May 8.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
83 
egress at back all night. It now becomes good policy 
to look carefully over the vines, in order to ascertain 
if any of the later made spray is obstructing the light 
from the earlier and larger leaves; such should be 
removed, or pinched back, just as much as obstructs 
the light from the leaves in question, and no more. 
Be it remembered, that irrespective of the other in- 
; mates of the house, the more foliage is exposed freely to 
I the light, the better; but it is always esteemed good 
I practice to check the growing principle during the ripen- 
I ing period; it being understood, that mere elongation 
of the shoots after colouring has commenced, but tends 
to decoy the ascending sap from the best and oldest 
foliage; the vessels of which should be kept distended 
with fresh supplies, which, by the aid of their elaborative 
power, speedily become accretive matter, capable of 
enhancing both size and quality in the future wood and 
the fruit. Let no beginner suppose that it is necessary 
to throw sunlight on the very berries themselves; this is 
a most fallacious and fatal idea, and has often seriously 
injured a ripening crop, both as to size and flavour. 
Those who have early grapes with their roots principally 
outside, will (if they have had the surface covered) have, 
perhaps, removed it before now. If they have not, we 
think they will do well in taking advantage of the first 
warm period to do so; and, as it is a somewhat sudden 
change, if the material has been in a fermenting state, 
some caution must be exercised, or the surface fibres, 
which are almost sure to be called into being by the 
warm and manurial applications, will speedily suffer 
through the atmospheric vicissitudes which are sure to 
occur. People commonly throw a little loose litter over 
the surface, but this is rather a doubtful procedure. We 
never tried it; but it seems likely that some three 
inches of a charred material would be beneficial. This 
would, by its mere colour, absorb and retain sunbeat. 
Greenhouse, or Succession Yinery. —The end of 
April, and beginning of May, is a somewhat puzzling 
I period to those who cultivate pot plants beneath their 
vines, especially if an anxiety exists to get the grapes 
ripe tolerably early. The first consequence is, that the 
plants beneath become “ drawn,” and lose that sturdy 
I and consistent habit which is the pride of all cultivators 
to obtain. This arises from the disproportion the 
amount of light bears to that of the heat; the light 
having been less and less ever since the grapes began 
to'unfold their foliage, whilst the heat has been in nearly 
a corresponding ratio in the ascending scale. All such 
houses should have an adjunct in the shape of a pit or 
two, which might be usefully employed in winter, in 
protecting bedding plants, or in forwarding asparagus, 
sea-kale, or mushrooms. These pits should be at liberty 
in the early part of April in each year ; and, at least, half 
of the hardier of the inmates of the greenhouse should be 
placed in them, on a bed of coal ashes. Thus, the re¬ 
mainder being placed so thin that no two plants touched, 
the latter practice being indispensable, the plants re 
j tained may be grown in tolerable perfection, by a judi- 
i cious mode of applying heat, accompanied, night and 
! day, by a circulation of air. By a judicious mode of 
I applying heat, we mean an adherence to the lowest 
; amount of night heat, consistent with the safety of the 
| grapes, which, when brought up hardy , will endure—we 
had almost said enjoy—a much lower temperature than 
people commonly imagine. This is obvious, when we 
consider that out-door grapes must very frequently be 
subject to a temperature near freezing, in the course of 
the month of May; whilst the average night temperature 
of that month cannot be much above 50°. 
Let it be borne in mind, however, that they are 
brought up hardy from the first; the cold winds rocking 
their cradle, and, perchance, invested in a snowy mantle 
at times. Abundance of air, then, from the first, should 
be the maxim, especially from seven in the morning to 
three in the afternoon, when we would cause the tempe¬ 
rature to rise to 70° or 75° for three or four hours daily; 
still adhering to the maxim of encouraging motion in 
the air by a little ventilation. 
Houses intended for this purpose should, if rafters are 
used, have a greater width than ordinary letiveen the 
rafters —say five feet apart. This, with the vines rigidly 
confined to the spur system, would be found to carry 
out the culture of vines with pot plants in a most satis¬ 
factory way. 
Succession Vines now, perhaps, undergoing the first 
swelling of the berry, must have much attention paid 
them in regard of stopping, disbudding, &c. With 
regard to the latter, those who have hard worked vines 
will, perhaps, think advice on this head superfluous; 
but the practice has a wide bearing. Much depends on 
the age and energies of the vines. Those quite “ at 
home ” in a good border, and possessing a vigorous root- ; 
action, will perform wonders; and hence the marvellous 1 
discrepancy in reports of vine culture. One cultivator : 
can perfect, both as regards flavour and colour, some j 
twenty or thirty pounds of grapes from each rafter; i 
whilst another, who has attempted the same, has never 
been able to satisfy himself. A healthy and vigorous 
action of the roots of vines (permanent, we mean), is the 
| cause of energy; that energy is productive of power, 
whether to produce wood or fruit; which power, well 
directed, tends to the production of a fine crop of grapes. 
Now, as no man of sense would attempt to spur a donkey 
against an Arabian, so no good cultivator of the vine 
would goad on every vine alike. A good gardener, in 
going to a new situation where several vineries existed, 
would not inquire and examine how the vines had been 
pruned or trained, alone; he would scarcely sleep sound 
until he had experimented on the borders, in order to 
test their depth, their dryness, and their mechanical 
structure; and by this, in the main, would a modern 
j Abercrombie shape his future course. 
We have before us some copies of The Cincinnati 
Horticultural Review, U.S., a transatlantic periodical, 
which might have been fairly entitled the “ great 
western.” We need not tell our readers that the Cin¬ 
cinnati summers are regular scorchers; no mincing 
there. Now, although these periodicals do not abound 
in material of pointed interest to the old world; yet it is 
really edifying, to observe the importance that these 
go-a-liead brethren of ours attach to thorough drain¬ 
age, sound subsoils, and those other first principles 
which John Bull might fancy he had a monopoly of. 
If, then, with a roasting sand in the climate of Cincin¬ 
nati, sound soils and subsoils are deemed of paramount 
consideration, how much more so in our northern clime; | 
and yet, because through more adventitious matters, a j 
vinery here and there succeeds with little trouble, ! 
one portion of the gardening public indulge in a j 
kind of horticultural slumber as to taking the necessary 
precautions. j 
Late, or Winter and Spring Grapes, should now be j 
almost, or quite, in blossom; for it much later they will 
not keep so well. The object is to get them well coloured j 
before the dullness of autumn sets in ; say by the middle 
or end of September. 
What the newly advertised Black Barbarossa may 
prove to be remains to be shown; but, if superior to the 
West’s St. Peters, it must be an astonishing kind; for 
the latter is the surest bearer, the best coloured, and the 
soundest keeper of any grape heretofore known. This 
grape both requires and deserves a somewhat high tem¬ 
perature, and will, in winter, bear a vast amount of heat 
without shrivelling. We have heard a first-rate culti- J 
vator affirm, that it is fitter to combine with the Muscat’s j 
than the Hambro’s for late work. R. Errington. 
