136 FURTHER OBSERVATIONS ON THE 



gular advantage, and might be applied either by 

 a flued wall, the flue running through the houses 

 or by cast-iron pipes, which are frequently used 

 with success for this purpose. 



I have already mentioned, that in Holland it is 

 customary to begin forcing Vines as early as in 

 the month of November. 



The frames made use of for this winter-forcing 

 are generally about twenty-five or thirty feet long^ 

 about five feet wide at bottom, and at the top 

 about three feet. The height generally about ten- 

 feet, (the height of the Vine-wall to which the 

 frame is affixed,) so that the glass-frames stand, 

 nearly in a perpendicular direction. The fire-place 

 is at one end, the flue runs along the bottom to - 

 the opposite end, and generally returns to a 

 chimney built in the middle of the frame. 



The Vines are brought from the wall, and nailed 

 all along the front, close to the glass-frames, and 

 are securely covered at nights : by this disposition 

 of the branches, it is easy to conceive that there 

 must be difficulty in moving along on the inside. 



I have seen grapes in these frames in pretty good 

 perfection in the month of April, and was informed 

 that they are frequently ripe in the beginning of 

 March. The bunches* however, are not very 

 plentiful in these early crops. The black and 

 white Sweetwater are the kinds preferred for this 

 early forcing. 



As this kind of forcing in a manner spoils the 

 Vines, it is necessary to have the Vine- walls at 



