THE GRAPE HOUSE. 9 



ter in the back cannot be made to shut close enough 

 for early forcing on the bare brickwork or plaster 

 unless the plaster of the wall is very fine, and the wall 

 perfectly flat, so that they can fit as close as the lid of 

 a box. This is quite necessary for early forcing. 



The cost of this vinery is not so much as might be 

 supposed. I can construct a house like this at less 

 than thirty per cent, of the usual cost of single glazing 

 with putty, taking everything into account. There is 

 the saving in bricks by constructing hollow walls, 

 fixed rafters, glazing without putty, and further eco- 

 nomy by the adoption of my ventilators, and by the 

 use of a cheap and improved heating apparatus. 



Of course the house should not be built upon high 

 and exposed ground where cold and cutting winds from 

 the east or the west can play upon it unchecked. It 

 should be situated on either low ground, or that of 

 a medium level. If on a low level, good and thorough 

 drainage must be secured both for the house and for 

 the vines, so that no stagnant vapour shall be there to 

 engender mildew. If, however, it must be built upon 

 a level above the medium, choice should be made of a 

 full southern aspect, and sheltered on the east and 

 west sides by distant trees, but not nearer to the 

 vinery than from 80 to 100 feet. In the western coun- 

 ties of England I find that the westerly winds do more 

 harm to the foliage of various trees and shrubs during 

 the summer and early autumn than the east winds ; 

 and even a vinery on a high and exposed place open to 

 some of these fierce westerly winds would no doubt 

 feel the bad effects more or less. But in the more 

 easterly and northern counties, almost every early 

 plant and plant-house and forcing house feels the spring 



