Cultivation and Majiagement of Grape Yines in Pots. 195 



" In the matter of grape-growing, 1 am but a follower of oth- 

 ers ; and though experience, the best of all schoolmasters, may 

 have led me to improve upon what I was first taught, I am 

 not vain enough to think that I have accomplished more than 

 others have achieved, or are achieving, at the present time. 

 I have, however, produced from eight to twelve bunches of 

 grapes, in high perfection, on one small pot, the bunches av- 

 eraging three quarters of a pound each. If a "novice," by 

 following my directions, does no more than this, I shall not 

 have written in vain. 



"Many methods have been practised and recommended by 

 various authors, to all of whom we are much indebted, as too 

 much cannot be said on a branch of gardening so interesting 

 and valuable as that of growing grapes in pots, as by it no 

 border is required, and every person who has room, and 

 the means, may, now that glass is so cheap, build a house or 

 pit, in either town or country, and from it have grapes of his 

 own growth during the greater part of the year. A neat span- 

 roofed pit, say ten or twelve feet wide, and twenty-five feet 

 long, with the roof tolerably steep, and sufficiently high to 

 admit of a footpath up the centre, with a bed on each side, 

 for fermenting material, or a tank, and the whole thoroughly 

 heated by hot water, would not be an expensive affair ; and, 

 from such a house or pit, from two to three hundred bunches 

 of grapes might annually be calculated upon with certainty. 

 In point of quality, grapes from pots, if properly ripened, are 

 always better flavored than those from established vines. This 

 fact the wasps will quickly demonstrate, if they get into the 

 house, as they will rarely touch any other, so long as any 

 fruit remains on the pots. 



" But to the subject : in winter, when pruning the vines, I 

 select the best ripened wood of the kinds required to take the 

 cuttings or eyes from ; and these are cut into lengths, leaving 

 about one inch of wood below each bud, as, from that part, 

 the strongest and best roots are always produced. When a 

 sufficient number of eyes are prepared, they are put into seed- 

 pans, in a mixture of leaf-mould and road-sand, in about 

 equal quantities ; if two or three years old, so much the bet- 

 ter ; and, after receiving a sufficient watering, are placed in a 

 greenhouse, or any other place of shelter, merely protecting 



