EXPERIMENTS WITH VINES. 75 



interior of the house, previously occupied by the pit, 

 with hot fermenting dung and leaves. This material 

 was placed in close contact with the roots of the vines 

 through the arches, and acted as a hot lining to the 

 entire border. The outside surface of the border was 

 covered with dry leaves and thatched. The house was 

 started in this way on the 1st of September, and on the 

 1st of January 1861 we cut the first dish of grapes, 

 exactly three months earlier than we cut from the same 

 house the year before, though started at the same time, 

 and treated in the same manner, with the exception of 

 the hot lining to the roots. Seeing that the success of 

 this experiment was so satisfactory, and finding, on ex- 

 amination, that a host of fine young roots had estab- 

 lished themselves in the lining as it cooled, I made up 

 my mind to give them another trial, and last summer I 

 pruned them in July. In the end of August I put a 

 quantity of hot fermenting dung and leaves on the top 

 of the previous year's lining, so to speak ; and we cut 

 excellent grapes on the 1st of January 1862. The 

 crop was nearly double that of last year ; and in March 

 the wood was perfectly ripe, and much stronger than 

 ever I saw it in this house before. I need scarcely add 

 that the sentence at one time recorded against them for 

 their unsightliness has been revoked. 



Some may consider that I have been tediously par- 

 ticular in my efforts to explain this case ; but if so, 

 they must excuse me on account of my anxiety clearly 

 to establish the importance of bottom heat for early 

 forced vines ; and from my own experience in the case 

 of these vines, as well as from theoretical reasoning, I 

 have come to the conclusion that it is less destructive 



