244 VARIOUS METHODS OF HEATING DESCRIBED I^" DETAIL. 



tignacs, ripen well :r. the open air, on southern aspects; and in 

 all seasons they succeed in ripening their fruit, in tolerable per- 

 fection, on hollow walls, with a little heat in spring, if the 

 season be backward, and a little in autumn, if the season 

 be late, i. e., if cold weather should set in unusually early, 

 which it frequently does in Scotland ; and yet we have seen tol- 

 erable crops of grapes produced north of the Tweed, on heated 

 walls, without any glass at all. This statement may be received 

 with incredulity by some, W'ho have had poor success in the 

 cultivation of foreign grapes, in the open air, in this countrj', 

 under circumstances of climate unquestionably more favorable 

 than can be found in any part of the British Islands. We believe 

 this statement will be corroborated by the testimony of every 

 one who is acquainted with the nature of the climate of both 

 countries. In fact, so much are people in this country impressed 

 with the unfavorable nature of an English summer, that in all 

 journals, magazines, periodicals, and papers, of every descrip- 

 tion, we, without one single exception, find it qualified with the 

 words, dull, gloomy, austere, wet, cold, damp, dripping, and 

 many other appellations of similar import, which it is not my 

 present purpose either to confirm or confute. But as there has 

 not, as yet, been (as far as we can learn) any general cause 

 assigned for the general failure here, there is but one infer- 

 ence that can be drawn from the above statements, viz., that 

 there must be, in this country, something wrong, or something 

 wanting, in the modes of cultivating foreign grapes, in the open 

 air. It cannot be said that the summers are too hot for the 

 grape-vine ; for there is hardly another plant in the vegetable 

 kingdom, that will bear a greater amount of natural or artificial 

 heat, or greater alternations of heat and cold, under circum- 

 stances otherwise favorable. There is no degree of heat, to 

 which natural vegetation is subjected in this country, under 

 which it will not flourish, provided the intense rays of the noon- 

 day sun be not concentrated upon its foliage ; and it is a well- 

 known fact, that grape-vines will not produce fruit abundantly 

 when they are not in a favorable aspect. There can be little 

 doubt that we must look to the condition of the plant, during 

 the spring and autumn, to enable us to reach the cause, and 



