1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



137 



For the New England Farmer. 



HOW TO RAISE FOREIGN GRAPES 

 UNDER GLASS. 



Mr. Editor : — My information on the subject 

 of raising foreign grapes under glass, has been de- 

 rived from observation, the reading of some jjubli- 

 cations on grape culture, and the experience I 

 have gained by experimenting upon their sugges- 

 tions. In the first place I will give you the plan of 

 my vinery, and the preparation of the border. The 

 vinery is 34 feet long by 16 wide; the sills are 

 placed upon seven brick piers on a side, rising 

 three feet above the ground, with a span roof, run- 

 ning north and south. The sides are boarded with 

 matched boards up to the sills, and the ends the 

 same on each side of the doors. The rafters are 12 

 feet long. The sashes two lengths, three of the top 

 ones on the west side slide over the bottom. The 

 ends are also of glass, above the ceiling, three feet 

 from the ground. There are two ventilators about 

 six feet long and eight inches wide, on each side 

 under the sills, which open and shut, and a door at 

 the centre of the north and south ends, all of which 

 can be opened to admit air when necessary. 



I have a hydrant at one end of the building, un- 

 der which I keep a barrel of water standing, and a 

 hose, by which 1 can water the border and sprinkle 

 the vines in a short time. The border is the 

 length of the building, and 19 feet wide on each 

 side of the walk, which extends through the centre 

 of the house; being 7 feet inside and 12 outside of 

 the building. The soil was removed two and a 

 half feet in depth. The bottom was filled about 

 six inches with oyster shells and small round 

 stones, to prevent the roots from soaking on a wet 

 bottom. The turfs taken from the top of the 

 ground were laid on the shells and stones, then a 

 laying of compost, and then a laying of bones from 

 the slaughter house, mostly catties' heads, and filled 

 up with a mixture of loam, muck, leached ashes, 

 scraps of old leather, lime, rubbish, bones and ma- 

 nure, raising it about six inches above the ground. 

 As it was placed on a gravelly foundation, I have 

 thought a drain to take off the water unneceesary. 

 Downing says of grape culture, respecting the soil, 

 that "it should be dry and light, deep and rich." 

 Dead carcasses, which are reccommended by some 

 writers, I think entirely unnecessary. The cost of 

 the building and border was about four hundred 

 dollars. 



The beginning of April, 1853, I planted 24 grape 

 vines, 12 on each side, which I had of Parsons & 

 Co., of Flushing, L. I. There were 11 varieties, 

 but mostly black Hamburgh. The roots were well 

 spread out, just outside of the building, and covered 

 with about three inches of soil, and the vines 

 brought in under the ceiling to the inside, and tied 

 to the wires about ten inches from the glass, after 

 the buds began to push. It being important to 

 keep the house and border moist the first part of 

 the season, the inside was watered three or four 

 times a week, and the ■sines sprinkled almost every 

 day, and the outside was watered near the roots 

 with soap-suds once a week. The most of the 

 vines reached the top of the vinery by the middle 

 of August. The house was opened as the heat be- 

 gan to increase, and shut before sunset. The ther- 

 mometer, when the weather would allow, was kept 

 between 70'^ and 80°, and not over 90*^, unless the 

 temperature without was higher. After the first 



of September, I watered but seldom. The first of 

 December I cut back the cane to within four feet 

 of the ground, and laid them down inside and cov- 

 ered with tan bark. The 2d year, 1854, I uncover- 

 ed the vines the tenth of April, and opened the 

 house as the season would allow, and after the 

 buds began to push, lied them to the wires. 'Aliout 

 the first of June they began to show fruit. I 

 pinched off the most of them, and did not allow 

 over three bunches to grow on a vine the first year 

 of bearing, and not more than one cluster on 

 a spur. Watering the border was continued three 

 or four times a week in the morning, but sprink- 

 ling the vines was discontinued while the fruit 

 was in blossom. When the fruit was formed, 1 

 pinched ofi"the end of the spur an inch beyond the 

 first leaf above the bunch, and kept all the laterals 

 back to M'ithin about 12 inches of the cane. When 

 the fruit became the size of a pea, I commenced 

 thinning them out with a pair of sharp pointed 

 scissors, taking the small ones first. This was done 

 twice in the course of two or three weeks, taking 

 about one-half of the number. The first of July 

 and the first of August, I sprinkled two pounds of 

 sulphur each time on the ground in the middle of 

 the day to prevent mildew. When the vines 

 reached the top of the vinery, they were pinched 

 off, but two or three laterals were left to grow a 

 few weeks longer to prevent the buds from burst- 

 ing. There were about fifty bunches, weighing 

 from ten ounces to one pound. One vine, the Syr- 

 ian, had three bunches weighing from two and a 

 half to three pounds, and some few of the l^lack 

 Haniburghs, over one pound. In seventeen months 

 from the time of planting, some of the bunches 

 were ripe. In the fall I covered the outside bor- 

 der with manure about ten inches thick, to prevent 

 the roots from freezing, and to enrich the border 

 for the next year. Tlie first of December, I cut 

 them off" to within eight feet of the ground, washed 

 them with a coat of soft soap and sulphur, laid 

 them down as last year and covered with tan bark. 

 The third year, 1855. As the season advanced, 

 I opened the house on hot days, and as the season 

 was late, did not uncover the vines until the 18th of 

 April. I washed them with soap-suds, and when 

 the buds began to push, tied them to the wires. 

 The whole border was forked up after removing 

 the manure from the outside, and the inside wa- 

 tered thoroughly from the hydrant and hose, so as 

 to penetrate the depth of the border. It had not 

 been watered for the previous six months. A simi- 

 lar course in the cultivation was pursued as the pre- 

 vious year in regard to watering, airing, thinning 

 out, cutting back the spurs, and stopping when 

 they reached the top of the house, leaving two or 

 three laterals to grow a few weeks longer. Sul- 

 phur was scattered over the ground twice as the 

 previous year. I allowed from seven to ten bunch- 

 es to grow on a vine, but only one on a spur, and 

 had about two hundred bunches of good and well- 

 ripened fruit. I commenced picking the 1 Jth of 

 September, and have had them till the present 

 time, 20th of Nov. The black Hamburgh, Royal 

 Muscadine and White Sweet Water have been 

 heavier than last year, some of them weighing 

 from 14 to 20 ounces. The Syrian, on which 

 were seven bunches, weighed from U to 2 poundi? 

 each. The danger of overtasking the vines com- 

 pelled me, though with reluctance, to pluck off 

 more than one-half of the clusters after they had 



