27P THE FRUIT GROWERS GUIDE. 



netting, and the ventilating apertures are best covered with galvanised-iron netting, 

 small enough in the mesh to exclude mice. If mildew or red spider appear on the 

 vines sprinkle flower of sulphur on the slates. 



Vines in Unheated Houses. There are many house and other walls which, if covered 

 with glass, would grow useful grapes. A south aspect is the best, yet grapes ripen in 

 unheated houses with east and west exposures in warm localities. The site should be 

 high and dry. In such structures grapes can be grown better than against open walls, 

 as the. sun heat may be husbanded. We have seen excellent fruit produced by vines 

 under a glazed verandah. 



Span-roof houses answer in favourable localities. The sides need only be 18 inches 

 in height, formed of two boards, the uppermost being hung at the top and opening out- 

 wards for bottom ventilation ; a similar opening at the top of the house closed with 

 a board, raised or lowered by mechanical contrivance as required, is a ready means of 

 top ventilation. The height in the centre should be about 8 feet 6 inches for a house 12 

 feet wide, which gives about 9 feet of rafter on each side. If the house is wider 

 all the better, as fluctuations of temperature are less sudden when a good body of air is 

 enclosed. Let the ends, glazed above the level of the boarding, face north-east by north 

 and south-west by south, so as to insure a good heat inside the vinery with the 

 forenoon, and maintain it until late in the evening by the afternoon sun. 



The vines can be planted in borders at the sides of the house at 3 to 5 feet apart, 

 and trained to a roof trellis. They may be planted outside, and will require little or no 

 attention for water in ordinary seasons. With the boarding portable, the vines can be 

 taken outside in the winter, and the house utilised for other purposes, reintroducing the 

 vine rods in March. 



As the heat is such as the sun furnishes it must be husbanded from spring to 

 autumn. Activity in the vines does not commence before the vernal equinox and the 

 grapes are ripe before the autumnal equinox. From the fall of the leaf until the buds 

 swell ventilate fully in mild weather, and when the external temperature is above 

 freezing, or when the sun acts powerfully upon the house so as to raise the inside tem- 

 perature to 50, admit air freely. In cold, frosty weather the structure may remain 

 closed. When the buds are swelling ventilate slightly at 50, fully at 55, and close at 

 that temperature. Strive to retard rather than accelerate growth early in the season. 

 When the first leaves appear admit air at 55, keep through the day at 65, and close at 

 the latter heat. When the leaves are fully expanded ventilate slightly at 60, freely at 



