156 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



by 30 feet, in all which they use hot water. For small houses hot 

 water is safer. Steam must be constantly watched. He thought 

 the essayist would not sa}' he could heat by means of steam with 

 as little coal as with hot water 



Mr. Philbrick thought that if Mr. Wood got used to steam he 

 would feel as much confidence in it as in hot water. He had not 

 kept an exact account of the cost, but he keeps his houses warmer 

 by the use of three or four tons more of coal than was used when 

 he heated the same houses preyiously with hot water. 



William E, Endicott thought it would not be safe to draw final 

 conclusions from the experiment at Amherst. That experiment, 

 of itself, is of trifling importance. It merely shows that one st3'le 

 of steam-boiler cost more to run than one kind of hot water 

 apparatus in one trial. 



Mr. Wood said that it was intended to test the whole matter as 

 impartially as possible. The boilers were alike and were put in 

 by the same dealer, and there was no difference between the two 

 houses except the location. 



Mr. Endicott said that the question is too large to be settled by 

 a single experiment. 



Joseph H. Woodford said that the method of raising Black 

 Hamburg grapes, recommended by the essayist, had been practiced 

 in England man}' years ago and illustrated in the English horti- 

 cultural magazines. The houses were called "curates' vineries." 

 Plans of the construction of these vineries are given in Thomas 

 Rivers's " Miniature Fruit Garden." The late Stiles Frost, of 

 West Newton, used sashes about three feet wide, resting on bricks 

 at the base, and fastened together at the apex with hooks and 

 staples. The vines were planted at the south end, and as the\' 

 grew were suspended from the ridge of the sash. They produced 

 large crops of grapes. In the fall the sashes were removed, and 

 the vines buried until warm weather came in the spring. 



Mr. Wood said that such houses as the last speaker had 

 described were used and recommended b}' Thomas Rivers. The 

 houses were twenty-six inches high, two feet and a half wide, and 

 seven feet long, without ends, so that they could be extended by 

 placing in line. This had been done to the extent of seven 

 houses. One vine produced sixty-three bunches of grapes. 

 Those used by Mr. Frost cost seven dollars each. It is difficult 

 to keep the vines within the bounds necessary for so small a space,, 

 but crops can be grown with little care and expense. 



