ART. III. On the Cultivation and Treatment of the Grape Vine in the Greenhouse or Conservatory, with a Diary of the Progress of the Vines, Temperature, &c. By the EDITOR.

FROM the first publication of our Magazine, we have devoted many pages to the cultivation of the grape vine under glass, and a great number of articles will be found in our several volumes by various correspondents, both amateur and professional cultivators. The management of the vine in pots was fully detailed by ourselves in our first volume, (p. 37), in the Greenhouse and Grapery, in some able papers in the same volume, by Mr. Russell, (pp. 48, 94, &c.), in the Grapery, by Mr. O. Johnson, (VIII. p. 201), and in the Cold-house, in a very valuable article, (XII. p. 384), by Mr. Russell. We now have to add our own experience on its treatment in the Greenhouse exclusively, where a valuable collection of plants is cultivated; and, at a future time, we hope also to give an article on its management in the early vinery, which will make our Magazine a complete treatise on the growth of this delicious fruit.

Our information on the cultivation of the vine has been, in a great degree, gathered from the experience of English Cultivators, and, without making any allowance for variation of latitude, climate, &c., we have followed them so strictly that an impression has been formed that the grape could not be grown in the greenhouse without great injury to the plants; or, in other words, that either the vines or the plants must suffer, whichever the cultivator may deem of the least importance. Now in the cool, cloudy, and rainy climate of England, where every gleam of sunshine, especially in winter, is necessary to the health and vigor of both plants and fruits when grown under glass, it is important that there should be no obstruction to its free penetration to every part of the house; but, under our burning sun, where, often for weeks in succession, there is scarcely a cloud to obstruct its rays, it is absolutely necessary to the well being of most kinds. of plants that there should be some shade. If this is not to be obtained by vines on the rafters, it must be had by whitening the under surface of the glass, or by fitting up curtains,

which may be rolled up and unrolled as occasion may require. It is thus apparent to all, that, however so much English practice may disclaim against the growth of the grape in the greenhouse in that climate, in this country it may be successfully cultivated without injury to the plants.

Our collection consists of a great quantity of plants, and particularly of choice assortments of the camellia, azalea, rose, heath, pimelea, cactus, &c. &c., and, for the camellia, we have, in addition to the shade of the vines, had to whiten a portion of the glass. These plants have all been cultivated in the highest condition, and are vigorous, healthy, and not the least injured by the grape vines. By the time the vines require a high temperature to swell the fruit, the plants should all be removed from the house, but their places may be immediately filled with those which are suited to a greater heat, and the greenhouse still keep up its cheerful and brilliant appearance, as we have already shown in our last number (p. 263). At the time we now write, (June), the berries of the grapes are as large as bullets, and the conservatory one blaze of flowers, and the temperature 90° at noon.

Our conservatory is upwards of eighty-four feet long, twentytwo wide, ten feet high at the sides, with a span roof, and sashes on all sides from the sill to the plate. The inside arrangements are two central walks, one the whole length, and the other from the street front to the lawn front; another walk leads all round the house next the glass, thus leaving two spaces which are constructed with stages, and two which are level with the walks, on which the large specimen camellias and other plants are placed. With this description, we shall return to the growth of the vines :

THE BORDER.

When the conservatory was erected in 1841, the growth of vines was not contemplated for the reasons we have just alluded to. But, in 1842, as we were desirous of proving some new kinds, and the correctness of others, of whose names we were in some doubt, we commenced the formation of the border, intending to plant the vines another year, not with the expectation that we should raise any grapes worth the

trouble-we were more solicitous about the welfare of the plants-but merely for the above object. Consequently, the border was made only fourteen feet wide, and two and a half deep, and as the conservatory was set well up with a view to have a fine gravelled terrace, the border was eighteen inches above the level of the lawn. The border was formed by carting in sods and good loam from an old pasture, and mixing with them about one quarter of well decomposed manure from the stable yard, and from old hotbeds. This was done in July and August at leisure time. In the fall, the whole was trenched over in a rough manner, and about thirty bushels of ground bones added. In this way the soil lay till the next spring, when it was again trenched over and ready for planting. We are not thus particular in order to show how a border should be made, but merely that it may be seen that a fine crop of grapes can be obtained without all the quackery so often recommended in their formation, such as a bed of oyster shells or boiled bones, dead horses, cattle, and dogs, slaughter-house manure, blood, soot, &c. All that is necessary, in our opinion, to produce the very best grapes, is a good, rich, loamy soil, well top-dressed, every year, with old stable manure and guano, in order to bring the roots to the surface, rather than that they should go to the bottom after the dead carcases.

