506 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Part III. 



convenient length. If there were no stone, the lights must be in two lengths, and the 

 rafters would necessarily be considerably larger, so that there would be more shade on 

 the centre of the bed, if the flue was within the glass. The back elevation in the lower part 

 is formed of open brick work (d), to admit the heat of a lining of dung, and the wall (e) 

 enclosing this lining is bevelled, so that the dung as it sinks may not shrink and allow the 

 heat to escape in the air. In both back and front walls are ventilators (f), for use in winter 

 and severe weather. There are two fires (Jig. 442. g, g) the pit being constructed in two 

 divisions (h, h), in order to keep up a succession of fruit. A drain (i) frees the whole 

 from subterraneous water. In the use of this pit, the dung is thrown into the cavity be- 

 hind, fresh from the stable : " when the weather is dry," Scott observes, " and a moist 

 heat is required, I turn the dung once a week ; but if the weather be wet, I use the fire, 

 and let the dung lie undisturbed, so that I have either a damp or dry heat at pleasure. I 

 consider that no expense is caused by the use of the dung in this way, because, after being 

 turned two or three times, it answers the same purpose, as it would after having been 

 thrown up in heaps to sweeten it for cucumber or melon beds." (Hort. Trans, v. 221.) 

 This appears to us the best plan of a pine-pit, that has yet appeared. The flue, by being 

 situated in front, will have a perfect command of the air of the house, and the dung be- 

 hind, which should be covered in wet or very dry weather, comes conveniently in aid both 

 of the flue and tan-bed. 



Sect. II. Of tlie Construction of the Vinery. 



2656. The vinery affords the greatest latitude of construction ; for the fruit-tree the most 

 easily cultivated of all that are grown under glass, is the vine. For a crop which is to 

 be forwarded by the natural influence of the sun, chiefly or alone, almost any form will 

 suffice, provided the plants are trained near the glass. For very early crops, small 

 houses with steep roofs (figs. 443, 444.), in order freely to admit the sun in the winter 

 and spring months, are most desirable, and the section (fig. 443.) of 

 the steep-roofed house used by the Dutch, is not surpassed by any form 

 adopted in this country. It is commonly supposed that pits are the 

 best buildings for early forcing, and as far as respects artificial heat, 

 they are not much inferior to the Dutch vinery ; but as to light, with- 

 out which forced productions are not worth using, they are, from the 

 low angle of their roof, greatly deficient. A house for early forcing 

 (fig. 444.) may be thirty feet long, eight feet wide ; the glass (a) twelve 

 feet high, placed at an angle of 15° to the perpendicular; the flue en- 

 tering at one end (f) may pass under the front glass (b), and afterwards make two or 

 three returns in the back wall (d) ; the vines may be trained on a trellis nearly parallel to 

 the glass, between the flue and the back wall [c], and the shed behind may be fitted up 

 with shelves (e), and used as a mushroom-house. Such a house, being small, will be very 

 easily managed in the most severe winters. 



444 



■■' m vm/A 



2657. The vineries made use of by the Dutch for early forcing are generally about twenty- 

 five or thirty feet long, about five feet wide at bottom, and at the top about three feet. 

 The height generally about ten feet, which is that of the wall against which they are placed. 

 The fire-place is at one end, and the flue runs along the bottom to the opposite end, and 

 generally returns to a chimney built in the middle of the frame. The vines are brought 

 down from the wall, and nailed all along the front close to the glass frames, and are 

 securely covered at nights. The black and white sweet- water are the kinds preferred for 

 this early forcing. As this kind of forcing spoils the vines, it is necessary to have the 

 vine-walls at least five times the length of the frame, in order to furnish a succession of 

 well-perfected wood. After the crop is over, therefore, the vines in the course of the en- 

 suing winter are cut down nearly to the bottom, and they require a term of four or five 

 years to recover themselves for another early crop. (Tr. on the Vine, p. 127.) Similar 

 forcing-frames heated by a bed of dung within, have been adopted by P. Lindegaard, 

 gardener to the king of Denmark. (New Method of forcing Grapes, &c. 8vo. 1817.) 



