AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
303 
figures by an experienced mind, would soon 
show this to be a fact. 
Respectfully Yours, 
Wsi. Chorlton. 
New Brighton, S. I., Sept., 12, 1856. 
We thank Mr. Chorlton, for the above, and 
we hope hereafter to hear from him fre¬ 
quently on practical grape growing. His 
book on grape culture, is an admirable little 
treatise, and those who have seen his grapes 
at almost every Horticultural Exhibition 
held in this vicinity during several years past 
will testify that he can do as well as say .— Ed. 
CAN GRAPES BE GROWN IN ATTICS? 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
The article on your 283d page, mention¬ 
ing the enquiries of Mr. Tarbox, of Brook¬ 
lyn, concerning foreign grape vines, and the 
practicability or advisability of using our 
attics or garrets as graperies and forcing 
houses, is one to attract considerable atten¬ 
tion. I will answer the questions proposed 
in your article. 
First. “ The main stem of the imported 
grape” will “ be likely to suffer during Win¬ 
ter, if left unprotected,” whether the “ top 
or bearing branches are under cover” or not. 
Second. “A covering of straw, if thick 
enough and properly applied,” will be suffi¬ 
cient, and so will moss; but six inches is 
the least possible thickness compatible with 
safety. 
Third. “ The head branches” will not 
bear as large bunches “ at the distance of 
thirty to forty feet from the root as 
“ nearer,” nor will the grapes in the bunches 
be as large, but the vines will bear as much 
weight of fruit, making up for the deficiency 
in size by increase in numbers both of 
bunches and grapes, and what is of a deal of 
importance, the flavor will be finer. The 
“ exotic or foreign grapes” are governed by 
the same general rules as the native. 
Your suggestion as to attics converted 
into graperies is a good one—the glass roofs 
will give a very fine appearance, and grapes 
will do well—but the plant with the utmost 
care can make but about forty feet of growth 
in a season, and the next year this must be 
cut back to ten feet in order to ensure the 
soundness of the wood and the health of the 
vine ; nor can any variety of foreign grape 
be allowed, consistent with the permanent 
strength of the vine, to net more than ten 
feet of growth each year. Consequently, it 
will be three or four years before any re¬ 
sults whatever can, by the utmost pains, be 
attained in the way of fruit. 
But, secondly : during two of these four 
years, or three of them, if the attic be far 
enough from the ground to require it, the 
vines will need protection and care outside 
the building, for the growing vine must have 
very different care and treatment from the 
naked stem. The expense of this outside 
work will be great, and would almost equal 
that of a moderate vinery. 
As to occupying the attic of a residence 
for a forcis g or propagating house, we would 
as readily have it occupied for a carpenter’s 
or painter’s workshop. It is utterly impos¬ 
sible for the labors of the forcing house or 
the propagating pit to be carried on without 
an amount of litter and disturbance, which 
would far more than counterbalance all the 
“ actual profit” which could be realized. 
When a store or work-shop of only one 
story can have the floor of its garret a 
grapery, at not over ten to fifteen feet from 
the ground, the vines, while being carried 
up on the outside of the building, can be cul¬ 
tivated under moveable sash, and can be led 
into the attic so as to require the extra 
amount of care above spoken of during only 
one, or at the most two years. In such case 
some returns might be expected during the 
third year. 
Plans for rendering the upper part of our 
houses more useful in various ways than 
they are at present, have often been pro¬ 
posed. Once it was the thing to have our 
garrets full of bees, and the land was to flow 
with honey. Again : the attics were to be 
the roosting places for domestic fowls, and 
the waste heat of the houses was to convert 
the garret into a regular eccaleobion, while 
broiled chickens were to form the regular 
Winter breakfast, and families during the 
intensest weather were to rejoice daily in 
undoubted new-laid eggs. 
But these plans and many more have had 
their day, and I very much fear that the 
attic grapery plan, though as practicable as 
the others, will not meet with much favor in 
the long run from common sense men. The 
difficulty and expense of the outside prepar¬ 
atory labors will put a veto upon the under¬ 
taking. . C. P. Bisselu. 
Rochester, Sept. 8, 1856. 
MORE ABOUT ATTIC GRAPERIES. 
