HENDERSON'S HANDBOOK OF PLANTS. 



245 



VIT 



With these instructions about the erection of the 

 glass and wood-work, any intelligent mechanic 

 should be able to build a house. If hydrant water 

 is not obtainable, provision should be made by 

 building a cistern inside the grapery, say six feet 

 deep by ten feet in diameter, or that capacity in 

 any shape desired. This cistern is supplied by 

 water from the roof, having a waste-pipe for 

 overflow. These general directions for such a 

 structure are applicable for any size or style of 

 Grapery. The structure should face east and 

 west, with equal span on each side. Some are 

 built in the form of a " lean-to," as it is called, I 

 facing south or southeast, and wherever there | 

 is a building, wall, or perpendicular rock, this 

 style can be constructed very cheaply. If a base 

 width of twenty feet is desired for the Grapery, 

 the height at front should be from two to three 

 feet; the slope of the roof, which should be at 

 an angle of forty degrees, would thus give the 

 height at the back. Such a structure, where the 

 back wall is already up, may be put up at a cost 

 of from $5 to $10 per running foot, according to 

 locality. 



The formation of the border in which the 

 Vines are to be planted is a matter of the first 

 importance; for if that has been improperly 

 made, all else, no matter how well done, will fail 

 to accomplish good results. It used to be 

 thought that it was necessary to have borders 

 made to the depth of three or four feet, but 

 experience has well demonstrated that such a 

 depth is not only unnecessary, but injurious. 

 The outside border for the Grapery (and for Cold 

 Graperies that is all that is required) need not 

 be more than one and a half feet in depth; and 

 the width, to begin with, need not be more than 

 ten feet, though twenty feet are none too much 

 for the necessities of the roots when the Vines 

 have attained two or three years' growth, so that 

 it is just as well, when time will permit, to make 

 the border of its full width at once. In forming 

 the border the natural ground should be exca- 

 vated to the required depth of eighteen inches, 

 the bottom having a fall of at least half an 

 inch to the foot from the front wall of the Grap- 

 ery to the extremity of the border, where a 

 drain of sufficient capacity must be made to 

 rapidly carry off the water. In our own prac- 

 tice we prefer to cover the bottom over with an 

 inch or two of cement, to prevent the roots 

 penetrating into the cold subsoil; though, if the 

 subsoil is of sand or gravel, there is no particu- 

 lar necessity for this. An excellent compost for \ 

 the formation of the Vine border is made by 

 using say nine parts of sod taken from the sur- 

 face of any good pasture land; if the soil be 

 heavy, however, it should be liberally mixed 

 with lime rubbish, brick bats, or any material 

 of that nature, so that it does not become too 

 heavy and sodden. To the nine parts ef such 

 compost one-tenth part of broken bones should 

 be thoroughly mixed through it. When filling 

 the excavation, at least five inches shoiild be al- 

 lowed for settling; so that, if the excavation is 

 eighteen inches deep, the compost should be 

 filled in to a depth of twenty-two or twenty- 

 three inches. The border being entirely on the 

 outside of the grapery, it is there, of course, that 

 the roots must be set, while the tops are drawn 

 inside through holes made by arching or other- 

 wise in the front wall . The Vines should be 

 planted at three or four feet apart, and should 

 be plants at least four to five feet long and 

 thoroughly ripened. It makes but little differ- 



VTT 



ence what the age of the Vine is, provided it is 

 of the required size and ripeness. The best 

 time for planting is in April, though, when 

 that is not practicable, it will do as late as the 

 middle of June, as the main growth of the Vine 

 is made during the warm months of the sum- 

 mer. Vines set out even as late as June, if the 

 preparations of the border have been rightly 

 made, will have grown a single shoot twenty- 

 five to thirty feet by October. Only a single 

 shoot is allowed to grow, and this is cut back in 

 November or December to the bottom of the 

 rafter, or about three or four feet from the 

 ground. If desirable, a bunch or two may be 

 taken from each of the Vines the second year, 

 although it will somewhat weaken them to do 

 so. It is therefore preferable to repeat the same 

 operation of growing one shoot only again to 

 the top of the rafter. This shoot may now be 

 cut back to say eight feet from the ground, and 

 will this year (the third after planting) give a 

 good crop, which is taken from the lateral or 

 side shoots, still allowing the main or leading 

 shoot, as before, to get to the top of the rafter; 

 for the Vine is not strong enough yet to bear 

 fruit the whole length of the cane. The fourth 

 year after planting it may be cut back to within 

 five or six feet of the top, and the fifth year will 

 be able to bear a full crop the entire length of 

 the rafter, which, in a house of twenty-five feet, 

 span roofed, will be about sixteen feet long, or 

 in a lean-to of twenty feet wide, about twenty- 

 five feet. The variety best fitted for the Cold 

 Grapery is the Black Hamburgh. In a house 

 requiring twenty vines we should advise twelve 

 Black Hamburgh, and the balance selected from 

 the following list of old and established kinds : 

 Muscat Hamburgh, Royal Muscadine or Chas- 

 selas de Fontainebleau, Grizzly and White Fron- 

 tignan, Trentham Black, Charlesworth Tokay. 



In the fall, in November or December, the 

 vines are laid down along the front wall after 

 being pruned, and covered completely with soil 

 until May, when they are taken up and tied to 

 the wires, which are & galvanized iron, and run 

 across the rafters fifteen inches apart and fif- 

 teen inches from the glass. The training fol- 

 lowed is what is called the "spur" system, 

 which is simply to allow one cane or shoot to 

 each Vine, (planted three or four feet apart, ) and 

 pruning the side shoots or ' ' bearing wood" annu- 

 ally back to one eye. In the summer treatment 

 of the Cold Grapery the principle must never be 

 lost sight of, that to keep the Vines in perfect 

 health, a temperature of not less than 65 at 

 night, with 10 or 15 higher during the day, is 

 always necessary. Any rapid variation down- 

 ward is certain to result in mildew. The floor 

 of the Grapery should be kept dashed with water 

 at all times, unless in damp weather, from the 

 time the buds start until the fruit begins to 

 ripen, except during the period the Vines are in 

 flower, when it should be dispensed with until 

 the fruit is set. In dry weather, copious water- 

 ing is necessary for the border outside. The 



in cutting off the laterals, or side shoots which 

 start from where the leaf joins the stem, to one 

 leaf. In winter, three or four inches of well- 

 rotted stable manure is spread over the border, 

 and over that six inches of leaves or litter; this 

 is raked off in spring, and the manure forked in, 

 the object being to feed the roots from the top 

 of the border. We are so much impressed with 

 the advantage of covering up the Vines, both 



