270 



A CHEAP VINERY. 



Fig. 74. A Cheap Frame /or Grapes. 



or the house covered with boards during the 

 winter; but as Mr. Chauncey's garden is in 

 a sheltered situation, the vines are found 

 to require no protection.* 



The sashes are not made to slide, and the 

 house is only aired by the door, or by in- 

 serting bits of wood under the lower ends 

 of the sashes so as to raise them an inch or 

 two. But it is one of the peculiarities of 

 Mr. McKjiiE's culture, that he gives very little 

 air, and no water,i as his vines are never 

 showered. His vines are mostly Black 

 Hamburg and Chasselas, and are five years 

 old. They have borne abundant crops for 

 two seasons past, and the grapes have re- 

 ceived premiums at the exhibitions of the 

 Pennsylvania Horticultural Society ,both last 

 year and the present; and I can assure you, 

 from personal inspection, at various times 

 during the past season, that the growth of 

 the vines has been remarkably vigorous and 

 healthy. 



I cannot doubt that this discovery is des- 

 tined to prove of great importance, because 



* We should advise that the vines be protected after the 

 autumn pruning is completed. — Ed.' 

 t I mean on the foliage, the roots of course are watered. 



it proves clearly that market gardeners and 

 others, who have generally a (juantity of 

 hot-bed glass, which is stowed away and 

 utterly useless during the summer, may 

 make use of it in this way for their own 

 profit, and for the benefit of the public at 

 large. 



The frame may, of course, be made of 

 whatever size the proprietor chooses, and 

 the management of the vines may be the 

 same as in any other house. Mr. Chaun- 

 cey's house is about twenty-five feet long, 

 b5M\velve wide; the back wall, which, as 

 I observed before, is formed by a tight board 

 fence, is about ten feet high, and the front 

 three feet. Very truly yours. 



H. W. S. Cleveland. 



Oallands, Burlington, N. J-, Nov. 2, 1S46. 



Observations. — We have had such ex- 

 cellent accounts of this cheap viode of groio- 

 ing foreign grapes — a great desideratum 

 to thousands in this country, that we have 

 much satisfaction in laying Mr. Cleve- 

 land's letter describing it before our read- 

 ers. 



Mr. McKee's mode of managing his vmes 

 is highly successful. The size of the struc- 

 ture, as our correspondent remarks, maybe 

 varied at pleasure. Our cut shows one nar- 

 rower than the one described. We think, 

 perhaps, it would be better, for the sake of 

 simplicity and economy, to make the house 

 narrower, and dispense with the row of 

 vines inside. This would obviate altoge- 

 ther the necessity' of watering the border 

 inside. The border for the front row of 

 vines, we Vvould make entirely outside, and 

 conduct the stem through as shown in the 

 figure. This border should not be less than 

 ten feet wide, and two and a half feet deep, 

 and of course trenched, and thoroughly en- 

 riched before planting the vines. — Ed. 



