August 5, 1905 THE GARDENING WORLD 
A VALUABLE PAPER ON 
Grape-Growing. 
PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS by A PRACTICAL MAN. 
1 have been a Grape-grower for about forty 
years, and have grown Grapes of many de¬ 
grees of quality—some, I must admit, of very 
inferior quality, but only so long as I could 
get the Vines into an improved condition. 
1 have grown Grapes of first-rate quality, not 
only in England, but at the very foot of the 
Scotch Grampians. I was laughed at for my 
attempt by the late Dr. Hooker, who thought 
it to be an impossibility, but I succeeded 
almost beyond my own expectations. I have 
introduced these few preliminaries because 1 
want you to understand at the outset that my 
paper is to be a thoroughly practical one, 
founded entirely upon my own practice and 
experience. 
Having shown that Grapes can be grown 
at an altitude of 700 ft. and in a very sun¬ 
less climate, I need say nothing about lo¬ 
cality, except, of course, the sunnier the 
better, always bearing in mind that a lean- 
to house should have a southern aspect and 
a span-roof east and west. The former is per¬ 
haps best for early forcing, and the latter for 
mid-season and late-keeping Grapes. 
I will now begin with border-making, as 
being perhaps the most important considera¬ 
tion of all if success is to be attained and 
to continue, as it should do, for a number of 
years. I believe very little in the wearing-out 
of Vines. My last Vines were twenty years 
old, and bearing Grapes of exhibition quality, 
and, had I continued the management, I ven¬ 
ture to say would have gone on for another 
twenty years without any appreciable falling- 
off. Border-making must vary in detail 
according to the nature of the soil and situa¬ 
tion. A clay soil will require the greatest 
care to provide the necessary drainage. In 
such a situation the clay should be dug out 
to the depth of 3 ft., taking care to have ihe 
bottom sloping from the house, and should 
be about 10 ft. wide for an outside border. 
The bottom should then have about 6 in. of 
concrete composed of lime and gravel, well 
incorporated together, and put on in a wet 
state. On the concrete place 2 in. drain pipes 
in a diagonal direction from the house to 
the front of the border, along which should 
be placed a. 4 in. pipe; with an cutlet at one 
end, and taking care to have a good fall for 
the water to get freely away. Over the pipes 
place a foot of drainage, coarse brickbats 
first, and finishing up with finer gravel. This 
will ensure perfect drainage for as long as the 
Vines will last. Over the drainage place a, 
layer of top-spit turf with the grass down¬ 
wards. The soil should consist of good loam 
of a l-etentive character rather than sandy, 
and this should have been prepared some time 
previously. A good compost should consist 
of turfy loam of medium texture—that is, 
not clayey nor yet sandy, but something be¬ 
tween this—say five cartloads, then fresh 
horse-droppings, old mortar rubbish and 
wood ashes (about one cartload each), and 
to this quantity about 3 cwt. of -g-in. bones, 
the whole to be turned over several times 
to ensure it being well incorporated together. 
Now, I do not recommend the whole of the 
Vine-border to be made at once, but only 
3 ft. the first year, and then adding a couple 
or three feet yearly, according to the pro¬ 
gress of the Vines. Borders for mid-season 
Grapes should be both inside and outside, but 
for early forcing I would advise all inside 
borders. There are various ways of procuring 
Vines. 
If you want a quick crop you may procure 
very strong canes from some good nursery¬ 
man, but these sometimes fail to make a 
good start in consequence of the artificial 
feeding they have been subjected to. A 
better plan, in my opinion, if you have ihe 
convenience for doing so, is to raise your 
own Vines from eyes in this way : Cut 6 in. 
squares of turf, and place an eye into the 
centre of each, say in the month of January, 
in a forcing-house with a temperature of 
70 deg., and near the glass to ensure strong 
growth. Plant out as soon as they have 
attained a foot of growth. Keep a close atmos¬ 
phere for a week or so, and syringe every 
afternoon to encourage a quick growth. The 
roots of these Vines will be in a natural 
horizontal position instead of being twisted 
round and round a pot, and will establish 
themselves in the border much sooner. The 
temperature for these Vines should be 55 
deg. at night and 10 deg. hotter in the day, 
or even 20 deg. with sun and ample ventila¬ 
tion. Train the young rod on to the wires, 
keeping it straight by means of a Bamboo, 
and only stop the lateral growths after they 
have grown about a foot. Attend carefully to 
the watering, and keep down red spider by 
the syringe. These Vines should make a 
growth of about 12 ft. the first year. It is 
important to get the Wood well ripened by 
plenty of exposure to sun and air and by not 
allowing them to grow after, say, August. 
