FOREIGN GRAPE UNDER GLASS. 



from the manufacturer in Westchester county, or in Flushing ? Or if another mode is pre 

 ferable, have they bought their materials, engaged their mechanics, and in the meantime 

 laid down a rich, well-drained and substantial border ? But, says my neighbor, " it will 

 never pay; it may do well enough as an amusement for the rich, who are visionary and 

 eccentric in their tastes and mental habits, but it will prove an unprofitable speculation." 

 True, it may not make returns in cash, dollar for dollar; and yet it is said that good llam- 

 burghs and Muscats sell readily in New- York at six to eight shillings per pound. I do 

 not believe a fine and cultivated taste is to be monopolized wholly by the "upper ten 

 thousand" in the great metropolis. If this beautiful and delicious fruit will not bring the 

 money again, it is better than gold or silver. "Who expects to make out the cash value of 

 his luxuries, in dollars and cents ? I would say to my neighbor, who is beginning to think 

 seriously on the subject: you can not expect a good vinery, 30 feet long by 15 feet wide, 

 handsomely glazed, to cost less than $150 to $'170. But if it be properly attended to, 

 and you sell the product for five years after fruting, you can pay the interest on the out- 

 lay twice over. But my friend, have you no unprofitable investments, or expensive luxu- 

 ries .'' Did that well-furnished coach and matched horses cost less than six hundred dol- 

 lars ? And when I passed through his splendid mansion, and saw the tissue of his carpets, 

 the lustre of his mahogany and rosewood furniture, and the five-hundred-dollar piano, 

 and then going through the garden, I saw the poor, half-starved grape vine, bearing a 

 small crop of fruit, the berries of which were as large as pistol shot, and almost as hard, 

 too, I said to myself, " consistency, thou art a Jewell" 



But, says another, " I can not incur additional expense at present; I have a family to 

 be supported, and children to be educated, and everything costs money." The education 

 of children I admit to be an important duty. But what is education .' Not a certain 

 given amount of grammar, or Latin, or French, or algebra. Education is effected or ob- 

 tained by every process which goes to discipline the mind, and enlarge and strengthen its 

 faculties. Take your children with you under the crj-stal roof, some fine day in April, 

 when all is bleak and lealless without. Take a leaf in one hand, and a microscope in the 

 other, as did the lamented Downing, a self-taught man, and read to yourself and children 

 a lesson from that theme. Describe to them its nature and tissue — -its ofBces and uses. 

 There are wonders in that leaf. You are making progress in the study of vegetable phy- 

 siology, and begin to see its connection with the theory of horticulture. You may easily 

 imagine yourself a priest of Nature, standing on the vestibule of her temple. Is it nothing 

 that you have so good an opportunity to guide and allure the minds of your children to a 

 study of such beauty and sublimity ? 



But, says another, " I have no children to love or provide for; I can not incur this 

 expense, and devote my time to attend upon a graper}', which I may not live to enjoy; 

 and when I am gone, I have no assurance that it will pass into the hands of an amateur 

 vine-dresser, or one who will appreciate the gift." You have no children ? Then you should 

 adopt some without delay, or something in their stead, to love and care for. Take some 

 exotics — strangers from llie old world, whose parents came from the classic banks of the 

 Rhine, or the gardens of Fontainbleau. or the sunny slopes of the hills in the south of 

 France. There are numerous families; the Ilamburghs, the Frontignans, the Chasselas, 

 and the Muscats, all good. You will find them more docile and manageable, than many 

 children. They will never be refractory, being easily trained; and befoie you are aware, 

 their adhesive, insinuating tendrils will twine and cling about your heart, and you will be 

 so happy as when in their company. Plant vines now, and deal kindl}'- with 

 every drop of paiental tenderness has exuded from your heart. 



