THE GRAPE HOUSE. 9 
ter in the back cannot be made to shut close enough 
for early forcing on the bare brickwork or plaster 
unless the plaster of the wall is very fine, and the wall 
perfectly flat, so that they can fit as close as the lid of 
a box. This is quite necessary for early forcing. 
The cost of this vinery is not so much as might be 
supposed. I can construct a house like this at less 
than thirty per cent. of the usual cost of single glazing 
with putty, taking everything into account. There is 
the saving in bricks by constructing hollow walls, 
fixed rafters, glazing without putty, and further eco- 
nomy by the adoption of my ventilators, and by the 
use of a cheap and improved heating apparatus. 
Of course the house should not be built upon high 
and exposed ground where cold and cutting winds from 
the east or the west can play upon it unchecked. It 
should be situated on either low ground, or that of 
a medium level. If on a low level, good and thorough 
drainage must be secured both for the house and for 
the vines, so that no stagnant vapour shall be there to 
engender mildew. If, however, it must be built upon 
a level above the mediurn, choice should be made of a 
full southern aspect, and sheltered on the east and 
west sides by distant trees, but not nearer to the 
vinery than from 80 to 100 feet. In the western coun- 
ties of England I find that the westerly winds do more 
harm to the foliage of various trees and shrubs during 
the summer and early autumn than the east winds; 
and even a vinery on a high and exposed place open to 
some of these fierce westerly winds would no doubt 
feel the bad effects more or less. But in the more 
easterly and northern counties, almost every early 
plant and plant-house and forcing house feels the spring 
