66 THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



but the best use to whicli we can devote Englisli-grown grapes is to 

 brew a wine diflering from all known kinds — that is to say, sui generis, 

 as English, and as distinctive as our beer. Full-bodied wines 

 we cannot produce, but most excellent light wines, which may be 

 likened to Hock, Moselle, and Champagne, may be produced in 

 plenty, and to bring them into such condition as to satisfy a cultivated 

 palate, will depend much more upon the skill of the manufacturer 

 and the suitability of the cellarage than upon the soil or climate of 

 this country. I have imbibed, to my great pleasure and refreshing, 

 at the table of my friend, C. Roach Smith, Esq., of Strood, in Kent, 

 as good English-made sparkling Hock and still Moselle as I could 

 wish at any time, even on the grandest occasions. These wines are 

 peculiar, and I liken them to Hock and Moselle only for the sake of 

 conveying an idea of their character. But Mr. Smith produces by a 

 mixture of several sorts of white grapes, with a few black grapes 

 added to give a tinge of colour, a most delicate and reclierche wine of 

 a pale rosy hue, refreshing bouquet, and dry styptic flavour, which 

 would be thought much of by wine drinkers, and I would venture to 

 say could not be equalled by any continental wine of low price. 

 "What are the full capabilities of our climate for the production of 

 wholesome wines we know not — it is a matter for inquiry and experi- 

 ment ; but we know enough to be sure that every possessor of a 

 garden may furnish his table with wine worth drinking, at a cost so 

 trifling that expense need never be a matter for serious conside- 

 ration. 



All that has been said about wall grapes applies as directly to the 

 growth of grapes for wine as for table. Those Vv'ho have suitable 

 walls, and who wish for good home-made wine, will do well to appro- 

 priate their walls to such varieties as are most suitable, as there will 

 be a greater certainty of the grapes being well ripened than by open 

 vineyard culture. But in spots moderately sheltered, and enjoying 

 Avhat may be understood as an average good climate, open vineyard 

 culture will answer well, and is at once the simplest and cheapest 

 mode of producing grapes for wine. The vines may be planted out 

 in rows six feet apart every way, which will allow of a free 

 circulation of air amongst them, and enable the cultivator to 

 move amongst them freely. If land is expensive or limited in 

 extent, some useful crops of summer vegetables may be grown 

 between the rows, or the rows may be put at four feet apart, and if 

 they run east and west they will not much shade each other. But 

 in any case the vines must be six feet apart in the row, because of 

 the system of cultivation to be followed. This, of course, will be 

 what' is termed the " long-rod system." But there is a right and a 

 wrong way of doing it, and the wisest course to follow will be to cut 

 the vines down to four or five buds after they have been planted one 

 year. Four strong shoots are to be allowed to grow, and all others 

 are to be suppressed. These should be trained out sufiiciently apart 

 that their leaves do not overlap, but as nearly upright as possible, 

 and they are to grow as long as they please — that is to say, they are 

 not to be pinched or pruned during the whole of the season. In the 

 winter they are to be pruned to three, four, or five feet lengths, and 



