204 
THE COTTAGE GA14DENEE. 
January 22. 
does not find its way tliitlier, owing to the heterogeneous 
mi.xtnre it contains. 
The amateur who has only one or two houses, na¬ 
turally wishes to make the most of them, and, supposing 
he has an ordinary Vinery at work, a few notes of the 
purposes it may he turned to, will, no doubt, he useful 
to many of your readers. 
Let ns suppose the Vinery in question he an ordinary 
lean-to house, with a bed in the centre for heating ma¬ 
terials, and a path either all around it, or along its 
south side, and outside of this ])ath, and still nearer the 
front of the house are the heating-pipes, or, if it be a 
fine, it is all the same. 
Now, the central bed being supposed to be filled with 
heating material, tan, or leaves, or leaves and dung, the 
fine, moist steam from this will be of great service in 
making the Vines break regularly, but until they do so, 
and, in fact, until they form leaves in some quantity, 
the bed may be used as a forcing-bed for anything that 
may be wanted early. 
i)u <iif Kidney-beans vegetate very well in such a bed, ' 
though they are generally too far from the glass to do well , 
in the dark days; but after the middle of January they i 
succeed jiretty well until the leaf of the Vine expands, I 
when they ought to be removed, as well for the welfare ; 
of the Vines as for their own benefit. 
Bulbs of various kinds come on tolerably in such a | 
place, and, in fact, all forced Ilowers are procurable in 
such places. Rhododendrons, put in early in autumn, 
flower in due time, and likewise Roses, Lilacs, and the 
various hardy shrubs that are used for forcing. Among ^ 
thenr, nothing succeeds better than Deiilzia yracilis and 
Weiyelia rosea. Of course, tlie various Herbaceous jdanls 
used for forcing may also be put in at tbo same time, and 
they will all prosper, more or less, according to circum¬ 
stances; the most useful,perhaps, heingDielylra speciosa. 
It is easy to perceive, that in such abed there is no 
necessity for the whole produce to bo of one article; on 
the contrary, the amateur will, probably, wish to have 
variety, and will be tempted to crowd as mucb into the 
place as possible. This, of course, may be carried to an 
extreme, for vegetation of all kinds, except the lowest, 
as jMosses, IJchens, &c., all require a greater amount of 
light and air than they would obtain in a very crowded 
hotbed, where the air is necessarily inclined to be stag¬ 
nant, in spite of the best ventilation that can be given. 
Due caution must, therefore, be exercised to obtain a 
supply of fresh air; for, besides the foliage of the plants | 
shading each other, they derive a considerable amount i 
of food from the atmosphere, which they cannot all do J 
when the place is so studded with plants that the 
foliage is too largo for the food provided, or, in other j 
words, the limited volume of atmosjdieric air is insufii- ! 
cient to maintain so lai'ge a vegetation in an healthy 
state, consequently, a sickly growth takes place, and other 
evils arise. It is needless to say that other agents are 
at work at times as well. 
On the other hand, plants may bo packed as thickly 
as you like while they are only in the transition state, 
from the usual period of rest to that of activity. Lilacs, 
and other deciduous idants aird Bulbs, may be as thick 
as you choose, until they expand a little, when more 
room must be given. Rhododendrons, and other ever¬ 
green shrubs, may be indulged with a little more room. 
Vet these plants are said to consume more air, when in 
a growing state, than when in that stationary one in 
which they usually are for several weeks, or even 
months, prior to expanding their blooms; but a few 
of these mixed with the deciduous things do very well, j 
and the fine bright colours of the Azaleas render them 
equally favourites; Knhnias, and other things, being 
added at pleasure; while those who have extensive 
plant-houses will have other plants of the “New Hol¬ 
land” section coming forw’ard at the same time. 
It is, how’ever, necessary to say here, that as the 
Vines are supposed to bo the legitimate occupants of 
this house, some attention must he paid to them, and 
their welfare must always be kept in mind as being the 
most important. Therefore, when the buds begin to 
break and put forth leaves, let the other jihiuts he gra¬ 
dually removed, especially those, which, like the Vine, 
have foliage in a growing condition. not stal led, 
and other things in a like condition, do no harm, and, 
in fact, take none for a time; bnt a crowuled house is in- 
compatable with success; therefore, thin it well betimes. 
This is more easily efiected than might be thought at 
first. As the various plants approach a (low'ering con¬ 
dition they may be removed to a cooler jdace. 
In such Vineries, the Vines, usually, are ])lanted inside; 
but with an extensive range of border outside, the front 
wall being supported on ))illars, between which tho roots 
of the Vines ramify in all directions; but 1 merely mention 
this, to enable me to allude here to the revival of an ex¬ 
cellent old practice, that of covering tho border outside 
with some heating material. Tree leaves are as good as 
anything, and when laid on about a yard thick, or more, 
retain their heat during the winter. This is supposing 
the leaves to be of good kinds—Oak, Chesnut, and 
Beech being the best; and tbe worst. Elm and Syca¬ 
more. In the present season I have adopted another 
plan, or, rather, used additional precaution, to obtain 
warmth outside, by taking off the surface-soil to the 
depth of about six inches, there being no roots nearer 
than that depth, and I anticipate the roots near the sur¬ 
face will rise and run into the leafy matter, which, if 
they do, I W'ill allow it to remain, and add nmre as 
wanted. I have seen good results from this plan ; and 
though we cannot expect the roots of Vines, or, in fact, 
anything else, to exactly meet the suiface during the 
scorching part of summer, it is easy to remove this 
covering of soil every autumn before forcing time and 
supply it as above. Eor much as has been said on this 
suliject, it is not fully defined yet which is the best way 
to manage such things; and expensive coverings have 
been introduced, as well as, in some cases, underground 
heating contrivances, both of which are, no doubt, good 
in their w'ay, but their expense places them beyond the 
reach of the many ; and it is not proved yet that belter 
fruit have been obtained that way than by the old- 
fashioned mode detailed above 
In reference to tho extent of border a Grape-house 
ought to have, I saw an extraordinary instance, last year, 
of what a Vine could do in a confined position. Thehouse 
was an old one, and far from being in good condition. 
Inside there was a bed about two-feet and-a-half deep, 
surrounded by brickwork, and at one end of it a 
Vine, originally in a pot, had rooted through and ob¬ 
tained possession of the leafy bed, but the proprietor, 
uinvilling to allow it tho whole of this bed, boarded off 
a small jiortion for the Vine, and removed all tho rest at 
the same time. I believe he destroyed tho pot without 
disturbing the roots; but this Vino, with no greater 
scope of root-room than might have filled a good-sized 
cart, rapidly ])rogressed, and covered tho wdiole house not 
only with its foliage, but w'ith its fruit also ; for I never 
saw a heavier crop—the bunches, certainly, were not 
large, but they coloured we-ll. This, of course, was not 
all efiected in one year, and the proprietor, at my sug¬ 
gestion, removed the boarding partition a little further 
from the roots of the Vines, giving some open leafy 
substratum to the added part. This was like “ a shift ” 
to potted plants, and the result was very satisfactory. 
The secret of tho success remains to bo told—tho jdants 
were fed by liquids properly enriched; and when 1 say 
properly enriched, I speak in a qualified sense; for all 
liquid-manure is not properly given; some, in fact, 
being so e.xceediugly gross in substance, and so strong, 
that it is questionable if it does not sometimes do more 
I 
