GRA 
GRA 
cleanly and regular in its action, is not 
quite equal to the dung in the production 
of ammonia. Air must now be admitted 
in quantities proportionate to the state 
of the weather, and the more that can 
be given, provided the internal tempera¬ 
ture is not less than 65° or 70°, the 
better for the grapes, as much of the 
mischief known as “ scalding, 55 &c., 
arises from keeping the house too close. 
If the vines are progressing in a healthy 
manner, they will bear a full current of 
air, on fine days, with manifest improve¬ 
ment ; but it must not be admitted in 
large quantities suddenly, or the chill 
produced is quite likely to carry off the 
entire crop. Thinning the berries and 
bunches is an important operation, oc¬ 
curring when the fruit is about the size 
of peas. The number should be re¬ 
duced in a regular, equalizing manner, 
till they hang so as that each individual 
will have room to swell to its greatest 
size, but not more, or the bunches will 
wear a meagre appearance. The latter 
will, perhaps, require reducing also in 
proportion to the strength of the vine ; 
for the cultivator may rest assured that 
it is better economy to thin an excessive 
crop down to a moderate one, and thus 
secure superior quality, with the reason¬ 
able expectation of its being repeated 
in the next year, than to take a heavy 
crop of small, ill-flavoured fruit, to the 
almost certain prejudice of those to 
come in succeeding seasons. In con¬ 
ducting this operation, it is advisable to 
avoid handling the fruit; it can be held 
with a crooked piece of wire, while the 
berries are extracted with the scissors; 
for when rubbed with the fingers it is 
supposed a predisposition to “ shank¬ 
ing 55 is incurred, when the berries rot 
or shrivel at the point of union with 
their footstalks, just before they are 
ripe—a disease but too well known in 
all its forms, but for which many oppo¬ 
site causes are adduced, without any 
satisfactory explanation being arrived 
at either. Our own notion refers it 
rather to sudden changes in the atmo¬ 
sphere, as either an excess of moisture, 
or the rapid lowering of the tempera¬ 
ture, when the fruit is nearly or quite 
full-grown, is known to produce it. 
Some care is necessary at the time the 
berries are changing colour, to properly 
regulate the heat on this account; and, 
as ripeness ensues, the principal atten¬ 
tion should be addressed to keeping it 
rather below the average, by the admis¬ 
sion of larger quantities of air, which, 
as before remarked, increases the flavour, 
and imparts a fine colour and bloom; 
the sashes may then be opened, so as to 
keep the temperature down to 6 0, and 
even lower, when they are quite ripe, 
only closing to exclude damp. 
Grapes are occasionally grown in pots 
for forcing, and when well furnished 
with fruit, have a beautiful appearance, 
and make an ample return. Tor this 
purpose the plants should be raised from 
“ single eyes, 55 or a piece of the preced¬ 
ing year’s wood, with only one joint, 
taken off at the spring pruning, and 
placed in a small pot of sandy earth, 
setting it in the vinery, when it will 
progress at nearly the same rate as the 
parent. As soon as it has filled the 
pot with roots it should be shifted into 
a larger one; and if everything goes 
on favorably, the plants will require to 
be again removed, this time into the 
fruiting-pot, which should not be less 
than fifteen inches over; and here they 
will require to establish themselves be¬ 
fore the winter, that they may be in a 
fit state for resting until the succeeding 
year, then to be cut back to within four 
or five joints of the pot, and afterwards 
subject to the same treatment as the ma¬ 
ture specimens; they will usually produce 
three or four bunches the first year, and 
by pruning back to three joints annually, 
and supplying the roots with fresh mould 
when first started, and liquid manure at 
their most active period, will continue 
fruitful a long time. The nomenclature 
of the varieties of this fruit is a com¬ 
plete mass of confusion. In the follow- 
lowing list we have included all that are 
worth cultivating, and the descriptions 
we believe to be as accurate as circum¬ 
stances will permit. The synonymes 
mentioned are only those by which the 
variety is known in British gardens, the 
almost countless number of those em- 
