308 THE GRAPE. 



rectly under the walk ; the walk itself being formed by an open 

 grating or lattice, through which the heat rises freely. The 

 arrangement of the tiue will be better understood by referring 

 to the ground plan (II.) In this the furnace is indicated at d^ 

 in the back wall ;* from this the Hue rises gradually to e^ 

 whence it continues nearly the length of the house, and return- 

 ing enters the chimney at /. For the convenience of shelter, 

 firing, etc., it is usual to have a hack shed, q, behind the back 

 wall. In this shed may be a bin for wood or coals, and a sunk 

 area (shown in the dotted lines around c?, /,) with steps to de- 

 scend to the furnace and ash-pit.f There are two doors, h, in 

 the vinery at either end of the walk. 



The horde?' should be thorougl)ly prepared previously to 

 planting the vines, by excavating it two feet deep and filling it 

 up with suitable compost. This is best formed of one half 

 loamy turf, well rotted by having been previously laid up in 

 heaps, (or fresh and pure loamy soil from an old pasture or 

 common ;) one third thoroughly fermented horse or cow ma- 

 nure, which has laid in a turf-covered heap for three months ; 

 and one-third broken pieces of charcoal and old lime rubbish. 

 The whole to be thoroughly mixed together before planting the 

 vines. 



The vines themselves should always be planted in a border 

 prepared inside of the house, and in order to give the vines that 

 extent of soil which is necessary for them, the best cultivators 

 make an additional border twelve or fourteen feet wide outside, 

 in front of the vinery. By building the foundation of the front 

 wall on piers within a couple of inches of the surface, and sup- 

 porting the wall above the surface on slabs of stone reaching 

 from pier to pier, the roots of the vines easily penetrate to the 

 border on the outside. 



The vines should be planted early in the spring. Two year 

 old plants are preferable, and they may be set eighteen inches 

 from the front wall — one below each rafter, or, if the latter are 

 over three feet apart, one also in the intermediate space. 



The pruning and training of the vines we have already de- 

 scribed. The renewal system of pruning we consider the best 



* This furnace should be placed two feet below the level of the flue at 

 e, in order to secure a draught, after which it may be carried quite level 

 till it enters the chimney. An air chamber may be formed round it, with 

 a register to admit heated air to the house when necessary. A furnace 

 fourteen inches square and deep, with an ash-pit below, in which anthra- 

 cite coal is burned, will be found a very easy and perfect mode of heating 

 a house, of this width, and thirty feet long, 



f The most perfect vinery that we have seen in this country is one of 

 two hundred feet long at the country residence of Horace Gray, Esq., 

 Ne^\'town, near Boston. It is built of wood, with a curved span roo^ 

 after a plan of Mr. Gray's which seems to us to combine fitness and beauty 

 in an unusual degree. 