PLANTING THE VINES.

Owing to the delay in trenching the border, it had not become sufficiently settled to plant the vines before July. They were young plants one year old, and had been prepared by heading them down early in the spring, and training up one shoot which had now attained the height of six or eight feet. Holes were opened about four inches deep, and two feet broad, and the roots, after the tops had been drawn very carefully through the holes in the sill, so as not to injure the leaves, well spread out, shaking the ball completely free from soil. A good watering was then given to settle the earth, and the shoots tied up. If the work is well done, though as late as July, the vines will not receive the least injury. We do not advise late planting when it can be done earlier in the season, but even August is much better than to lose a

year, as the vines will then make a shoot from ten to twenty feet long.

GENERAL MANAGEMENT.

After the vines are planted, it is only necessary to see that the roots are well watered, should the weather prove dry, and the surface mulched with a little coarse stable manure. The leaves should also be well syringed every evening after the house is closed for the night, which should be rather earlier than usual. No other care is required but to keep the shoots tied up, looking after them every few days, and nipping off all laterals at the base of the first leaf. If duly attended to, they will reach the top of an ordinary grapery by the end of the season.

It will have been noticed that our conservatory was so constructed that the sides are ten feet high; in consequence of this, it required a longer time to get a good shoot up to the rafters; and, as no good grapes could be expected until they reached them, the vines in December were headed down to within two feet of the floor.

SECOND SEASON.-About the 1st of March, the vines began to break their eyes: as soon as fully out, all were nipped off but two; these were allowed to grow until they attained the length of two or three feet, for fear one might, by accident or carelessness, be broken off: at the end of that time, the weakest one was cut quite out, and the remaining one grew rapidly, reaching the top of the house early in the season, and making a thick and vigorous cane. The same treatment was followed as the last year: all the laterals were nipped off at the first leaf, and this repeated every time the remaining one pushed, until the wood was fully ripe, when they were cut clean off to the main eye: if done too early, it will cause the eye to push, but if at the proper season, which can only be told by the vigor of the shoots, and the ripeness of the wood, it greatly strengthens the eye at the base. Syringing should be well attended to before the plants are brought into the house, and, in September, it should be thoroughly aired to ripen the wood, on which much depends. In December, the

vines were pruned, and cut back to three good eyes from the bottom of the rafter; these were left to produce fruit.

THIRD SEASON. From this period our diary commences; but, as it was not kept with the accuracy of the following year, and as there was but a few grapes, it would only occupy time and space to give it entire; we shall therefore only quote some of the remarks which were casually noted down, showing the progress of the vines, that the amateur, who wishes to follow our practice, may know how far he is successful.

March 4th.-Vines in the middle of the house have burst their eyes: those at cach end much swollen.

12th. Some of the earliest vines are so far advanced as to show their fruit buds.

22d.-Vines most advanced have shoots about twelve inches long; those which started latest about two inches. (It may be proper to remark, that a flue run across the centre of the house and returned again).

April 5th.-Vines most advanced have made shoots two feet long, and the largest bunches of buds are one inch long: the latest now show fruit buds.

19th. The most forward vines have shoots now about five feet long. The two side shoots, (there being one main and two side ones), have had the ends nipped off two eyes above the fruit buds.

May 3d. The most forward vines now begin to open their flower buds: longest shoots about eight feet. The conservatory up to this time, since the vines began to push, has been syringed every night in favorable weather,-both plants and vines.

16th. During the last week, the temperature has been kept higher, and rather closer than usual. The most forward vines have now their fruit well set: the latest just coming into flower. The most rapid growing vines have already reached the top of the house, twelve feet.

26th.-Vines very vigorous, so much so, that the leading shoots have to be turned and trained along the ridge, and the laterals left at full length to prevent the main eyes from breaking.