If they are strong, as they should be, cut 
down to within 4 ft. of the border, but this 
must be done according to strength—the 
weaker ones lower than the strong ones. In 
the following season they will go to the top 
of an ordinary house, and may be left 12 ft. 
long at the next winter’s pruning. 
I will now go on to the summer manage¬ 
ment of Vines. The time of starting must, 
of course, depend upon the requirements of 
the owner, but the management of the foliage 
will be the same at whatever time the Vines 
are started. I will only say that to ensure 
good, well-coloured Muscats they should he 
started about the middle of February, so 
as to get the full benefit of the sun, without 
which they will not put on that beautiful 
amber yellow that Muscats should have. 
Gros Colman is another kind that takes a 
long season, and the 1st of March should be 
the latest time for starting this valuable 
winter Grape. It is a mistake to give the 
latter a Muscat temperature, as some growers 
recommend. A long season, with a moderate 
temperature and plenty of ventilation, is the 
desideratum. All pruning should be done 
about Christmas, or, in the case of late-keep¬ 
ing Grapes, as soon as the Grapes are cut. 
I do not like secateurs for pruning Vines, 
but very much prefer a good sharp knife. 
Most Vines are grown on the short-spur sys¬ 
tem, and must be cut to one eye, not too 
close to the eye for fear of injury, not too 
far away to leave a dead stump. As soon as 
the Vines have made sufficient growth to 
show the bunches, disbud, rubbing out all 
but one, and that one with the most pro¬ 
mising bunch ; this process cannot be done 
all at once, but must be gone over at least 
once a week as growth proceeds. As soon, 
as they have made two joints beyond the 
621 
bunch, take out the top, and all through ihe 
season remember not to take off more than 
a few inches of growth at a time. I have 
seen Vines allowed to get into a wild state, 
and then get a wholesale stopping. Such 
treatment is the worst that can possibly be 
followed, and is a fertile source of shanking. 
To keep Vines properly stopped, they should 
be gone over once a week until growth ceases. 
I can see no good in leaving the laterals, as is 
very frequently recommended, but always re¬ 
move them when they are an inch long. The 
object should be to ensure strong, thick, 
leathery leaves, and to do this no more 
foliage should be grown than can have room 
on the wires without crowding. One good, 
well-developed leaf is better than a dozen, 
thin, transparent ones. 
Now I will say a word on a plan that I have 
adopted for a good many years, but one that 
is seldom followed by other growers. It is 
almost invariably recommended to tie down 
the shoots to the wires as soon as they are long 
enough, a plan that, in my opinion, has very 
little advantage and that I am of opinion does 
a good deal of harm. I should say here that 
in wiring vineries the wires should be 17 in. 
from the glass. Now, my plan is to allow 
the shoots to grow at their own free will, 
and by growing, as they will, straight up to 
the glass, they will gain strength very much 
more than if tied down in a horizontal direc¬ 
tion. All danger of breaking will be avoided, 
and. moreover, they will come down naturally 
with the weight of the bunch, when at thin¬ 
ning time they can be tied to the wire? ai 
regular distances. In the meantime the step¬ 
ping must be regularly attended to. 
(To be continued.) 
NEW CHINESE ASTILBE. 
(A stilbc grandis.) 
During the past few years more attention 
has been given to the species of Astilbe than 
formerly. The earliest forms introduced had 
creamy white flowers, but more recently 
various colours have been added. That under 
notice, however, has creamy white flowers pro¬ 
duced in fluffy horizontal spike-like racemes 
on stately stems six to eight feet high. About 
two or three feet of this stem are occupied 
by the inflorescence. The leaves are two or 
three times divided, dark green, and similar 
to those of A. Davidii. The plant is a recent 
introduction from Central China, and was 
exhibited by Messrs. James Veitch and Sons, 
Limited, Chelsea, who have been instru¬ 
mental in introducing many fine hardy plants 
fiom that paid of the world in recent years. 
The essential feature of difference in this 
plant from those of the same colour is that 
the branches of the inflorescence are placed 
on the stems horizontallv, not erect or as¬ 
cending. An Award of Merit was accorded by 
the R.H.S. on July 18th. 
-- 
THE JAPANESE ANEMONE. 
(Anemone Japonica.) 
For many years past several forms of the 
Japanese Anemone have been grown in gar¬ 
dens, but evidently they had been garden 
forms, for it appears that the wild plant 
has white flowers with only five sepals, so that 
A. j. alba itself would merely represent a 
slightly improved garden form of the wild 
plant. Specimens are flowering in the herba¬ 
ceous ground at Kew which were introduced 
from Japan. The flowers are scarcely'so large 
as the white variety just named, but they 
are white, tinted with pale purple on the 
back. The leaves are very leathery, and con¬ 
sist 'of three pieces, each having two or three 
lobes. 
