8 



PREFACE TO THE 



valent an opinion, that grapes produced in Pine- 

 stoves are seldom so well flavoured as grapes from 

 a Vinery. 



To the first of these objections I here reply, by 

 asserting, that the Vine will bear the degree of 

 heat proper for Pines, and that this is proved by 

 daily experience. There is a Vine now (1789) 

 growing in the Pinery at Welbeck, which has con- 

 stantly produced good crops of grapes for more 

 than twenty years past. Its roots are entirely 

 within the house, and make annual progress in the 

 Pine-pits, among the leaves of trees, which are 

 used here instead of tan ; and please to consider, 

 that in this mode of proceeding, the situations of 

 the Pine and Vine are extremely different. 



The Pine is situated in the lower part of the 

 house, but the shoots of the Vine are trained im- 

 mediately under the roof, and, consequently, are 

 greatly affected by the external air, especially 

 when such air is admitted into the house. Besides, 

 let me add, that the Pines, being plunged in the 

 tan-bed, receive a constant warmth from thence, 

 and their roots are nourished by its genial heat. 

 But the whole system of the fibres in the roots of 

 the Vines being in the open ground on the out- 

 side of the house, they are at all times exposed to 

 the weather, which must necessarily have a won- 

 derful effect upon the whole plant at all seasons of 

 the year. 



