paved with common red flags or tiles, Mr. Crawshay 

 considers to be most essential in growing grapes to 

 perfection without the assistance of fire-heat. And 

 there is no doubt that the excellence of the ventilation 

 is most important. On entering one of his vineries 

 with a south-west aspect, when the sun is shining full 

 upon it, a refreshing air meets you, with the thermo- 

 meter indicating a temperature of only 75 degs. The 

 use of the paved floor is this : in the early stage of 

 the vine's growth water is liberally thrown upon it to 

 create vapour ; and this treatment is continued until 

 the berries are supposed to be stoned ; after which it 

 is gradually withheld ; and when the colouring pro- 

 cess commences, it is altogether discontinued ; so 

 that, by the time the grapes approach maturity, the 

 floor becomes dry, and during the cool nights of au- 

 tumn continues to give off slowly to the interior of 

 the house the heat which it absorbs during the day. 

 But there are other points in which Mr. Crawshay' s 

 treatment is peculiar. The stems of the vines are 

 trained up the rafters about a yard apart. Every 

 season the young wood is pruned back nearly close to 

 the original stem, so that, even upon minute inspec- 

 tion, scarcely a bud is visible. This may be one rea- 

 son why the wood is of such uniform size, not a 

 single watery shoot being observable in any of the 

 houses. After the pruning is completed, a free cir- 

 culation of air is allowed, by means of the front sashes 

 b 2 



