PINERIES. 



339 



Fig. 457. 



the latter fixed. The intention of this is, 

 that while the vines were young, the 

 wooden mullions were taken out, and 

 consequently the space of two front 

 sashes was opened for the greater faci- 

 lity of taking out the vines when their 

 wood was ripened. This was done for 

 several years at first. As the vine stems 

 grew stronger, and more likely to sustain 

 injury by being disturbed, the following 

 plan has since been adopted : — 



Iron brackets, fig. 457, are placed in 

 the front wall, and remain there perma- 

 nently : upon these is 

 laid an open trellis, 

 upon which French 

 beans and strawberries 

 are forced during win- 

 ter, and chilies grown 

 during summer. When 

 the season arrives for 

 wintering the vines, a 

 plank 3 inches thick 

 and 10 inches wide is 

 laid over this trellis. 

 Into this plank up- 

 rights are mortised 

 and screwed to the 

 under side of the rafter : a board of 

 the same width is half checked into 

 the uprights, and fastened to a the wall- 

 plate by thin plates of iron 1 inch broad. 

 The vines are then pruned and taken 

 down, and fastened to the mullions in a 

 horizontal direction. The front sashes 

 are then taken out of their places, and 

 set into the spaces thus prepared for them 

 within, leaving a clear space of 10 inches 

 along the whole front for the vines to lie 

 horizontally in. The 3- inch plank over 

 the pipes prevents the heat from injuring 

 the vines. When the season for bringing 

 in the vines returns, the front sashes 

 are replaced in their proper position, 

 and felt is now substituted for them 

 within — thus placing the vines in suffi- 

 cient light and heat for causing them to 

 break their buds regularly and strongly ; 

 which they do better in a horizontal posi* 

 tion than in a vertical one. Additional 

 heat is given to the vines when neces- 

 sary, while in this state, by partially 

 opening the felt shutters which separate 

 them from the heat of the house. 



The vines remain in this position until 

 every bud has broken, and extended in 

 length from 2 to 3 inches. The whole 



of the framework is then removed, and 

 the vines are suspended from the rafters 

 in a slanting direction, where they re- 

 main a week or ten days, according to 

 the season, or the progress they make in 

 growth. The intention of this is to mo- 

 derate the ascent of the sap, so that the 

 buds and embryo fruit near the bottom 

 may not be robbed of their share of food 

 by the buds towards the top of the vine. 



During eight years, we have found 

 abundance of bottom heat from the two 

 4-inch pipes under the bed; and the heat 

 from them is at all times moist, as a con- 

 stant evaporation is going on from the 

 large reservoir at the end ; and this can 

 be increased by pouring water through 

 the tubes by which the bottom heat is 

 regulated, into the chamber below. 



For several years we grew pines planted 

 out in beds formed on the top of the 

 pavement which covers the pipes and 

 vault they occupy. We however aban- 

 doned that plan, not from any want of 

 bottom heat, but because of the untidy 

 appearance of the pit, when plants here 

 and there had had their fruit cut, (for we 

 do not adopt the Hamiltonian system,) 

 while others were only in bloom, and the 

 great difficulty of getting out the old 

 and exhausted plants, and filling up their 

 places with others, without breaking the 

 leaves of those that were already in the 

 pit. We now grow the plants in rather 

 large pots, and set these on the pavement, 

 filling up the spaces around the pots with 

 half-decayed leaves. 



The annexed cross section shows these 

 pine-stoves as described above : a the 

 boiler ; b the flow-pipe ; c the return-pipe ; 

 d square flow-pipe in front, having a cir- 

 cular return-pipe under it; e floor, of 

 Caithness pavement ; / bed for plunging 

 or planting out pines ; g smoke-flue in 

 the back wall ; h top ventilators, sus- 

 pended by weights, and moved up and 

 down in a frame ; i cistern of water, sup- 

 plied from the roofs behind, and discharg- 

 ing its water by a cock over the boiler ; 

 k flow-pipe under the bed ; I return-pipe ; 

 m shelf for French beans, strawberries, 

 &c. ; n furnace; o stoke-hole. 



Several plans very similar have been 

 adopted for wintering vines grown in 

 pine-stoves. The following method is 

 one adapted to houses where the vines 

 are planted low: — a 4-inch wall is car- 



