Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/289

277 FRUITS.] HORTICULTURE 277 first-rate outdoor plantations, and if put out early in summer, in good ground, will often produce a useful autumnal crop. The varieties are very numerous. The following are some of the best and most distinct of those now in cultivation, those marked * being specially suitable for forcing: Amateur a brisk-flavoured variety. British Queen* one of the best-flavoured sorts; requires good cultivation. Dr Hogg a hardier form of British Queen. Elton late, and valuable for preserving. Enchantress a fine-flavoured late variety. Filbert Pine * an excellent high-flavoured sort. Frogmore Late Pine a good late sort. James Veitch * a large solid showy variety. Keens Seedling * a fine old sort, of great merit for all purposes. La Constante * an excellent sort, of sprightly flavour. La Grosse Sueree * large, and of excellent flavour. Loxford Hall Seedling one of the best late sorts. Lucas* a useful fine-flavoured variety. Myatt s Eliza very high-flavoured, perhaps in this respect unequalled. Oscar* good for a general crop ; travels well. President * a useful brisk-flavoured sort. Sir Charles Napier* a capital market fruit, rather acid. Sir Harry a favourite market fruit. Sir Joseph Paxton * an excellent large high-flavoured sort. Vicomtesse Hericart de Thury * good for all purposes ; one of the best. 137. The Vine, Vitis vinifera, a native of the shores of the Cas pian, and a deciduous climbing shrub, is hardy in Britain so far as regards its vegetation, but not hardy enough to bring its fruit to satisfactory maturity, so that for all practical purposes the vine must be regarded as a tender fruit. Planted against a wall or a building having a south aspect, or trained over a sunny roof, such sorts as the Black Cluster, Black Prince, Pitmaston White Cluster, Royal Muscadine, Sweetwater, &c. , will ripen in the warmest Eng lish summers so as to be very pleasant eating, but in cold summers the fruit is not eatable in the raw state, andean only be converted into wine or vinegar. For outdoor culture the long-rod system is generally preferred. When the plant is grown under glass, the vine border should oc cupy the interior of the house and extend outwards in the front, but it is best made by instalments of 5 or 6 feet as fast as the pre vious portions become well filled with roots, which may readily be done by packing up a turf wall at the extremity of the portion to be newly made ; an exterior width of 15 feet will be sufficient. Inside borders require frequent and thorough waterings. In well-drained localities the border may be partially below the ground level, but in damp situations it should be made on the surface ; in either case the firm solid bottom should slope outwards toward an efficient drain. A good bottom may be formed by chalk rammed down close. On this should be laid at least a foot thick of coarse hard Tubbly material, a layer of rough turf, grass side downwards, being spread over it to prevent the compost from working down. The soil itself, which should be 2^ or 3 feet deep, never less than 2 feet, should consist of live parts rich turf} 7 loam, one part old lime rubbish or broken bricks, including a little wood ashes or burnt earth (ballast), one part broken charcoal, and about one part of half-inch bones, the whole being thoroughly mixed, and kept dryish till used. Young vines raised from eyes are generally preferred for planting. The eyes being selected from well-ripened shoots of the previous year are planted about the end of January, singly, in small pots of light loamy compost, and after standing in a warm place for a few days should be plunged in a propagating bed, having a bottom heat of 75, which should be increased to 85 when they have produced several leaves, the atmosphere being kept at about the same temperature or higher by sun heat during the day, and at about 75 at night. As -soon as roots are freely formed the plants must be shifted into 6-inch pots, and later on into 12-inch ones. The shoots are trained up near the glass, and, with plenty of heat (top and bottom) and of water, with air and light, ami manure water occasionally, will form firm strong well-ripened canes in the course of the season. To prepare the vine for planting, it should be cut back to within 2 feet of the pot early in the season, and only 3 or 4 of the eyes at the base should be allowed to grow on. The best time for planting is in spring, when the young shoots have just started. The vines should be planted inside the house, from 1 to 2 feet from the front wall, the roots being placed an inch deeper in the soil than before, carefully disentangled and spread outwards from the stem, and covered care fully and firmly with friable loam, without manure. When the shoots are fairly developed, the two strongest are to be selected and trained in. Y T hen forcing is commenced, the vinery is shut up for two or three weeks without fire heat, the mean temperature ranging about 50. Fire heat must be at first applied very gently, and may range about 55 at night, and from 65&quot; to 70 by day, but a few degrees more may be given them as the buds break and the new shoots appear. When they are in flower, and onwards during the swelling of the berries, 85 may be taken as a maximum, running up to 90 with sun heat, and the temperature maybe lowered some what when the fruit is ripe. As much ventilation as the state of the weather will permit should be given. A moist growing atmo sphere is necessary both for the swelling fruit and for maintaining the health of the foliage. A due amount of moisture may be kept up