382 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Eebuuary 17. 
circumstances, must be a three weeks’ affair, but tliis is, 
indeed, making the best of it. Well then, this granted 
I for the sake of argument, into what position would a 
1 cro]) of grapes be thrown at the period of their changing 
! colour? It would, doubtless, be thus: the supplies or 
alimentary matter requisite for carrying on the ripening 
process must be drawn from whatever secreted stores 
existed in the vessels of the vines, as long as such 
resources could be obtained, and the moment the 
supplies ran short something must give way, and what, 
but a portion of the fruit? We know that in such | 
cases the foliage does not decay, it simply becomes 
lean^ and active growth in part ceases—the vital action 
is reduced. ; 
Thus, shanking eases assume varying appearances, ' 
consequent on the extent of the injury; some Grapes 
will simply lose the mere point of the bunch, in others ’ 
a whole shoulder will go, and sometimes even the whole 
bunch. The extreme points, however, generally shank 
first, and no wonder ; for, the berries having the power : 
of taking up the accretive matter as it reaches them, ! 
those situated near the shoulder, after helping them- ' 
selves, doubtless suffer little to pass on to the ex¬ 
tremities : and besides, the sap vessels appear of greater 
calibre near the stalk than at the extremities. 
I know not whether this course of reasoning may ' 
prove satisfactory, but it has long been my opinion, j 
that the matter of shanking, although so puzzling to ' 
many, is traceable to a very simple affair. And, in- ^ 
deed, what more is it, than an attempt by nature at 
self-preservation; a part of the crop cut off, in pre- ; 
fereuce to a permanent injury to the constitution of the , 
tree ; a phenomenon of annual recurrence in our fruit , 
gardens with Apples, Plums, Cherries, &c. 
It must not, however, be understood that I wish to 
insist on an imperfect root-action being the sole cause. ' 
Other causes may, doubtless, tend to produce it, or may 
act in concert with a bad border in bringing on this sad : 
disaster. As two of the chief, I would beg to direct 
attention to imperfect ventilation and hurried ripening, 
as being, in a number of cases, productive of serious 
evils to the grape crop. 
I well remember, about thirty years since, having 1 
grapes under my charge that were sadly given to this ' 
shanking, and as a youngster, I was puzzled with the I 
case. I sought advice from a very sage-looking old 
gentleman who wore a blue apron, and who, in pursu¬ 
ance of the fashion of those days, marched about almost , 
in military style, with a huge knife-handle sticking out ' 
just below his hip. I 
“ Clap on plenty of heat,” said he, “ that’s the only 
plan.” Well, I got my fires to work in earnest, and in 
order to benefit by the old gentleman’s advice in the 
fullest manner, 1 was very chary of giving air. 'This 
made quick work of it; I soon had the mortification of 
seeing the shanking much increased, and that already 
commenced making a speedy finish. 
My advice now is, if your vines have not energy 
to carry out the ripening process well, give them more 
time to do it in. As for imperfect ventilation, our 
friends may depend upon it, the vine does not enjoy a 
stagnant atmosphere any more than a stagnant soil, 
especially during the ripening period. Our out-door 
grapes might teach us a lesson; they generally colour 
well enough without any coaxing or coddling, provided 
the autumn is fine enough and early frosts do not super¬ 
vene ; and yet in September and October they must very 
frequently be subject to a temperature of from 3-0° to 
40°, with chilling blasts into the bargain. 
I now venture to express a hope that some of our 
readers, who have had much experience in grape culture, 
both in-doors and out, will be induced to offer any 
opinions, based on facts, that may either tend to refute 
or confirm what I have hero advanced. I can only add. 
that I shall be happy to be corrected by any gentleman 
in possession of such useful facts and a good tem])er. 
R. EiihiXGTox. 
VINERY-GREENHOUSES. 
A FEW men possess the rare faculty of speaking and 
writing upon a subject with such a combination of sim- ' 
jjlicity and high-toned intellectualism, that tile philoso- i 
pher is delighted if not instructed, while a mere child is 
at no loss thoroughly to comprehend the statements and 
arguments. When a man gives his attention to a 
totally new pursuit, he may be said to be a child in his 
knowledge respecting it. When enquiries respecting 
the primary simplicities of gardening have forced them¬ 
selves upon our attention, I often have wished that I 
could get hold of a small portion of the valuable faculty 
above referred to ; feeling but too conscious that many 
statements that would meet the case of a certain class of 
enquirers, would be looked upon as dull and insipid by 
another class, as well, if not better, qualified to give in¬ 
formation than the writer. We are naturally so selfish, 
that in judging of an article, or a volume, we are too 
apt to decide by our own standard of advancement, and 1 
thus give or withhold our meed of approbation in pro¬ 
portion as we find a favourite doubtful practice con¬ 
firmed, new ideas propounded, or sources of extended j 
improvement opened up. Now, these are all proper 
courses to pursue when we wish to keep a record of our 
own progress, either by taking notes on paper, or, better 
still, fixing them upon the tablets of memory and judg¬ 
ment ; but they by no means furnish data by which to 
judge of the beneficial inllueuce of the works referred to. 
'To do this, unless in special exce])tions, when works are 
written to meet the case of a certain advanced class of 
students, we must not look down upon the simplicities, 
but recollect that if some of us are vain enough to 
suppose that we are reaching manhood in intelligence, 
there are many of our best friends just what we were 
once, merely babes and striplings. I confess I never 
read some statements of my honoured coadjutors, which, 
with more or less success, I have endeavoured to practise 
for years, without thinking how beneficial they will be 
to a large class of readers, and how useful they would 
have been to me years ago, when enquiries upon such 
matters were pooh-poohed, laughed and sneered down. 
If facts within our own circle of acquaintance and 
private correspondence furnish any test of judging, then 
I may fairly conclude that our little serial, though it 
has not missed the approbation of the greatest gar¬ 
deners, has more particularly gained the full confidence 
of those who have become convinced of the high degree 
of pleasure which even a small garden can yield: and I 
earnestly trust that attention to all the wants of such 
will ever form an element in its pages, becoming thus 
an incentive to enlightened progress, and a protection j 
from errors and their consequent disappointments. 
Last week I promised to allude a little more to the | 
combination of plant house and vinery, and, in the I 
first place, to the using of such a house chiefly as a j 
preserratori/ of plants intended for summer display, j 
Since I last wrote, an article has appeared from Mr. | 
Errington on the management of the Vine. Keeping in i 
view that such rules, only varying the time, will be as ' 
applicable to a late house as a moderately early one, ! 
our inexperienced I’eaders will find that it contains the 
2 nlh of the matter. Whether such a vinery have fire 
applied to it now, or the Vines be allowed to break of 
themselves, it will, during winter, be a better preser- 
vatory for summer j)lants than the best cold pit; but 
fire must be used to keep out frost, in unison with 
slight coverings, while in the pit tires may be altogether 
dispensed with, involving thus more care, but less 
