vm INTEODDCTION. 



Do not build a grapery under the erroneous impres- 

 sion, that, having done so, and planted the vines, you 

 have secured to yourself, without further labor, a boun- 



cess of producing the grape, in this country, the author undoubtedly alludes 

 to early forcing ; for we apprehend that, in cold houses, the process requires 

 as little care, if not much less, than in England." I cannot imagine how 

 any one could doubt the meaning of this expression ; for, after mentioning 

 the extreme changes in winter and spring,' the mercury falling to zero, 

 (which it can never be expected to do when the grapes are growing in a cold 

 house,) is added these words : " render the care requisite, for the successful 

 FORCED culture of fruit, very great, and the process a more difficult one," 

 &c. If Mr. IIoTOy considers growing grapes under glass, without fire heat, 

 forcing them, he differs from me, in what forcing is. (See Remarks on 

 ■Forcing.) 



The care necessary, is in the regulation of the temperature of the Forcing 

 House in the daytime, under the particular circumstances referred to. Good 

 judgment, some experience, and much caution, are requisite in the proper 

 ventilation of the house at these times. For instance, the mercury, in the 

 open air, has been, during the night, 5° or 10° below zero; to keep the 

 temperature of the house at 45° or 50°, at sunrise, you must have the flues, 

 or water-pipes, hot ; as soon as the sun shines, as it frequently does in win- 

 ter as well as in the summer, with great brilliancy upon the glass, the heat 

 rapidlj' accumulates, and the mercury is soon at 90° or 100°. The tempera- 

 ture in the open air may be at zero, or from that point up to 20°. Now, 

 here is the difficulty ; if the top lights, or any other ventilators are opened 

 so as to allow a current of this cold air to flow over the vines, the fruit thus 

 exposed will perish, and if you suSer this very high temperature, when 80° 

 or 85° is the highest point you should allow, the vines will be unduly ex- 

 cited, and consequently very hable to a check, when the temperature falls. 

 The foliage may not show, at the time, any bad effects from this cold air, but 

 soon the young bunches will turn yellow and drop. " What is the matter 

 with my vines ?" (is a question which is often put to me,) "they pushed very 

 strong, and showed fine buuches of fruit, but the most of them have dried 

 up and dropped." They have at some time received a check to the flow of 

 the sap, and the effect of this, in the first seventy days of forcing, will al- 

 ways be the loss of the crop. Having small ventilators, and opening the 

 lights but very little, with every precaution that can be used, under the cir- 

 cumstances, to remedy and prevent the too much heat, and the admission 

 of a current of the cold air, is the only way to avoid any iU effects from such 

 causes. 



