The Horticultural register - v. 5 Author:Joseph Harrison Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: PAXTON'S HORTICULTURAL REGISTER, FEBRUARY, 1836. HORTICULTURE. ON THE SHRIVELLING OF GRAPES. January 5th, 1836. Sin,—In reference to the "shrivell... more »ing of grapes," I beg leave to add a few remarks to those of Mr. Denver, not only with the view of supporting his statements, but also to mention the result of my experience, for the benefit of my " younger brethren." A range of houses was placed under my care some yeairs ago, where the grapes produced had been bad coloured and shrivelled. I forced them two seasons, and, although those berries which did swell were well coloured, yet the extremities of the bunches shrivelled. Mr. Judd had stated in the " Transactions," that inattention to airing the houses was the cause. Several gardeners of high repute, to whom I mentioned the circumstance, were of the same opinion. As, however, I had been duly initiated into the routine of forcing, and had attended to these houses myself, I knew the imperfection could not arise from any such cause. From several observations I had made, very similar to those mentioned by Mr. D., I came to a similar conclusion, viz. that it originated in a want of energy in the root, and which, as he has justly stated, might arise from a variety of causes. In my case, I conceived it to arise from a poor, cold border. The border, I was informed, had been duly drained when it was made; but, as the situation of the garden was low, and the subsoil strong clay, and an excavation having been made for the border, it was not difficult to understand that the roots must suffer from Vol. v.—No. i,vr. a cold. Moreover, the border was shaded by a row of espalier trees, which grew a short distance from it. I had not the opportunity of raising the roots to the surface; I therefore removed the apple-trees, lowe...« less