by the use of evaporating troughs and by syringing the walls and pathways two or three times a day, but the leaves should not be .syringed. When the vines are in flower, and when the fruit is colouring, the evaporating troughs should be kept dry, but the aridity must not be excessive, lest the red spider and other hurtful insects should attack the leaves. In the course of the season the borders (inside) will require several thorough soakings of warm water, the first when the house is shut up, this being repeated when the vines have made young shoots a few inches long, again when the vines are in flower, and still again when the berries are taking the second swelling after stoning. Outside borders require watering in very dry summer weather only. There are three principal systems of pruning vines, termed the loiig-rod, the short-rod, and the spur systems, and good crops have been obtained by each of them. It is admitted that larger bunches are generally obtained by the long-rod than by the spur system. The principle of this mode of pruning is to train in at considerable length, according to their strength, shoots of the last year s growth for producing shoots to bear fruit in the present ; these rods are afterwards cut away and replaced by young shoots trained up during the preceding summer ; and these are in their turn cut out in the following autumn after bearing, and replaced b} T shoots of that summer s growth. By the short-rod system, short instead of long rods are retained ; they are dealt with in a similar manner. The spur system has, however, become the most general. In this case each rafter, or up the middle of the sash, the latter method being I preferable. The shoots are cut back to buds close to the stem, which and left, by removing those buds from the original shoot which are j not conveniently placed. The young shoots from these buds are to i be gently brought to a horizontal position, by bending them a littla j at a time, and usually opposite about the fourth leaf the rudiments of a bunch will be developed. The leaf directly opposite the bunch must in all cases be preserved, and the young shoot is to be topped at one or two joints beyond the incipient fruit, the latter distance being preferable if there is plenty of room for the foliage to expand ; the lateral shoots, which will push out after the topping, must be again topped above their first or second joints. If the bunches are too numerous they must be thinned before the flowers expand, and the berries also must be properly thinned out and regulated as soon as they are well set, care being taken, in avoiding overcrowding, that the bunches be not made too thin and loose. The cultivation of vines in pots is very commonly practised with good results, and pot-vines are very useful to force for the earliest crop. The plants should be raised from eyes, and grown as strong as possible in the way already noted, in rich turfy loam mixed with about one-third of horse dung and a little bone dust. The tempera ture should be gradually increased from 60 to 80, or 90 by sun heat, and a bottom heat a few degrees higher must be maintained during their growth. As the roots require more room, the plants should be shifted from 3-inch pots into those of 6, 12, or 15 inches in diameter, in any of which larger sizes they may be fruited in the following season, but, to be successful in this, the young rod pro duced must be thoroughly matured after it has reached its limit of growth. The vine, both indoors and out, is very subject to the vine-mildew, which appears to the naked eye like a white powder ; when this is visible there is no effectual remedy, but if taken at the earliest stage it may be destroyed by dusting the whole plant, stem, leaves, and fruit, with sulphur. An equally destructive enemy is the vine louse, Phylloxera vastatrix. No certain easily applied cure has yet been discovered, and practically the only sure remedy is to destroy the vines, clear out the old infested soil, and cleanse the structures thoroughly in every part. The number of varieties of grapes possessing some merit is con siderable, but a very few of them will be found sufficient to supply all the wants of the cultivator. For general purposes nothing approaches the Black Hamburg (including Frankenthal) in merit. Those named below are more or less in requisition: Outdoor Grapes. Black Cluster small, roundish-oval, black berries. Black Prince largish, oval, purplish-black berries. Early Ascot Frontignan round, amber-coloured berries; musky flavour. Early Saumur Frontignan medium, round, pale-amber berries ; musky. Early White Malvasia (Grove-end Sweetwater) roundish, whitish-green berries. July Frontignan medium, round, blue-black berries ; musky flavour. Miller s Burgundy (The Miller) small, roundish-oval, black berries. Royal Muscadine (Chasselas dc Fontaineblcau) large, round, greenish- yellow berries ; one of the best white grapes, indoors or out. Indoor Grapes. Alicante large, oval, blue-black berries ; late, and a good keeper. Black Hamburg large, roundish-oval, black berries; A 1 in every respect. Black Monukka medium, obovate-obli.ng, brownish-black, seedless, crackling berries; very pleasant eating; may lie grown as a curiosity. Buckland Sweetwater large, roundish, pale amber berries. Canon Hall Muscat large, roundish, amber berries ; high musky flavour. Chasselas Masque 1 medium, round, pale amber berries; rich musky flavour. Duchess of Buccleuch small, round, greenish-white berries ; musky.
 * the vines are usually planted so that one can be trained up under
 * should be encouraged to form alternately at equal distances right