56 FRUIT CULTURE UNDER GLASS. 



to reflect as much light as possible on the tender 

 growths of the vine. Eeference to the engraving shows 

 the arrangement of the drainage and depth of soil as 

 referred to under' the head of " Border-making." 



In forcing that has to commence in any of the 

 winter months, there can be no doubt that artificial heat 

 judiciously applied by hot-water pipes to the soil from 

 beneath is a great advantage. In arranging for this the 

 pipes should be immediately over the concrete, and 

 covered over in a shallow chamber by pavement, and 

 the drainage placed over the pavement ; or the pipes 

 may be surrounded with an open or honeycombed 

 brickwork drain, which drain can be connected with 

 similar open drains running right and left among the 

 open rubble, of which the drainage is composed. A 

 border 24 feet wide should have four rows of hot-water 

 pipes running underneath it. 



The ventilation, especially of vineries where early 

 forcing is carried on, is of very great importance. For 

 it is, especially in those days of large panes of glass 

 and close laps, of great importance to keep the air 

 fresh, and constantly renewed. The ingress of cold cur- 

 rents of air is most objectionable. It is of much import- 

 ance to heat it before it enters the body of the vinery 

 and plays on the tender foliage and fruit. Many ways 

 have been recommended to effect this end ; but the best 

 way is that invented by WiUiam Thomson, and illus- 

 trated by him in his ' Treatise on the Vine.' * It is 



* All who require the best and most elaborate information hearing 

 on everything connected with grape-growing, should read Mr Thorn- 

 son's ' Practical Treatise on the Vine,' now in its seventh edition. And 

 I may further add, that I consider anything that I can say, in the 

 light of such a work, to be, in a certain sense, a work of supererogation ; 

 only, writing a work on Fruit Culture under Glass, I could not, of course 



