GROWING GRAPES UNDER GLASS. 



selas, Alexandria, etc.. on vines trained along the rather 

 high walls which enclose his village garden. Where a 

 regular grape house is out of the question, a wall facing 

 the south or east is really the first thing we want, and 

 while a stone wall may be preferable, a tight board fence 

 will answer. The preparation of a border in the elabo- 

 rate fashion recommended by English and German writ- 

 ers can be dispensed with, but it is not a difficult or 

 expensive job, and thoroughness in all undertakings is 

 advisable. As we expect from this border an enormous 

 growth of vines and enormous yields of fruit for years, 

 an abundance of lasting plant-food should be provided. 

 The drainage, also, should be perfect. To do a really 

 handsome thing by these grapes, the rows for the vines 

 may be dug out to the depth of several feet, and four to 

 six feet in width, then filled with rubbish of all sorts, 

 such as brush, old bones, old boots, old mortar, old sods, 

 cow-dung, soil from rich old pastures or cattle-yards, etc. 

 But if this preparation involves so much labor as to be- 

 come a bugbear, the grower may feel perfectly safe and 

 sure of reasonable success in selecting ordinary rich, 

 well-drained garden soil. 



Plant the vines not less than 

 two feet from the wall, say 

 four feet apart, and protect 

 them by a row of hotbed sash- 

 es, set up slantingly against 

 the wall, somewhat in the;;^^g 

 manner shown by fig. i . Train ;Si 

 the vines to single wires, fas- ^ 

 tened just under the sashes, 

 parallel with and only a iew--- 

 inches from the glass. i 

 A trifle more elaborate, m- — 

 volving a little more space, 

 material and expense, is the cold-housi 

 fig. 3. Two walls, one about two fee 

 about nine feet from the ground, and 

 consisting under ground of arches 

 for the free passage of the grape 

 roots, a glass roof, construc- 

 ted in any manner de- 

 sired ; with ends 

 boarded up or ;,jsi=y>- 



made of glass, and good chances for ven 

 tilation provided — that is all. The vines 

 are planted preferably, but not neces- 

 sarily, in a prepared border near 

 the lower wall, while peach, fig 

 or other fruit-trees may be plant 

 ed near, and trained to the 

 taller wall. 



In the construction and 

 heating of grape-forcic 

 houses the same general 

 principles are appli- 

 cable as in ordinary 

 greenhouses. Water- 

 heating will be prefer- 

 able for small houses, 

 and steam-heating for 

 very large ones. There 

 should be abundant 

 chances for ventila- 

 tion. Even an ordinary 



Fig. I.— Exotic Grapes under Ordi- 

 nary Hotbed Sashes. 



.— 1-oTTED Vines in Warm ri 



represented in 

 and the other 



Simple Cold-Grapery. 



vegetable-forcing pit, such as 

 is shown in fig. 2, having pro- 

 duced some earlier forced 

 crops, such as lettuce, rad- 

 ishes, etc., may be utilized 

 from February to July or Au- 

 gust as a grape-forcing house. 

 The amateur will find pleas- 

 ure and substantial results in 

 trying his luck with a few pot- 

 ted vines. 



W. Hample, in his " Iland- 

 biich der Frucht und Cem- 

 uesc-Treiberei," recommends 

 the following plan of starting 

 the young vines : Select year-old, well-ripened wood, with 

 well-developed eyes. Make single-eye cuttings, leaving 

 about one-third of an inch of wood above and below the 

 eye. Split them through the center, and place the pieces 

 containing the eye with the eye upward in boxes filled 

 with a mixture of loam and leaf-mold, pressing the cut- 

 tings down firmly, then sifting sand over them until the 

 eyes are entirely covered. In January start them in bot- 

 tom heat. A light layer of moss on top of the sand will 

 serve to keep the soil moist. Apply water as needed. 

 When well rooted, pot the young plants in 3-inch pots, in 

 good soil ; encourage growth by reasonable bottom-heat, 

 and shift into larger pots as needed. This treatment, 

 continued until fall, will produce plants suitable for fruit- 

 ing in pots the next season. Cut them back to not more 

 than eight eyes, let them rest until February, and then 

 start them in the benches, as shown in fig. 2. 



The following communication is from a highly success- 

 ful grower of forced foreign grapes : 



FORCING GRAPES IN SPECIAL VINERIES. 



My vineries are of the ' ' lean-to " style ; this I consider 

 more satisfactory than the "span-roof" for northern 

 c'imates with sudden changes of temperature. I build 



