Winnetka, III, Nov. 10th, 1862.

P. B. Mead, Esq., - Dear Sir, - I wish to inquire if there is to be found in New York, glass especially designed for a cold grapery; and if not, what kind would you recommend, and of what size for fixed sash?

I design to build a grape house 12 feet by 50, with rafters 10 inches apart; front sash 3 feet; rear wall 12 feet, with cut off peak with ventilators. Are the above good proportions for a house of that size?

An answer to these queries in the next number of the Horticulturist would greatly oblige one, and perhaps many old subscribers.

[There is glass in New York specially adapted to graperies. We have lately been using double thick glass of American manufacture which is but very little inferior to imported glass. The price is nearly a half less. Glass has advanced 20 per cent. within a few weeks past. The size that we now invariably use for the top is 8 by 10 inches. We do not like the form of your house, unless there be special reasons for it. We prefer a double pitch to a single pitch; besides, the first is cheapest. There is no beauty in a single pitch. 20 by 30 feet would give you the same number of square feet, would look very much better, and require less labor to take care of it. 20 by 50 feet would give you a still better proportioned house. From the floor to the peak should be about 12 feet. The side sashes should be 3 feet 3 inches to accommodate glass most readily bought. The rafters should be 4 feet 4 1/2 inches apart from their centers. On these put two purlins, and on the purlins the sash bars. For the rafters, 2 by 6 inches will be large enough, if of good sound timber. 3 by 8 will be large enough for the sill, and 3 by 6 for the plate. With the above letter came a club of eight subscribers for 1863. That is asking questions to some purpose.

Please accept our thanks, and - ask more questions. - Ed].

Mr. Editor: - On the 18th of last April, I planted in a cold house just erected, ten foreign grape vines two years old, grown in pots. The canes were small, and had been cut back to about two feet when received.

I planted them in the inside of the house, according to directions in a former number of the Horticulturist. As an experiment, 1 cut from the canes remaining, twelve to eighteen inches of each vine, and planted these cuttings along the inner edge of the border, inside of the house, and protected them with a small layer of moss. (I have had no experience in grape growing, either in native or foreign kinds).

They were all watered regularly twice a week, with tepid rain water on Fridays and with soap suds on Mondays. All the cuttings have taken root, and six of them had each made a growth of a single stock twelve to fifteen feet in length on the 1st day of September, and the other four produced each a cane of six to ten feet long.

The roots planted were cut back to the lower healthy bud, and on the same day had each produced a cane sixteen to twenty-four feet in length.

On the 1st of September, I pinched off the heads of all the vines to aid in ripening the wood, according to your suggestions. The main canes are now full three- \ fourths of an inch in diameter of well colored and hardened wood; and the cuttings are three-eighths to five-eighths in diameter, but not yet so well colored and ripened.

I wish your advice about cutting back the principle vines; also the cuttings; at what time, and what length of cane do you recommend?

What shall I do with those produced from the cuttings? If practicable, I design them as an experiment in semi-dwarfing.

Through the centre of my grape house, lengthwise, are two parallel partitions two feet apart in the clear, dividing the grape border on the front side from the border on the back side, which is designed for small fruit trees.

These partitions are also intersected by lateral divisions about three feet apart, forming boxes two by three feet, and two feet deep, down to the top of the foundation stand of the borders. In these boxes I desire to grow these experimental vines, on the long spur system, and main stems not more than six to eight feet high when fully matured. Is my plan practicable? And when shall I plant the vines home in the boxes? must the roots be pruned at planting? The border is already filled in in the boxes of the same material as the main border.

Any suggestions you may make consistent with the best interest of your indispensable Horticulturist will be gladly received by one of your subscribers at least. What shall I do with the half dead Delaware grape vines I purchased last spring of one of the principal nurserymen in New York?

They were two years old, grown in pots. I planted them with care in good ground, well prepared, and they have been as well cared for as my one year's experience would allow. They have produced each a growth of about two feet, a little slender crooked stock. Would you advise rooting them out, or let them remain for another year's anxiety and disappointment? My other native kinds have mostly made a growth of six to ten feet.

Yours truly, Subscriber.

Orange, N. J., Oct. 14, 1862.

[For a beginner you managed your vines and cuttings very judiciously. You evidently read to understand, and your practice consequently meets with corresponding results. We have a right to feel flattered with the knowledge that our suggestions have been followed with such gratifying success. In regard to the pruning of the vines, the strongest should be cut back to about five feet; they might be left longer, but even with the size of your canes, the future of the vine will be most satisfactory by not allowing them to exceed this length. These canes may be allowed to produce some fruit next year. The pruning may be done at any time during the early part of December; it will not be too late any time before hard freezing weather. A few words, however, in regard to your proposed experiment in "semi-dwarfing." The vines will do very well along the centre of your house for two or three years, or until the front vines make a dense shade. We advise you to make the experiment. In this case, first prune the young vines to from one to three feet, according to the stoutness of the canes. Take a forked spade, and begin some three or four feet from the vines, to find the ends of the roots; then follow them up very carefully, letting as much earth as possible adhere to the fibres.

As the roots are exposed, cover them with a piece of matting that has been wetted, to prevent them from getting dry. After the young vine has been lifted in this careful manner, carry it just as carefully to the box in which it is proposed to plant it. Spread the roots out nicely and evenly, and peg them down, if necessary, first cutting off the ends of the long primary roots, or bending them in a circular form. Next take some fine sandy soil, (without manure,) and sprinkle all over and around the roots till they are covered about an inch; and then with a watering pot with a fine rose throw on just enough water to cause the earth to settle around and under all the roots. If any portion of the roots become exposed, they must be covered in the same way; but no more water must be used than is really necessary to accomplish this purpose. Now throw on two inches more of fine soil, and on the top of this may be put your compost, which will be all the better for having a good proportion of fine muck in it. The soil must be pressed gently, not packed. By taking this trouble you may reasonably look for some fruit on such stout young vines as you have described. We should like nothing better than to help you in this operation.

If your cuttings had been grown in pots instead of the border, they could have been turned into the boxes without disturbing the roots, and the results would have been more cer. I tain. If you are not successful in lifting the young vines, your proper course I will be to cut them down to three eyes, and grow a single cane, waiting another year for fruit. The planting should be done at once, and the roots protected by a covering of manure; but some soil must be put around the cane to prevent the manure from coming in immediate contact with it. A good way is to cover the canes with a few inches of earth before applying the manure. You had better replace your Delaware, provided you get a good one; otherwise cut the present one down to a couple of eyes. It will probably give you a good cane next season, We hope the above necessarily brief directions will be of some service to you. They were intended to appear last month. - Ed].