202 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
August  30,  1900, 
Notes  on  Late  Grapes. 
The  last  days  of  summer  are  with  us,  and  the  cold  dewy  nights 
and  quiet  hizy  mornings  show  plainly  that  we  are  on  the  threshold  of 
autumn,  when  tinted  leaves  and  ruddy  fruits  are  the  torernnners 
of  leafless  branches.  We  know  not  what  kind  of  weather  may  be  in 
store  for  us  throughout  September ;  it  may  be  wet  and  almost  sunless, 
or  the  rapidly  shortening  days  may  be  light  with  brilliant  sunshine* 
to  ripen  the  wood  of  Vines  and  fruit  trees,  and  to  mature  their  crops. 
Those  who  grow  late  Grapes  largely  know  full  well  that  the  behaviour 
of  the  elements  during  the  first  month  of  autumn  has  great  influence 
upon  the  finish  of  their  crops. 
The  summer  has  been  by  no  means  favourable  for  forwarding  late 
Grapes  without  the  aid  of  extra  fire  heat,  and  those  who,  for  various 
reasons,  did  not  follow  the  oft-repeated  advice  to  start  late  varieties  of 
Grapes  early  in  spring,  should  have  been  on  the  alert  to  make  the 
most  of  whatever  sunshine  we  get  in  the  present  month.  During 
recent  years  we  have  had  hot  summers  and  fine  autumns,  conditions 
which  have  been  extremely  favourable  for  the  forwarding  and  ripening 
of  late  Grapes,  and  I  fear  that  such  seasons  often  have  the  effect  of 
causing  us  to  delay  the  starting  of  late  Grapes  the  following  year,  in 
the  belief  that  a  summer  of  sunshine  is  sure  to  follow.  The  practice, 
however,  is  not  a  wise  one,  for  whatever  weather  may  follow,  the 
safer  ceurse  to  pursue  is  to  use  fire  heat  when  the  Vines  are  started, 
instead  of  having  to  fire  hard  to  ripen  theni  in  autumn.  I  have  never 
yet  known  a  house  ot  Gros  Colman  Grapes'to  be  ripened  too  early  to 
keep  well,  and  there  is  no  Grape  which  dislikes  strong  fire  heat  more 
while  the  berries  are  colouring.  Plenty  of  fire  heat  will  toughen  the 
skins,  and  get  the  berries  into  excel  lent, condition  for  travelling}  but 
they  will  never  become  perfectly  blat^  when  ripened  under  such 
conditions.  In  market  establishments 'a  good  amount  of  fire  heat  is 
usually  applied  to  C  lmans  while  they  are  ripening,  with  the  object 
of  hardening  the  skin,  as  it  is  in  their  case  more  important  to  grow 
Grapes  that  will  travel  well  than  to  get  them  perfectly  black ;  large 
berries  fairly  well  coloured  command  quite  as  high  a  price  as  those 
which  are  perfectly  black.  The  exhibitor  who  is  striving  to  win 
first  prizes,  however,  must  have  perfectly  black  Grapes,  and  to 
secure  such  he  should  aim  to  ripen  them  early  with  as  little  fire  heat 
as  possible. 
A  good  deal  can  be  done  to  bring  about  the  desired  results  by  the 
judicious  regulation  of  ventilation.  After  colouring  has  considerably 
advanced  a  crack  of  air  should  be  left  on  the  top  ventilators  constantly, 
and  when  the  nights  are  not  too  cold  a  slight  amount  may  be  admitted 
through  the  bottom  ones  also,  but  during  very  cold  nights  this  should 
be  taken  off.  A  most  important  point  is  to  commence  to  increase  the 
ventilation  early  enough  in  the  morning.  A  common  mistake  made 
is  not  to  do  this  till  sunshine  appears,  but  when  the  sun  bursts  out 
suddenly  the  temperature  of  a  house  rises  so  rapidly  that  the  moisture 
quickly  settles  on  the  berries  and  disfigures  the  bloom.  Houses  fully 
exposed  to  early  morning  sunshine  ought  to  have  the  ventilation 
increased  early  mough  to  prevent  the  temperature  of  the  house  from 
rising  rapidly  when  sunshine  does  strike  it.  Lean-to  structures 
having  a  west  aepect  require  considerable  care  in  their  manage- 
inent,  as  sunshii  e  dees  not  reach  them  till  rather  late  in  the 
morning,  and  then  rushes  up  the  temperature  quickly  if  extra 
ventilat  on  is  not  gi  eo.  In  all  these  matters  the  axiom  should 
be  to  anticipate  sunshine,  and  give  air  to  prevent  a  rapid  risino'  of 
the  temperature. 
