CHAPTER XI 

 GRAPES UNDER GLASS 



Grape-growing under glass is on the decline in America. 

 Forty or fifty years ago the industry was a considerable one, 

 grapes being rather commonly grown near all large cities for 

 the market, and nearly every large estate possessing a range of 

 glass had a grapery. But grapes are better and more cheaply 

 grown in Europe than in America, and the advent of quick 

 transportation permits English, French and Belgian grape- 

 growers to send their wares to American markets more cheaply 

 than they can be grown at home. For the present, the world 

 war has stopped the importation of luxuries from Europe, 

 and American gardeners ought to find the culture of grapes 

 under glass profitable ; they may expect also to be able to 

 hold the markets for many years to come because of the destruc- 

 tion of Belgian houses and the shorta-ge of labor in Europe^ 

 resulting from the war. 



Amateur gardeners ought never to let the culture of grapes 

 under glass wane, since the hot-house grape is the consumma- 

 tion of the gardener's skill. Certainly the forcing of no other 

 fruit yields such generous rewards. Grapes grown under 

 glass are handsomer in appearance and better in quality than 

 those grown out-of-doors. The clusters often attain enormous 

 size, a weight of twenty to thirty pounds being not uncommon. 

 The impression prevails that to grow grapes under glass, one 

 must have expensive houses; this is not necessary, and "hot- 

 house grapes" is a misnomer, the fruit really being grown in 



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