THE CULTURE OP THE GRAPE. 71 



The value of the crop of grapes, 1067 pounds, would not 

 net the producer more than the cost, and the probability is, 

 that there would be a loss to him. A very few pounds of 

 grapes are sold in Boston, in April, at $2 the pound, and in 

 May, at $1.50 to $2 ; but the main part of the crop would 

 not sell at over $1 to $1.25. The cost of sending the fruit 

 to market, and the expense of selling, is from twenty-five to 

 thirty per cent. In England, the prices are so much higher 

 that this process can be resorted to with reason.* 



I have found the plan of covering the border with litter, 

 (as directed in my remarks on forcing,) to answer every pur- 

 pose, and at a much less expense. 



I have a small stove or winter-forcing house, where the 

 border is covered with movable glass, which is taken off as 

 soon as the grapes are ripe, or the weather becomes warm in 



* To show the relative prices of grapes and forced fruits in the two countries, I 

 here add a memorandum, from Loudon's Magazine, of prices at Covent Garden 

 Market, vol. for 1834, April, page 191 : hothouse grapes, per pound, from £1 10s. to 

 £1 15s. Grapes are spoken of as being remarkably early, 28th of March. 



Vol. for 1835, April, page 270, grapes are quoted at from £1 to £1 4s., and forced 

 cherries at £1 10s. per pound, and forced strawberries, per ounce, Gd. to Is. 3d. 



Vol. for 183G, March, page 219, forced strawberries are quoted at from 2s. Gd. to 

 3s. 6d. per ounce, and hothouse grapes at £l 10s. per pound. 



The same year, in April, page 272, strawberries are quoted at from Is. to 2s. per 

 ounce, and grapes at from 10s. to £1 per pound. 



In May, page 328, strawberries were at the same price, and grapes at from Gs. to 

 12s. per pound ; nectarines and peaches at from £2 2s. to £3 3s. per dozen ; cher- 

 ries, per pound, from £1 to £1 10s. 



In June, page 383, grapes were quoted at from 4s. to 8s. per pound ; peaches and 

 nectarines at from 15s. to £l 4s. per doz. ; and cherries at from 4s. to 8s. per pound. 



In August, page 498, hothouse grapes are quoted as at 3s. to 5s. per pomid. The 

 highest price for hothouse grapes is in March, and by this standard, and in our cur- 

 rency, this is ^8.47 per pound, and the value is constantly lessening till September. 

 In August, they are at from 72 cents to ^1.21 per pound. 



At Boston, in March, they sell at g2 the pound, and this price is gradually falling 

 until August and September, when they can be bouglit at 33 cents to 62 cents per 

 pomid. Forced peaches, nectarines, cherries, and strawberries, are at the same rel- 

 ative prices as grapes ; and, indeed, neither of these last-named fruits can be grown 

 for market in this country, under glass, to yield the cost of production, at the prices 

 customarily paid for them. 



The Gardeners' Chronicle for this year, 1848, quotes them at lower prices, %3 per 

 pound being the higliest mentioned. In Boston, in July, this year, they have been 

 sold by the quantity as low as 50 cents, which is less than the cost. 



