October 3, 188S. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



269 



GROUND VINERIES. 



ERY lately yoiu' correspon- 

 dent '• J. N." suggested an 

 idea wliioli was recom- 

 mended in tho first descrip- 

 tion I gave of the ground 

 vinery — I mean an aper- 

 ture at each end under the gable. I found, however, that 

 although calculated to allow the egi-ess of heated air. it 

 was of no perceptible use if the bricks for ventilation were 

 properly arranged. Till this season I have never had a 

 scorched leaf, never any red spider ; but foreseeing the im- 

 portance of fi'ee ventilation in confined gardens, my ground 

 vineries are in a most exposed place. I have recommended 

 two rows of bricks, placed so as either to make two rows of 

 pigeon-holes, or so as to make the interstices double the 

 size — i. c, double the depth of a single row of bricks. 

 Treated thus, Vines grow healtliily. and the fruit ripens 

 well. No better, no other, mode of ventilation is requii-cd, 

 if my seven years' experience is of any value. I gi'ow but 

 few Vines in gi'ound vineries, merelj' because I have more 

 Grapes than my family and friends can consume in lean-to 

 ^^neries ; but I am aware of the extent Grapes can be 

 gi-own in these sunple structures, as I Imow that a clergy- 

 man in Berkslm-e sold his ground-\inery Grapes for 4;20, 

 which he distributed among the piior of liis parish. 



^ly favourite Vine is a Trentham Black, wliich I have 

 suffered tliis season to bear fifty bunches merely for the 

 experiment ; but the hemes did not set well, o\\ing to the 

 Vine being taxed too heavily. This Vine has now nm 

 tlu'ough seven five-feet lengths, and is of coiu'se .So feet 

 long. I intend to place some small heaps of compost at 

 intervals of 20 feet, so that fresh roots may be produced, and 

 I hope to live to see it 100 feet long. I see no reason why 

 it should not reach to 200 feet. Its fruit was fully ripe 

 the first week in September, and Tvas of the most delicious 

 flavom-. 



I can see a gj-eat futiu-e for these mteresting stnictures. 

 Some variation in the training of Vines may be exercised. 

 Instead of the Vine l.ymg on the slates it may be trained 

 to a wire in the centre, about a foot from the ground. For 

 this piu'pose the vineries should be more roomy than I 

 at first recommended. Three feet in width at base will 

 give ample room for one Vine trauied to a irire in the 

 centre, and for two rows of double lateral cordons of Cheny, 

 Peach, Apricot, Pear, and Plum trees, wliich by' summer 

 pincliing may be made most prolific trees under glass, and 

 are most easUy' protected from oiu' spiing fi'osts. My 

 gi'oimd ■s-ineries used for tins pm^pose have no bars, and 

 are well and cheaply made by Mi-. James Rivett, builder, 

 Stratford, Essex. 

 With regard to geothermal ventilation mentioned by 

 No. 236.— Vol, IX., New Sekhs, 



"J. E.." it would ill my opinion be perfectly impossible to 

 keep Vines in health without considerable volumes of ex- 

 ternal air passing mto the vineries. In tlie south of Eng- 

 land there is always heat enough to ripen Hamburgh 

 Grapes. If geothermal heat could be applied under the 

 vineries, and I believe it can be. Grapes would ripen early 

 in summer, but the}' must have abundance of aii'. 



As to the paraphernalia of hinges and apertures at end 

 or at top, I believe them to be of no consequence. In nU 

 new methods of cultivation simjilicity should be the iido, 

 or people get bothered. As far as my exjiorience has gone, 

 the simple method of low ventilation by the ajiertures 

 formed in the rows of bricks is quite sufficient : still I am 

 not bigoted enough to despise the hiii'..;ed vineries of ^Ir. 

 Wells — they are luxuries, and, like aU such tilings, they 

 must be paid for liberally. 



Feeling interested in the question whether Grapes would 

 ripen better suspended from a mre in the centre, and as 

 close as possible under tlie ridge, so as to be in the hottest 

 part of the vinery, I have this moment (Sept. 21), walked 

 up through the rain to my little batch of ground vineries 

 on a sand hill (idO yards from my house, ^rith my man 

 Friday. I find that the bimches hanging from the upright 

 spurs are just under the ridge, and a trille over a foot 

 from the ground — in short, just where they would hang if 

 suspended from a mre in the centre. The Grapes in these 

 bunches are nearly or quite ripe : tho bunches lying on 

 the slates are not quite so ripe : but the ripest of all are 

 bunches hanging so that theii' tips touch the slates. This, 

 I hope, has settled the ipiestion : so we may now have our 

 Vines trained to wii-efi in ground vineries, and calciilate 

 that if the bunches are suspended so as to touch or par- 

 tially to lie on the slates, so as to receive then- radiation, 

 Grapes wiU ripen well. 



On examining the Vine I have alluded to — a Black 

 Hamburgh. I discovered that enough bunches liad not 

 been cut otf in spring ; and to my dismay, my man found, 

 on coimting them, sixty-three bunches, averaging half a 

 pound each, on this Vine of five years' growth, occupying a 

 ground ■i'inery 14 feet long, .'iO inches wide at base, slope 

 of roof 20 mches, depth in centre 10 inches, placed on a 

 single row of bricks end to end. with spaces of 4 inches be- 

 tween each for ventilation. There are no apertures at the 

 ends, but the structm-e is abuost exactly after that given in 

 the seventh or eighth edition of the " ^liuiature Fnut 

 Garden." A veiy mteresting fact is slwivn coimected with 

 the above yineiy — One or two bunches on the same Vine 

 are outside at the end, and within .i inches of their brothers 

 raider the glass ; the unsheltered bimches are full of small 

 berries as hard as green sloes. 



Although I have thus mentioned and given a favourable 

 accoimt of these rather narrow 30-inch-wide vineries with 

 bars, I much prefer those without bars, and 3 feet, or even 

 a little more, wide. The extra width adds but little to 

 their first cost, and room imder glass is always so conve- 

 nient and valuable. 



The one great trouble of these stnictures is thinning the 

 berries, at all tunes and in all wineries a tu'esome opera- 

 tion, yet most necessary, for without it such Grapes as the 

 No. 898.— Vol. XXXTV., Old Sskieb. 



