object with which they 
have been exhibited, which I take to be, principally, the gratification of those 
