228 HOW TO LIVE IN THE COUNTRY 



Niagaras; even Jeffersons, that do not ripen well in 

 vineyards, will come to perfection. 



During the summer you will only be compelled to 

 go over these vines, reaching them with a ladder, two 

 or three times from May till August tying the 

 runners and occasionally thinning the clusters. You 

 will be sure to get your very best clusters, most per- 

 fectly colored and ripened, on your buildings. The 

 vineyard will not be able to compete. If the vines 

 are planted in the barnyard, you must box them until 

 they get out of reach of the animals, that is, till the 

 vines are ten or twelve feet high. Let the boxes be 

 such as will admit more or less light, but will not ad- 

 mit the inquisitive tongue of your pet Ayrshire. A 

 decently arranged home will teach the young folk to 

 handle food of this sort conservatively, but let them 

 prefer grapes to tobacco. 



Let us get this matter comprehensively in mind; 

 a group comprising a shop, a laboratory, a Jersey 

 apartment, a horse room, a hen room, all with pleas- 

 ant windows, and a tool room close by the shop 

 this is a real barn. The whole of this is to be sur- 

 rounded by preference with apple trees; or with 

 plums and shrubs, while vines cover the whole, bear- 

 ing grapes I should like to say tons of grapes, for 

 really it will be something of that sort if your vines 

 are properly cared for. I have not sketched the 

 buildings required for a large farm, but those be- 

 longing naturally to the small country home, such 



