iS 7 9-] THE LATE SEVERE WINTER. 153 



early spring heat necessary to the stems and foliage of Vines, which 

 in summer is chiefly supplied by the sun, we supply by the best imi- 

 tation of nature within our reach — namely, hot water; and we are of 

 opinion that a modification of the same principle would be the most 

 efficient and best way of affording heat to the roots that are not under 

 the same roof with the stems. It may be asked, Why not have all 

 the roots of early Vines in the vinery 1 That certainly would be a 

 step in the right direction. But we have noticed, in a long experience, 

 that Vines with their roots all inside a narrow border, have never 

 been so satisfactory as when a considerable portion of them were in 

 outside borders. And supposing that the roots are equally located in 

 an inside and outside border, and that they do best so (as we believe 

 they do), why not, now that glass is so cheap, efficiently cover the 

 outside portion with a glass case, and run a flow, or flow and return, 

 hot-water pipe through it. It would be the simplest thing imaginable 

 to have a stout movable framework for the border of the early 

 .vinery, with a pipe attached to the inside pipes, that could be removed 

 in summer — frame and pipe and all — with the greatest of ease. In 

 midwinter the surface of this glass case could be covered with mats 

 or frigi-clomo, and, when the sun gains power in February and March, 

 sun-heat could be shut and covered up in it, just as in the vinery 

 itself. It may be argued against this that the border heats slowly 

 from the top. We think this is an assumption, and nothing more. 

 The natural heat of the earth in summer is surely the result of heat 

 from above, as well as the prevention of radiation from a certain 

 depth below the surface. 



One of the greatest obstacles in connection with the early forcing 

 of Pines, Vines, Peaches, Strawberries, Cucumbers, &c, which has 

 no doubt been forcibly experienced during the recent severe time, 

 is the lamentably unmethodical — we had almost said stupid — way in 

 which the houses are too frequently arranged and placed in relation 

 to each other ; when, as is very of cen the case, all these crops have 

 to be forced simultaneously. Even in many of the most pretentious 

 gardens, the arrangements are what may be termed the most hap- 

 hazard and inconvenient. The various houses are dotted about, just 

 as if there had been a shower of them. Their relations with each 

 other, and with the heating-power, could scarcely be more stupidly 

 planned. In many cases the houses are widely apart ; or, if nearer 

 each other, they are often on different levels. Every one of these 

 early forcing structures should be, if possible, in the same range : the 

 floors and hot-water pipes in the whole should as nearly as possible 

 be on the same level, where all, or several of them, are heated by one 

 boiler. The heat can then, in a severe winter and spring, be much 



