et ee eee 
594 
VINERY. 
ledge, and be guided solely by his own judg- 
ment. 
The forcing of the earliest grape-house is often 
begun in January. ‘Till all the buds be broke, 
air is daily admitted by the sashes, and the heat 
is kept moderate, so that the thermometer may 
indicate only 50° or 55° in the mornings and 
evenings when the sun has no influence. The 
temperature is then gradually raised, in the 
course of a fortnight or three weeks, to about 
70°. When the flowers appear, it is increased 
nearly to 75°, and the house is frequently 
steamed, by sprinkling water on the flues, or on 
the walk when the sun shines, grapes being 
found to set best in a strong moist heat. The 
gardener now selects his bearing wood for next 
year, and trains the shoots to an upper trellis, a 
foot above the other, and the wires of which are 
perhaps two feet apart; while he nips off all 
lateral and superfluous produce, and at the same 
time shortens the bearing shoots at an inch be- 
yond the uppermost cluster. While the berries 
are swelling, water is moderately given. Nicol, 
indeed, recommends that it should be given li- 
berally till they begin to ripen; but this has 
been considered as likely to deprive the grapes 
of their proper raciness and flavour. 
- The thinning of the bunches deserves hen 
tion. This is sometimes neglected; but in many 
kinds, without this Mention the berries in the 
middle of the bunch are apt to get mouldy and 
to rot; and in all cases where thinning is prac- 
tised, the berries become larger and more equal 
in size. In the operation of thinning, particular 
care should be taken that the left hand, with 
which the bunch is held, be kept cool, and also 
quite free from perspired matter. For this pur- 
pose, the gardener should havea vessel with pure 
cold water beside him, into which he may now 
and then dip his hand, to keep it cool and clean. 
Without this precaution the berries often suffer 
from being handled, acquiring a rusty diseased 
look, and not swelling freely. 
When the grapes approach maturity, all are 
agreed that no more watering is proper. Most, 
however, freely admit air. In general, a pro- 
portion of the foliage, especially on the stubs on 
which the clusters hang, is removed. The fruit 
ought to remain till it be fully ripe; but this 
the impatience of the owners seldom permits. 
When the fruit is all gathered, the stubs which 
bore it are cut off, and the new shoots are let 
down from the upper trellis to their proper 
places. Watering both of border and foliage is 
now resumed, and the house is usually left fully 
exposed to the atmosphere. The general prun- 
ing is performed from the middle to the end of | 
October, and time is thus given for the healing 
of the wounds before forcing be again com- 
menced, At this pruning the loose part of the 
outer bark on the old wood is carefully peeled 
off, and the whole plant and the trellises are 
washed with some penetrating liquid, calculated 
VIOLET. 
to destroy the minute eggs of insects. For about 
a fortnight after this severe pruning, the house 
is kept shut, but it is afterwards freely exposed 
as before. : 
The management of the late grape-house en- 
tirely resembles that of the early, making due 
allowance for the difference of season. It is not 
intended for forcing the fruit, but merely for 
supplying the deficiencies of our natural climate 
in spring and autumn. As the vinery may re- 
main without its glass-covers for many months 
in the year, in some places, especially in the 
south and west of England, the peach-house is 
formed exactly of the same dimensions; and, 
when the peach season is over, the glass frames 
are transferred to the vinery, and, if the blos- 
soms have escaped, a crop of ripe grapes, of the 
best sorts, is thus procured in September or Oc- 
tober, and the new wood is thoroughly ripened. 
VINEYARD. A plantation of vines. 
VINQUISH. See Prytne. 
VINTAGE. The harvesting of a vineyard, or. | 
a crop of grapes. 
VIOLET, —botanically Viola. 
interesting genus of ornamental thalamiflorous 
plants, constituting the type of the natural order 
Violarieze or Violacezw. This order is very nearly 
akin to the Polygaliz, to the Droseracee, and es- 
pecially to the Passiflore ; and is distinguished 
from the Polygalee by its stipulate leaves, its two- 
celled anthers, and its unilocular fruit,—from the | 
Droseraceee by its involutive exfoliation, its stipu- 
late leaves, its solitary style, and its lengthened 
embryo,—and from the Passiflore by its stigmas 
being one and not three, by its anthers being | 
attached along their whole length and not fixed 
merely by the middle, by its stamens being hy- 
pogynous and not perigynous, by its fruit being 
capsular and not berried, and by its seminal al- 
bumen being compact and shining and not pit- 
ted. The majority of its species are hardy her- | 
baceous plants, inhabiting the cold or temperate 
zones of both hemispheres, growing in many in- | 
stances at great altitudes above the level of the | 
sea, all remarkable for neatness, many for bril- _ 
liané floral beauty, and some for exquisite and | 
luscious odour. Yet a considerable number, 
constituting a tribe, are suffrutescent plants, and 
natives of the tropics. The chief medical pro- 
perties of the order are emetic, and seem to re- — 
side principally in the roots. About 150 species, 
belonging to 12 or 13 genera, occur in British 
collections; and about 120 of them are hardy | 
herbs, and the rest are pretty equally divided be- 
tween the greenhouse and the stove. 
Between two-thirds and three-fourths of all | 
the Violaceze in: Britain belong to the violet | 
genus; and, excepting about 8 or 10, all these are 
hardy .|herbs,—principally perennial-rooted and 
annual-stemmed. The garden kinds, comprising a 
countless number of most. brilliant hybrids and 
varieties, are noticed in the article Pansy. Nine: 
of the other kinds or true species are natives of 
A large and | 
