THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 15 



to avoid the great heat of the sun, if it is intended to grow 

 grapes under glass, and that in such a position the best aspect 

 for the front of the graperj may be west-northwest. 



THE HOUSE. 



The common lean-to house is the best for forcing ; from 

 thirteen to fifteen feet high on the back, four feet on the 

 front, and twelve feet wide on the inside, are suitable propor- 

 tions ; the length of it can be as desired, from twenty to one 

 hvindred feet, or more. 



The front of the house should be framed, the sills standing 

 on, and secured to, stone, or locust posts, set four or five feet 

 under ground, and eight feet apart, thus giving the roots 

 freedom to roam at their pleasure. The floor of the house 

 should be on a level with the surface of the border. The 

 back wall may be either of brick or wood. If the house is to 

 be used for forcing fruit, it should have a double wall on the 

 back. A span-roofed house is the best for a cold grapery.* 

 It should be, above the sills, on all sides of glass, and of the 

 following dimensions : — twenty feet wide, and of any length 

 desired ; the upright sides above the sills, six feet high ; the 



* " In a span-roofed house sixty feet long, the south side glazed, the north, wood 

 and asphalte, vines will not do well under the latter. Better glaze the north span ; 

 but, depend upon it, you would do better still were you to add another sixty feet to 

 the length, and so form one hundred and twenty feet of roof facing the south, instead 

 of employing the same quantity of glass for a house half the length with a double 

 aspect ; and the more especially, if it is intended for early forcing." — Gardeners^ 

 Chronicle, p. 696, Oct. 1846. 



A house of this construction is not suitable for forcing grapes, it being all of glass, 

 and consecjuently so open to the admittance of air in very cold, windy weather, that 

 it is very difficult to avoid such extremes of temperature as will be injurious to vines. 

 If peaches or cherries are to be forced, such a house is desirable, and, for many 

 kinds of pot plants, no better can be had. With respect to the correctness of the 

 opinion expressed above, that it is better to build a house of double the length, with 

 the same quantity of glass, it depends upon what uses the house is to be put to. As 

 a cold grapery, and as a house where the vines are aided by artificial heat, (but not 

 forced,) it is superior in its arrangements to the lean-to house, and, under the same 

 circumstances, will perfect its crop ten or fifteen days sooner, and will yield a larger 

 amoimt of fruit on a given space. It is more liable to damage from hail and frost. 

 (See description of one of my span-roofed houses.) 



