THE COLD GRAPERX. 



147 



peries, the services of a competent garden architect should 

 be engaged. The border of the one we have in use was be- 

 gun by excavating the natural soil to the depth of twenty- 

 inches and fifteen feet in width, for the length of the 

 grapery on each side. The inside was left untouched, 

 the borders being entirely outside. The bottom of the 

 excavation was graded from the front of the building to 

 the outside of the borders, with a fall of about an inch 

 to a foot, so that thorough and rapid drainage would be 

 sure to be attained. At the extremity of each border a 

 drain was built to carry off the water. The whole bot- 

 tom was then cemented over so as to prevent the roots 

 from penetrating the subsoil. This pit was then filled to 

 the depth of about two feet, (four inches being allowed 

 for settling), with a compost which was previously pre- 

 pared by mixing about three parts of turf taken from the 

 surface of a rather shaly pasture, one part of rotten stable 

 manure, and one part of lime rubbish. 



It is one of the popular errors that vines for graperies 

 should be two or three years old; the age of a vine" usually 

 has but little to do with its size, and if grape-vines are 

 properly grown the first year from cuttings, they will be 

 quite as good for planting as if two or three years old. 

 In fact it is a question whether a vine grown from a cut- 

 ting in March, and planted in June, is not quite as good 

 as one a year older. Our experience has shown that there 

 is hardly a perceptible difference in the two at the end of 

 the season ; as such vines, however, are too tender to be 

 shipped far, we generally recommend buying one year old 

 vines that may be planted in April, May, or June, hav- 

 ing ripened shoots about three feet in length. These 

 vines are all grown in pots the previous season, and when 

 received the soil should be shaken off entirely, and the roots 

 spread out in the border without injuring them. The 

 root, it will be understood, is planted outside in the bor- 

 der, and the shoot taken inside, through an opening in 



