THE GRAPE. 223 



post, fill in with dry tan, which should be well rammed down. 

 The rafters should be fixed, and from three to four feet apart. 

 The sashes forming the roof, (which are all the glass that will 

 be necessary,) must be in two lengths, lapping in the middle, 

 and arranged with a double groove in the rafters, so that the 

 top and bottom ones may run free of each other. The building 

 will, of course, front the south, and the door may be at either 

 end. 



The border for the grapes should be made partly on the in- 

 side and partly on the outside of the front wall, so that the roots 

 of the vines may extend through to the open border. A trellis 

 of wire should be fixed to the rafters, about sixteen inches from 

 the glass, on which the vines are to be trained. Early in the 

 spring, the vines, which should be two year old roots, may be 

 planted in the inside border, about a foot from the front wall 

 one vine below each rafter. 



SOIL. The border should be thoroughly prepared and pulver- 

 ized before planting the grapes. Two thirds of mellow sandy 

 loam mixed with one third of a compost formed of well ferment 

 ed manure, bits of broken charcoal, and a little lime rubbish, 

 forms an excellent soil for the grape in this climate. If the 

 soil of the garden is old, or is not of a proper quality for the 

 basis of the border, it is best to prepare some for this purpose by 

 rotting and reducing beforehand, a quantity of loamy turf from 

 the road sides for this purpose. The depth of the border need 

 not exceed two feet, but if the subsoil is not dry at all seasons, 

 it should be well drained, and filled up half a foot below the 

 border with small stones or brick bats. 



PRUNING. Decidedly the best mode of pruning for a cold 

 house, or vinery without fire-heat, is what is called the long 

 or renewal mode, which we have already partially explained. 

 Supposing the house to be planted with good young plants, 

 something like the following mode of training and pruning may 

 be adopted. The first season one shoot only is allowed to pro- 

 ceed from each plant, and this, at the end of the first season, is 

 cut down to the second or third eye or bud. The year follow- 

 ing two leading shoots are encouraged, the strongest of which is 

 headed or stopped when it has extended a few joints beyond the 

 middle of the house or rafter, and the weaker about half that 

 length. In November these shoots are reduced, the strong one 

 having four or five joints cut from its extremity, and the weaker 

 one to the third eye from its lower end or place of origin. In 

 the third season one leading shoot is laid in from each of these, 

 the stronger one throwing out side shoots on which the fruit is 

 produced, which side shoots are allowed to mature one bunch of 

 grapes each, and are topped at one or two joints above the fruit. 

 No side shoots are allowed to proceed from the weaker shoot, 

 but it is laid in, to produce fruit the ensuing season, so that by 



