Dkckmbek l(i. lSi)T 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



149 



Interior View looking to the rear of the New Store of Mr. Fred. C. Weber, St, Louis. 



same as the vines in the border, s^-ring- 

 ing, air, etc., suited all alike. By Sep- 

 tember the vines had grown to the whole 

 length of the rafter and were as thick as 

 your thumb (I mean an ordinary thunilj, 

 not Peter Crow's). By middle of Novem- 

 ber the leaves dropped off and the canes 

 were as brown as a hazel nut. I had 

 suffered with mice in this house so about 

 December ist I took out the \ines, laid 

 the tubs on their sides, covered tubs and 

 canes with dry leaves and left them there 

 until the following February (1876). 



When the vinery wis started again they 

 were brought in, shortened back to ten 

 feet, and after the eyes had uiade an even 

 break, tied up between the other vines. 

 Now that is not the way a pot vine is 

 usually trained. Four nice stout green 

 stakes four feet above the pot and the 

 cane tied spirally round the stakes; that 

 is the way to have them look hand.some, 

 and quite as well for the crop. A heavy 

 nuilching of cow manure was put on a 

 few weeks after they were started and 

 during their last swelling liquid ma- 

 nure was given three times a week. A 

 2-inch pot of real Peruvian guano to 

 three gallons of water was given once a 

 week. The fruit was ripe about the 

 middle of August, nineteen months from 

 the time the tiny piece of wood was put 

 into the 3-inch pot. The varieties 

 were Black Hamburg and Buckland's 

 Sweet Water, but the latter was not nearly 

 so satisfactory as the Hamburg. The best 

 cane had twentv-six bunches with a total 



weight of sixteen or seventeen pounds, 

 and others were nearly as good. This 

 was altogether too nmch of a crop and 

 the berries never assumed that rich 

 purple black which is the pride of a good 

 grape grower. With all their imperfec- 

 tions they brought $ i . 25 per pound in New- 

 York City. If I should succeed in getting 

 as good canes again I would be well satis- 

 fied to have twelve bunches averaging a 

 pound apiece, and then I believe one 

 could finish them off finely. 



Now I would not trouble to write this 

 to encourage those only who have a 

 heated graperv, for what florist has that ? 

 But [ believe the same can be done, by 

 one who has a good rose house, especially 

 one with the long span to the south. We 

 all nowadays have the facilities for start- 

 ing the young vines and it would be the 

 middle of April before they went into the 

 rose house. No shade is wanted for either 

 and few if any have bottom ventilation, 

 which would be fatal to grapes. When I 

 look back at the achievement it seems a 

 little more than I thought of it at the time. 

 My employer said to me one day in Au- 

 gust during the centennial exhilntion: "I 

 think, William, we ought to take a few of 

 these vines to Philadelphia." I replied with 

 a sort of grissly Frontignac smile: "Oh 

 lord, no sir, there are wonderful men in 

 Philadelphia, so I have heard; this would 

 be nothing to them. I only wish the vines 

 in the border were as good." "Never 

 mind, William, let us go into the study 

 and sample the juice of some foreign 



grapes." "Certainly, sir, I will. Mike 

 leave on all the air you can; the grapes 

 are about ripe and want lots of it." 



"C-\NON H.\Li, Muscat." 



MUSHROOM HOUSE. 



During the last few years a good many 

 florists utilize the space underneath 

 greenhouse benches for mushroom grow- 

 ing, securing a crop from house-room 

 which would be otherwise wasted. 



When calling on W. H. Cook, Newark, 

 Del. , I saw what seemed to me a model 

 mushroom house. The house is built of 

 wood and is seventy-five feet long and 

 twenty feet wide, with a cellar about 

 twelve feet deep, and contains seven cen- 

 ter beds seven feet wide, and side beds 

 three feet wide. Four of the beds are be- 

 low the surface of the ground. A wooden 

 structure is erected, containing seven 

 beds, allowing about three feet between 

 each bed, the whole structure being 

 about twenty-one feet high. The bottom 

 boards of each bed are not nailed down 

 and can be removed when making up 

 new beds and allow plenty of room for 

 making up the bed underneath. There 

 is a passage three feet wide on each side 

 of the house between the center and side 

 benches, with bars across the passage way 

 about ten feet apart, and on the level 

 with each bed. By placing three 12-inch 

 boards across these bars they make a 

 floor the required height when making 

 up or clearing out the old beds. 



