On the Vine. 9 



and set In a humid soil, with but a single eye above the surface ; or 

 is raised even from the cuttings of a single eye. 



The vine requires a deep, light soil, and a warm exposition, to 

 produce fruit of superior quality. In cold, moist, and strong soils, the 

 ii'uit is gross and watery, and later in the season of its maturity. 



The foreign as well as native vines succeed admirably in our 

 cities: and especially so, when planted beneath pavements, and in the 

 paved court-yards. Their growth, in such situations, becoming more 

 moderate and regular, they are not so liable to suffer from excessive 

 moisture, and the quality of the fruit becomes proportionabiy im- 

 proved ; the reflected heat of the sun from the pavement, augment- 

 ing both the size and the flavor, and hastening its maturity. 



Vines trained to vertical walls, and growing in confined or humid 

 situations, are often subject to mildew: and on the walls of this de- 

 scription, which face due south, the sun, during mid-summer, never 

 shines till an advanced hour in the morning ; and the benefits are 

 never but partial, from the oblique rays of a sun which at noon-day 

 are nearly verucal. 



In our own latitude, or the latitude of Boston, where, during mid- 

 summer, the sun at mid-day is nearly at the zenith, an inclined plane, 

 or roof, or wall, sloping, and literally facing the noon-day sun, will 

 afford an exposition more flivorable than vertical walls ; or at that 

 angle which will face the sun at the time when his rays are most 

 needed, or towards the autumnal equinox. Over this, and at suitable 

 distance, the trellis may be elevated ; and upon this, the vines dis- 

 played, whether they arise at the foot of the plane, or are brought 

 up from the distance of forty or fifty feet, by a single stem, from the 

 roots below. In such a favored situation, they will receive the full 

 benefit of the morning sun, and the more effectual advantage of the 

 noon-day sun, both by his direct rays and by reflection. The excess 

 of moisture, tlie nightly dews, and a stagnant atmosphere, the 

 combined causes of mildew, will be dissipated by the morning sun, 

 or by the direct influence of southerly winds, or by the indirect in- 

 fluences of soutlierly winds, in the eddies and counter-currents. 



The inclined planes, or roofs, or walls of wooden structure, by 

 being shaded with a vegetable covering, are liable to speedy decay. 

 But this objection does not apply to those with a covering of slate ; 

 or to the cheap, enduring and admirable coverings which are now 

 formed of zinc 



From the late experiments of Mr. James Macdonald, of Scotland, in 

 his statement recorded by Mr. Loudon, it even appears that when the 

 vines of the Black Hamburgh and the White Muscat of Alexandria, 

 were trained at suitable distance above the sloping roofs of glass, and 

 exposed to the open air, and to the direct rays of the sun, and to the 

 heat caused by the rays of reflection, that the fruit ripened equally as 

 well, and nearly as early, as did the fruit of those which were train- 

 ed beneath its surface. And it is a well known fact, that at a certain 



VOL. I. NO. I. B 



