GRAPE. 79 



ashes to each plant is recommended by Mr. Loubat, as bene- 

 ficial ; and he recommends the planting to be done in the 

 month of March, or early in April. 



There are various methods adopted in training and prun- 

 ing the vine ; and it appears impossible to lay down rules 

 to suit every cultivator. The vine having, like other trees, 

 a tendency to produce its most vigorous shoots at the ex- 

 tremities of the branches, and particularly so at those which 

 are situated highest, it generally happens, when it is trained 

 high, that the greater portion of the fruit is borne near the 

 top ; and it has been observed, that the fruit produced on 

 the vigorous shoots, which naturally grow at the extremities 

 of the long branches, is generally more abundant, and of 

 finer quality than that produced on the short lateral ones, 

 from which circumstance, high training seems to be the best 

 calculated for private gardens. 



In some parts of Italy, vines are cultivated together with 

 Mulberry trees, and are allowed to mingle and hang in fes- 

 toons ; thus silk and wine are produced on the same spot; 

 and it is considered that when vines are allowed to grow 

 over trees, on the side of a house, or on bowers, or extended 

 on tall poles, without much trimming, they will produce more 

 fruit, and are not so liable to mildew. 



Dr. G. W. Chapman, of New- York, having paid some 

 attention to the cultivation of native Grapes, observes, that 

 the vine, in its natural state, seldom or never throws out 

 bearing shoots until it reaches the top of the tree on which 

 it ascends, when the branches take a horizontal or descend- 

 ing position. From this fact he considers horizontal training 

 preferable to that in the fan shape. From the experiments 

 he has made, he has found that the shoots coming from those 

 parts of the branches bent downward, are more productive 

 than from those ascending; he considers deep digging 

 around the vine, even to the destruction of some of the ex- 

 tending roots, as calculated to promote the growth of more 

 fruit and less wood, than if allowed to spread near the sur- 



