196 MANUAL OF AMERICAN GRAPE-GROWING 



before winter, after which it is covered with a coating of well- 

 rotted manure, without any particular attempt having been 

 made to keep out the frost, as a certain amount of freezing 

 outside of the house is held to be beneficial. The inside border 

 must be spaded just before the vines are started in the spring, 

 having been covered previously with well-rotted manure. 

 The time at which the vines are to be started in growth is 

 determined by whether an early or a late crop of grapes 

 is wanted. For an early crop, the vines must be started 

 early in February ; for a late crop, a month or even two 

 months later suffices. So started, the first crop of grapes 

 comes on in June or July, the later ones following in August 

 or September. 



It is related that Napoleon I, to secure saltpetre for making 

 gunpowder, composted " filth, dead animals, urine and offal 

 with alternate Jayers of turf and lime mortar/' and asserted 

 that "a nitre-bed is the very pattern of a vine-border " and 

 that "when the materials have been turned over and over 

 again for a year or two they are in exactly the proper state 

 to yield either gunpowder or grapes." Napoleon's niter-bed 

 is not now considered a good model for a grape-border, as the 

 fruit produced in so rich a soil, though abundant, is coarse and 

 poorly flavored, and the vines complete their own destruction 

 by over-bearing. Gardeners hold that a grape-border may be 

 too rich in plant-food, especially too rich in nitrogen. 



VARIETIES 



Out of the 2000 or more Vinifera grapes, probably not more 

 than a score are grown under glass, and of these but a half 

 dozen are commonly grown. Black varieties have the prefer- 

 ence for indoors, especially if grown for the market, where 

 they bring the highest prices. They are also as a rule more 

 easily handled indoors than the white sorts. However, as we 



