22^5 VARIOUS METHODS OF HEATING DESCRIBED IN DETAIL. '^ 



tare and early forcing of the grape-vine. The increasing im- 

 portance of this branch of gardening will justify me in devoting 

 a few pages to that subject. The culture of this fruit occupies 

 a very high position in this country ; volumes and pamphlets 

 innumerable have been written about it, by practicals, theorists, 

 and experimentalists, each one supposing he has discovered 

 something, which, for want of more extended information, he 

 calls " new," in the managing, heating, or ventilating of his 

 vineries, when, lo ! another starts up and knocks it on the head, 

 and proposes a new nostrum ; and every one is sure to find 

 some ignorant enough to follow his advice. It might not be out 

 of place here, to discuss some of the most important points which 

 an extended experience has proved to be desirable, in the heat- 

 incr of structures for the culture of the vine. 



And, first, let me remark, that nothing is more creditable than 

 the use of the readiest and cheapest means at hand for securing 

 a definite result. Whatever system may be thought of, it is 

 desirable to understand the principles upon which it rests for 

 its success. It must be borne in mind, in the outset, that no 

 care in the culture of the vine, under glass, will compensate for 

 a contaminated atmosphere, which should, at all times, approach 

 to the natural summer purity and warmth. 



Were we to analyze and bring into view the first principles 

 of horticulture, and make ourselves masters of the various effects 

 produced upon the grape-vine under glass, and the causes, we 

 should often smile at the ludicrous importance we attach to par- 

 ticular methods of practice. A blind man, by habit, will often 

 walk along a devious path, with quagmires and pitfalls on either 

 side of him, and safely too, whether at midnight or noon-day ; 

 and we often follow the example of the blind. We, in one way 

 or another, acquire the faculty of performing certain operations 

 with a life-like certainty, though in the same degree of mental 

 darkness as regards the power of deviating from the beaten 

 track without committing egregious errors. In all such cases, 

 there can be no doubt that it is wise to follow the old trodden 

 path, till we can more plainly see which is the safest for our 

 particular case. It does not so much signify which of the best 

 methods we adopt, provided the science of cuhure has given us 



