CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 309 



vines are to be placed in the forcing-house, if it is desired 

 to ripen the fruit by the 1st of April. The house should 

 have an inside border of moderate depth, on which the 

 pots stand ; the drainage-crocks having been displaced, so 

 as to allow the roots to come through into the border. Each 

 vine will require a space of about three feet square, and will 

 ripen, on an average, six pounds to a vine. A house four- 

 teen feet wide would accommodate four rows of pots, and 

 leave space sufficient for a walk in the middle. The treat- 

 ment is obvious, and similar to that of forcing vines in the 

 border. Under careful management, the crop will equal 

 in weight a border-crop ; and it can generally be brought 

 to earlier maturity. In April, when the fruit is ripe, the 

 roots which penetrate the border are severed, and the pot 

 is carried to the exhibition, or the fruit is sold. The house 

 is cleared for a summer crop or for other use. These 

 same pot-vines may be kept in a dry, cool, airy position 

 during the summer, and given an earlier start in the 

 following autumn. Before again placing them in the 

 forcing-house, they should be drawn out of the pots, and 

 the roots pruned, especially the tap-roots ; so that new 

 roots may readily form, and descend into the borders, 

 which have been renovated for that purpose. By a care- 

 ful and systematic method of pot-culture, houses may thus 



