THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 117 



shut up the house before the sun sets. About the mid- 

 dle or last of May, the four eyes will have grown, each, 

 one or two feet ; train up the strongest of the two on 

 last year's wood, and shorten back the other three, by 

 pinching off the ends of the shoots ; during the season, 

 give plenty of air in fine weather, and shut up the house 

 at night. The best way of training the vines is by iron 

 rods, parallel with the rafters, having three of them ; a 

 centre one, to which should be tied the cane, and one on 

 each side of this, about eight inches distant, to tie the 

 bearing shoot to ; in a cold house, they should be ten 

 inches from the glass, and, in a forcing one, fourteen 

 inches.* 



As the leading cane grows, tie it carefully to the rod, 



* Some persons prefer the rods to run horizontally the whole length of 

 the house, which is the preferable mode when the vines are planted at 

 three feet distant from each other, and no regard is paid to placing them 

 under the rafters. This is the method used in the houses which I have 

 recently erected. On the front, or upright part, there should be two of 

 these ; the first about eighteen inches from the ground, the second at the 

 proper distance (10 or 14 inches,) from thereof; on the rafters, the first one 

 should be placed about twelve inches from the plate, and the last, or upper 

 one, at about fifteen inches from the ridge-pole ; the intervening ones may 

 be at distances of three or four feet, as deemed best. With this method of 

 training, small wires, running parallel with the rafters, should be attached 

 to the ridge-pole, or upper rod, and, resting on the other rods, be brought 

 down and secured to the sill, one on each side of the stem of the vine, at 

 about ten inches from it, to support the lateral, or fruit bunches. The rods 

 should be of one quarter inch iron, secured at the ends to.^the wood work 

 oj screws. In the interior, they must be fastened to the rafters by iron 

 pieces, which should be three eighths of an inch in thickness, and five or 

 six inches' long; these are secured by two screws (on a flattened end,) into 

 the rafters, with a .socket on the other for the rod to rest in, whi.ih must be 

 closed firmly, by pincers, after insertion. 



Vines on the back wall may be trained on wire, oi other trellis, as may 

 be most convenient. (See treUis for out-door training.) 