After  noon  the  air  should  be  gradually  reduced  as  the  sun  loses 
power  so  as  to  shut  in  as  much  warmth  as  possible  consistent  with 
safety  to  the  Vines.  On  changeable  afternoons  one  is  often  tempted 
to  greatly  reduce  the  ventilation  early  in  the  afternoon,  anticipating 
that  the  matter  will  need  no  further  attention  that  day.  In  this, 
hovvever,  we  sre  often  woefully  disappointed,  as  the  sun  bursts  out 
again  with  great  force,  and  unless  more  air  is  at  such  times  admitted, 
rnoisture  will  quickly  settle  upon  the  berries.  When,  however,  this 
afternoon  ventilation  is  skilfully  regulated  it  plays  an  important  part 
in  hastening  Grapes  which  are  somewhat  backward. 
In  regard  to  fire  heat  I  do  not  advocate  getting  the  hot-water 
pipes  very  hot  at  any  time.  The  aim  should  be  to  have  them 
comfortably  warm  throughout  the  night  and  during  dull  or  wet 
days.  By  following  that  practice  and  jiaying  special  attention  to 
ventilation  Gros  (Jolman,  Alicante,  and  Lady  Downe’s  Grapes  will 
^lour  better  and  more  quickly  than  when  hard  firing  is  resorted  to. 
Years  ago,  before  the  cultural  requirements  of  Gros  Colman  were 
understood  as  well  as  they  are  to-day,  writers  in  the  horticultural 
press  invariably  advocated  that  this  variety  required  plenty  of  heat, 
and  recommended  it  to  be  planted  in  a  Muscat  house.  I  have  had 
to  deal  with  Vines  in  such  a  position,  and  I  always  found  that  the 
Muscats  ripened  before  the  Colmans,  and  when  fire  beat  was  discon¬ 
tinued  to  prevent  the  Muscats  from  shrivelling  the  Colmans  imme¬ 
diately  began  to  colour  better. 
Muscats,  Mrs,  Pearson,  Trobbiano,  and  other  late  crops  of  white 
Grapes  all  require  far  more  fire  heat  to  colour  them  well  than  black 
Grapes  do.  For  this  reason  those  who  have  houses  of  mixed  Grapes 
to  manage  labour  under  a  disadvantage.  It  is,  however*  not  always 
practicable  to  devote  a  late  house  entirely  to  either  white  or  black 
vrrieties,  but  difficulties  may  to  a  great  extent  be  minimised  by 
planting  the  former  at  the  warmer  end  of  the  house.  All  you r,g  laterals 
should  at  this  season  be  persistently  removed,  so  as  to  allow,  the  main 
leaves  to  have  the  beneflt  of  full  exposure  to  sun  and  air,  under  which 
conditions  alone  can  they  perform  their  functions  satisfactorily.  Young 
growths  are  also  extremely  liable  to  be  attacked  by  mildew,  and  this 
disease  spreads  quickly  during  the  damp  nights  of  autumn.  The 
best  way  to  stamp  it  out  is  to  paint  the  pipes  with  flowers  of  sulphur, 
and  then  heat  the  water  to  almost  boiling  point,  but  when  such  a 
course  has  of  necessity  to  be  pursued  it  is  not  conducive  to  high 
colour  in  black  Grapes. — H.  Donkin. 
- - — — - 
Perpetual  Strawberries. 
If  anyone  was  tempted  by  my  eulogy  last  year  of  St.  Joseph 
Strawberry  to  give  it  a  trial  I  do  not  think  he  has  been  disappointed. 
