JANUARY. 
25 
examining them. It was proposed that some one conversant with fruits 
should be employed to prepare the reports of the meetings, and have 
them expeditiously circulated among the members; but there being no 
one qualified to undertake the work, Mr. Hogg, at the request of the 
meeting, agreed to do so ad interim. 
ON PRESERVING OR RETARDING GRAPES. 
The keeping back or retarding of late Grapes entails quite as much 
trouble on the gardener as the forcing of early ones ; and as certain 
conditions are necessary to preserve Grapes fit for table from January 
to March, a few hints on this subject may not prove unacceptable to 
your readers. 
Without entering very particularly into the form of house best 
calculated to keep Grapes plump and fresh after Christmas, I will 
merely observe that the form of the roof is not of so much importance 
as many suppose. The two great objects to ensure, are—first, a dry 
roof, or one which neither admits wet nor causes a drip; and secondly, 
there must be means for abundant ventilation, and such as can be used 
in all weathers without admitting rain, for it so happens that during 
wet or snowy weather you will require a greater amount of air to cir¬ 
culate through the house than at any other time. 
Narrow, steep-roofed houses have been recommended, as from their 
sharp pitch they are less liable to admit rain, and it has been argued 
that late Grapes ripened better in them during October and November ; 
and to keep Grapes fresh, it was considered that they should not ripen 
before that time—a practice, however, not generally approved of, as 
most writers consider that all Grapes intended to keep should be ripe 
by the end of September. For many years I thought the same, but 
by this plan I never could keep my Grapes later than December with¬ 
out shrivelling—a thing to be avoided—and for some years past I have 
not allowed my St. Peter's Grapes to ripen before November, and 
Muscats by the end of October. I have had Hamburghs ripen also in 
November; but generally speaking, this variety, under the coldest 
treatment, ripens in October. 
The greatest difficulty in keeping Grapes through January and 
February, in steep houses, is this—that during sunny weather the 
sap of the Vine becomes excited with the heat of the sun and the fire- 
lieat necessary to keep the house dry, and this being set in action 
reaches the Grapes and soon rots them. In some seasons I have 
witnessed, during bright weather in February, the sap actually drop¬ 
ping from those berries which happened to be cracked ; I need scarcely 
say that all attempts at keeping them longer under such circumstances 
were useless. I have now adopted the plan of shading the house each 
bright day, after the Grapes have become ripe—say from December— 
and by this means I have kept both the Vines and Grapes in a perfectly 
dormant state as long as I wanted them, the Grapes keeping fresh, 
and with very little shrivelling, till March; some bunches which I have 
