The Grape. 1 1 5 



artificial heat, dates from in or about 1705. Lawrence, 

 in his "Fruit-Gardener," 1718, informs us that the first 

 to attempt it was the Duke of Rutland, who, at Belvoir 

 Castle, "kept fires constantly burning behind slope walls," 

 whereby he was rewarded "even with the best Frontig- 

 nacs, in July." These "slope walls" were at first open 

 to the weather. The protection of the vines with glass 

 was a later idea. How grand the achievements of the 

 modern grape-grower needs no telling. The finest grapes 

 in the world are those now produced in English hot- 

 houses. A more interesting sight is nowhere presented 

 than where there are several houses in succession, the 

 grapes in all stages, from bloom to approaching maturity. 

 Very interesting, too, is the fact that while England im- 

 ports grapes from continental Europe in quantities so vast 

 that they are sold in the streets like apples, England also 

 raises grapes for export. It is not generally known, but 

 none the less one of the curiosities of modern commerce, 

 that Copenhagen and St. Petersburg are largely supplied 

 with grapes from Yorkshire, grapes grown in the great 

 vineries at Corwick Hall, near Goole. For safe transit 

 to those cities, the bunches are wrapped separately in 

 tissue-paper, then placed endways in boxes about sixteen 

 inches square, with a good layer of cork-dust underneath. 

 Nothing could more curiously illustrate the broad prin- 

 ciple that England manufactures some of everything, and 

 more or less, for all the world. The imported grapes 

 commonly sold in the markets, as well known, are 

 chiefly of the so-called "white" description, the berries 



