136 APPENDIX. 
lines, is no easy matter. The best soul, Lapprehend, is a 
gravelly loam, thoroughly underdrained, and subsoiled 
or trenched. We expect the vine to yield its fruit for 
a lifetime at least, and should prepare the soil accord- 
ingly. The ground having been trenched, dig a hole. 
not less than three feet square and two feet deep, and 
fill up nearly a foot with a compost of manure, bones, 
broken charcoal, lime rubbish, and vegetable mould, or 
as many of these materials as can be procured, but no 
dead dogs, cats, or horses. Over this compost put a 
layer of the best soil; then take your vine, spread 
the roots in their natural position, and fill up carefully. 
Vines three and four years old are the best, if they 
have been properly cared for; otherwise I would pre- 
fer those two years old. Pruning is a matter of the 
first importance. In gardens, vines are grown upon 
either arbors or trellises, and the same kind of pruning 
will not answer for both. The arbor is generally used 
for the purpose of shade as well as fruit, and here spur- 
pruning is generally practised, but carried to such an 
extreme, that in the course of years the vines become 
knotty, stunted, and unproductive. The first year, 
little or no pruning is necessary; if there is much top, 
however, it must be cut in to two or three good eyes. 
The vine is very tractable, and may be trained in the 
most symmetrical manner; this, however, is too often 
done at the expense of the best fruit-wood. In the 
case of the arbor, after the leaders have been trained 
to their places, and the vines have come into bearing, 
do not prune closer than three eyes. If the growth is 
likely to be too much, rub out the middle eye, leaving 
. the third for fruit, and the first for bearing next year; 
