84 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



been changed from the natural time of starting. Now we 

 will encroach still further and start them in August, say the 

 first. You will find no delay in the pushing of the bud after 

 pruning, as the roots are warmed by the summer sun, and 

 there is no danger of killing the young rootlets from hot ma- 

 nure. The progress of the vines will surprise you : in a 

 week they will require tying up to the rafters, and very soon 

 after you will be assured of a good crop of grapes from the 

 fragrance of the bloom. 



It is now of the utmost importance to attend in season to 

 keep the heat in the border which the sun has so generously 

 supplied, and a plan suggested itself to me from the practice 

 of keeping ourselves warm by a blanket, of which I have 

 manufactured some 600 pairs a day for the past ten years. It 

 is therefore very natural that I should have thought of a 

 blanket to cover the border to keep the heat in ; but it would 

 require a great many woolen blankets to cover a border one 

 hundred feet long and forty feet wide, and a great many 

 thicknesses to give sufficient protection. However, we have 

 the principle in the thought, and now for the practice. In- 

 stead of the woolen blankets, I substituted two tons of mead- 

 ow hay, very dry ; this covered the border about one foot in 

 thickness, and in order to keep it dry, I placed upon the top 

 of it about six inches of wool waste and manure, to absorb 

 the rain, until the frost should make it a more perfect protec- 

 tion. This has answered the purpose ; the heat has passed 

 from the border about three degrees a week from the first of 

 December, at which time it was 60*^, and the fruit has ripened 

 perfectly. It was generally supposed by grape growers that 

 I should fail in color and flavor, as well as size, from want of 

 sun in December ; but my experiment proves that a plenty of 

 pure air is quite as important. 



My mode of ventilating is entirely new, and appears favor- 

 able to the growth of the grape. The warming apparatus 

 inside of the house is simply a stove at each end ; conse- 

 quently the ventilation is complete; as the heavy, bad air is 

 constantly rushing to the stoves and passing out of the fun- 

 nels. I do not, in speaking of this mode of ventilation. 



