On the proper construction of Hot-bed Frames. 143 



any expense whatever, since the frame, when made as re- 

 commended, costs considerably less than when it is made in 

 the form at present used : and as labour and expense to a 

 very great amount are annually employed in making and- 

 managing Hot-beds, any improvement in their construction 

 becomes of some importance to the market gardener. 



I have often used, with great success, a frame and Hot-bed 

 thus formed for forcing Grapes, by placing the bed at three 

 feet distance from the wall, to which the Vines were trained, 

 and introducing their branches into the frame, through holes 

 made at the north end of it (the Vines having been trained 

 to a south wall), as soon as the first violent heat of the bed 

 had subsided. The White Chasselas Grape, thus treated, 

 ripens in July, if the branches of the Vine be introduced in 

 the end of April; and a most abundant crop may be thus 

 obtained ; but the necessity of pruning very closely renders 

 the branches, which have been forced, unproductive of fruit 

 in the succeeding season ; and others, from the wall, must 

 consequently be substituted. I have always put a small 

 quantity of mould in the frame, and covered it with tiles. 



If an inclined plane of earth be substituted for the Hot-bed, 

 and Vines be trained in a frame adapted to it, the Grapes 

 (the Chasselas) ripen perfectly in August; and if small holes 

 be made through the sides of the frame, through which the 

 young shoots of the Vines can extend themselves in the 

 open air, a single plant, and a frame of moderate size, will 

 be found to yield annually a very considerable weight of 

 Grapes. For this purpose, the frames should not be more 

 than eight or ten feet long, nor more than five or six in 

 breadth, or the young shoots will not be so advantageously 



vol. i. U 



