154 THE MINIATURE FEUIT GABDEN 



bunches with the largest berries lying on the ground, 

 and if the season were dry and warm, they were free 

 from dirt and delicious, and so I gradually travelled in 

 thought from bunches of grapes lying on the ground to 

 the same lying on slates. 



The idea was new, and I commenced at once to put 

 it into practice by building a ' Curate's Vinery ' on a 

 new plan. 



I therefore placed two rows of bricks endwise 

 (leaving four inches between each brick for ventilation) 

 on a nice level piece of sandy ground, and then paved 

 between them with large slates (' duchesses ') placed 

 crosswise. I am, however, inclined to think that tiles 

 may be preferable to slates; absorption of heat is 

 greater and radiation slower. On the bricks I placed 

 two of the ridges of glass, as given in the foregoing 

 figure, each seven feet long, and thus formed my 

 vinery, fourteen feet in length. The vine lies in the 

 centre of the vinery, and is pegged down through the 

 spaces between the slates. One vine will in the course 

 of two years fill a vinery of this length ; but to reap 

 the fruits of my project quickly, I planted two vines, 

 one in the centre, the other at the north-east end — for 

 these structures should stand north-east and south-west. 

 One of these vines, which had been growing in a pot in 

 the open air, was just beginning to show its fruit-buds 

 — it was quite the last of June — its fruit ripened early 

 in October, and were fully coloured and good in spite 

 of the cloudy cold autumn. My black Hamburgh 