[Our queries on this subject last month 
have called forth several replies, of which 
we have room for a part only. Elsewhere 
we give the answers of Mr. Bissell, of Ro¬ 
chester, and of Mr. Chorlton, of Staten 
Island. The following is from Mr. Fred¬ 
erick C. Graeff,Nanuet, Rockland Co,, N. Y., 
who is well known to most of our horticul¬ 
tural readers. Mr. G. has had considerable 
experience in grape culture in Europe, as 
well as some here, we believe.—En.] 
Editor American Agriculturist • 
In answer to your first question, “ Will 
the main stem of the imported grape be 
likely to suffer during Winter, if left unpro¬ 
tected, provided the top or bearing branches 
are under cover 1” I will reply. The grape¬ 
vine will grow unprotected where the peach 
tree does not require protection. In this 
country the North and North-east winds are 
very cold in the Winter season, but the un¬ 
protected main stem of the grape-vine will 
not suffer so much from these winds as by 
the late frosts in the Spring, when the sap 
has commenced to circulate. The main 
stem is then softer and more sensible to 
frost. Changeable weather, and rain, and 
alternation of warm and freezing weather 
does more injury than simply the Winter’s 
severe cold. 
“ If protection is necessary, will a cover¬ 
ing of straw bound on be sufficient 1” 
Of all protections, I consider straw “ bound 
on” as one of the worst. It is more disad¬ 
vantageous or noxious than useful. When 
in Winter the straw becomes wet by the 
thawing of snow, the water penetrates to 
the main stem. 'The air is kept out, and 
the vine will not dry in a long time. It will 
consequently remain moist, and suffer much, 
and this will be especially the case when 
freezing weather ensues, as is so often the 
case in our changeable climate. 
It is always better to leave the main stem 
free until the weather becomes very severe, 
when the lower part of it may be covered 
with long stable manure. This should not 
be done until the earth is a little frozen. 
Dry leaves are not so good as the long ma¬ 
nure, because they are liable to be blown 
away by the heavy winds. 
In Spring, the covering, whatever it be, 
should not be taken away too early, for one 
night’s frost after its removal may destroy 
all hope of a crop for the season. 
Omitting for the present an answer to the 
third question for want of suitable draw¬ 
ings, and a lack of time, I will say in gene¬ 
ral that it depends upon the quality or vari¬ 
ety of the foreign grape, and upon the cul¬ 
ture and the dressing of the stem, whether 
the head branches will bear at a distance of 
four to ten feet, or even ten to eighty feet, 
as well and more equally than nearer the 
root. F. C. G. 
Nanuet, N. Y., Sept. 12, 1856. 
BLIGHT CURED BY SULPHUR. 
On Thursday, June 12th, the vines in a 
vinery here appeared affected by a sudden 
blight, (the leaves shrivelled and burnt as by 
a sirocco,) so severely as to promise the 
eventual total failure in perfecting fruit. 
Sulphur was directly applied without, and 
after, a syringe washing. This appeared to 
do little good. Last year this process, al¬ 
though it seemed to check the blight, com¬ 
pletely failed in saving any portion of the 
fruit. Sulphur was then placed on the floor 
and burnt, and this seemed to arrest par¬ 
tially the progress of the blight. Then the 
thought occurred of sprinkling water on the 
heated flue, and sulphur upon that. This 
caused a health-giving vapor to rise, but it 
was found that the water poured upon the 
hot flue dried up too rapidly. The thought 
then came into the mind of the experimenter 
to sprinkle the water, and next the sulphur 
upon the cold flue, and then gradually to 
warm the flue. This, along with keeping up 
sufficient temperature,has been found to an¬ 
swer (as far as yet appears) perfectly. Each 
night this method has been followed, and 
now new leaves are growing, and the whole 
crop looks beautifully healthy. From this, 
may not the inference be drawn that the evil 
effects of blight of all descriptions and in all 
places—in trees, on walls or standards, and 
in hop grounds—may, by timely and proper 
employment of water, fire and sulphur, be 
in a great part checked, mitigated, or alto¬ 
gether avoided; although, of course, their 
application sub Dio may be a matter of diffi¬ 
culty, and prove of less virtue 1 The viru¬ 
lence of that exceedingly curious, novel dis¬ 
temper, which so (almost) unaccountably 
last year affected the otherwise ordinarily 
