GRAPE CULTURE IN THE GREENHOUSE AS A 

 PROFITABLE INDUSTRY. 



Read to the members of Niagara Falls South Horticultural Society. 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, 

 As you have desired of me a paper 

 on something pertaining to Horticul- 

 ture, I shall endeavor to give my expe- 

 rience in growing indoor or Foreign 

 Grapes. In going through a rose house 

 at Niagara Falls, my attention was drawn 

 to the beautiful buds and fiowers, and 

 I thought to myself, could this branch 

 of horticulture be profitable, after de- 

 ducting the heavy expense in coal, 

 material and labor ? It is certain that 

 people have a craze for beautiful flow- 

 ers ; some will buy to dress their table 

 with, others their parlor, others to give 

 to the sick, etc., and I have no doubt 

 but that they have acted their part of 

 drawing the observer nearer to the 

 Creator of all good. 



I knew one gentleman that would 

 not eat his breakfast without first going 

 out to cut some flowers for his table, 

 and he had a particular fancy in dress- 

 ing the butter with flowers, generally 

 a flower for each member of the family. 

 Flowers are so beautiful, and costly 

 at this season of the year, that only 

 those with a fair income can buy such 

 luxuries. The cry with the most of 

 florists is dull times, no sales, etc., but 

 still the florist's expenses are always the 

 same — he must grow the material 

 whether he can sell it or not — and be- 

 cause it is work that is pleasing to the 

 eye, the florist has lots of opposition on 

 every side of him ; when he improves his 

 place in the way of getting up expensive 

 greenhouses, his neighbor says, there 

 must be money in growing flowers, and 

 his neighbor does likewise, until they 

 are at loggerheads with one another ; 

 at least I cannot see how they can be 



otherwise. Now, to remedy this a little, 

 I would propose that some should turn 

 their attention to the growing of grapes 

 in some of the best establishments. I 

 think they can be grown along with the 

 roses, in the same house, but better by 

 themselves. Procure some cuttings from 

 some foreign vines, such as the Black 

 Hamburg, the Rose Chasselas, the White 

 Frontignan and the Grizzly Frontignan ; 

 cut them to one eye cuttings, place them 

 in sand, slightly covered, in a warm pro- 

 pagating house ; when the plants are root- 

 ed, pot them into small pots and shift 

 until they are into ten-inch pots. Grow- 

 along the roof of the propagating house, 

 on a wire, and only leave one cane to 

 each plant. In this way, if the house is 

 suitable to their culture, and providing 

 the vines are cared for in the proper 

 way, in their full season's growth the 

 canes ought to be about from 15 to 20 

 feet in length. 



The next operation is to ripen off 

 the canes, which have been growing 

 during the most of the winter months, 

 and after they are ripened off, they may 

 be started when desired by the grower ; 

 after they get their final potting into 

 15-inch pots, into a rich compost such 

 as you would use for growing roses in, 

 in a rose house, and treat almost the 

 same. After the vines get the final 

 potting into the 15-inch pots, cut back 

 the cane to 8, 10 or 12 feet, according 

 to the strength of the cane ; then take 

 a 6-inch pot, take the end of the cane 

 through the hole in the 6-inch pot from 

 the outside, draw the cane through 

 until the small pot is sitting on top of 

 the large one, then fill this pot the same 

 as the large one ; then curl the canes 



'03 



