A BIG BUNCH OF GRAPES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXIX, Issue 25, 21 December 1907, Page 23

A BIG BUNCH OF GRAPES.

On the last day of September. Mr. John Leslie, gardener at Pitcullen House, Perth, a well-known and successful grower and exhibitor of grapes during the past quarter of a century, cut the largest and heaviest bunch of grapes he has ever grown. During the past season this big bunch has formed the subject of a good deal of talk and conjecture as to its weight amongst gardeners in the neighbourhood, but even the most sanguine scarcely anticipated it would weigh as heavily as it did. When it was cut and weighed on the date mentioned, in the presence of reputable witnesses, it turned the scales at exactly 20111 s. The variety is Barbarossa. This bunch is all the more noteworthy* as it was produced from a shoot grafted so recently as March 2nd, 190(1. Mr. Leslie received the eyes, if we mistake not, from Mr. M’Kinnon, Scone Palace, ami these he grafted on a Gros Colman stock, and from the resulting growth the huge bunch under notice was produced. The dimensions of the bunch were—depth, 22 inches; width across the shoulders. 21J inches one way and 18 inches the other. For so large a bunch it was very symmetrical. the berries of normal size and fairly well coloured. The accompanying photo gives a fair idea of the size ami form of the buneh, although, owing to the position it was taken from, it does not show the width across the shoulders properly. ALBYN.