I  can  only  say,  with  my  further  experience,  that  it  seems  to  me  one  of 
the  greatest  steps  in  horticultural  progress  of  late  years.  I  put  out 
last  August  five  or  six  rows  of  strong  runners  of  St.  Joseph,  and  also 
(when  I  could  get  them,  which  was  not  till  nearly  November,  and 
they  were  then  very  small  plants)  a  dozen  of  St.  Antoine  de  Padue, 
the  errss  between  St.  Joseph  and  Eoyal  Sovereign.  I  allowed  each 
plant  to  make  from  four  to  six  runners,  which  were  encourazed  to  root 
and  grow  where  they  were.  All  other  runners  from  the  main  plants 
and  from  the  runners  have  been  pinched  off  as  soon  as  formed  by  going 
over  them  at  least  every  other  day. 
And  now  for  the  result; — St.  Joseph  beat  Laxton’s  No.  1  for 
earliness  by  a  day  or  two.,  My  Royal  Sovereigns  failed  rather, 
s  mehow.  My  Latest  of  AH,  after  good  promise,  were  burnt  up  by 
the  sun.  Even  for  main  crop  St.  Joseph  was  by  far  the  most 
abundant ;  we  have  never  been  without  Strawberries  since  the 
beginning,  and  now  (August  18th)  we  are  p'cking  good  dishes  every 
day,  not  only  as  much  as  we  care  for,  for  breakfast  and  dinner,  but  to 
spare  for  friends.  The  king-fruits  of  each  truss  are  not  uncommonly 
twice  as  big  as  the  size  pictured  in  the  advertisement.  Some  of  this 
year’s  runners  are  throwing  up  three  or  four  trusses  of  bloom  each, 
with  stems  as  thick  nearly  as  a  penholder.  There  will  be  no  further 
distinction  of  second  or  third  crop,  for  the  blossoms  are  in  all  stages 
on  all  plants,  some  only  just  showing. 
The  only  drawbacks  I  can  mention  are: — It  is  not  a  fruit  that 
colours  well,  and  the  large  ones  are  the  better  for  turning  and 
gathering  next  day,  and  if  much  shaded  by  foliage  they  ripen  very 
pale.  It  did  not  like  the  cold  wet  spell,  and  many  fruits  rotted  ; 
wasps  and  flies  are  beginning  to  find  them  out;  and  the  flavour, 
though  much  liked  by  many,  ip  a  little  too  sharp  for  my  taste. 
As  for  St.  Antoine  de  Padue,  of  my  twelve  plants,  from  all  of 
which  as  they  were  very  weak  I  picked  off  the  first  bloom  trusses,  one 
died,  two  are  weak,  and  one  is  evidently  a  “  rogue,”  apparently  simple 
Royal  Sovereign.  The  remainder  have  all  flowered  and  fruited  again, 
and  some  (but  not  much  more  than  hall)  of  the  runners  are  showing 
bloom  trusses.  I  should  say  it  is  perpetual,  but  not  by  any  means  so 
perpetual  as  St.  Joseph.  The  king-fruits  are  larger  than  those  of 
St.  Joseph,  a  deeper  hue,  and  colour  better,  and  the  flavour  is 
decidedly  sweeter  and  more  pleasant  to  my  palate.  But,  with  my 
present  expirience,  I  should  say  that  the  remaining  fruits  of  each  truss 
aie  smaller  than  the  average  St.  Joseph.  And,  at  present,  St.  Joseph 
is  the  Strawberry  for  me,  though  I  have  no  doubt  it  will  be  improved 
before  long. 
The  plants  have,  of  course,  been  “  well  done  by,”  with  occasional 
weak  liquid  manure  in  the  spring.  I  have  not  strawed  them  in 
any  way,  as  this  would  have  been  a  hindrance  to  cultivation  and 
rooting  of  the  runners.  The  beds  have  been  mulched  with  what  proved 
a  very  suitable  material,  four  or  five-year-old  pea  straw  pig  manure, 
which  had  decomposed  down  to  something  like  the  consistence  of 
cocoa-nut  fibre  refuse.  I  am  stronglv  of  opinion  that  there  is  a  great 
future  for  perpetual  Strawberries. — W.  R.  Raillem. 
