20 OPEN AIR GRAPE CULTURE. 



rican varieties, is often very great. Speechly describes 

 and figures a vine trained against a row of houses in 

 Northallerton, Yorkshire, which covered a space of 

 one hundred and thirty seven square yards, and had 

 a stem three feet eleven inches in circumference at a 

 short distance from the ground. No work on the 

 grape vine would be complete without a mention of 

 the great Hampton Court vine, from which George 

 the Third once directed his gardener to cut one hun- 

 dred dozen bunches of grapes, if so many were on the 

 vine, and present them to the players of Drury-lane 

 Theatre, who had greatly pleased him. The gardener 

 not only cut off this number, but sent word to the 

 king that he could cut off as many more without 

 entirely stripping the vine. This vine was planted in 

 1769 and has a stem fourteen inches in girth, one 

 branch extending nearly 200 feet. 



In America, too, very large vines are to be found. 

 The following is clipped from the " Alta California!! :" 



" At Monticito, four miles from Santa Barbara, 

 there is a grape vine, probably the largest in the 

 world. Its dimensions and yield would be incredible, 

 were it not that my informant is a man of veracity, 

 and he spoke from personal observation. It is a single 

 vine, the main stock being ten feet in circumference. 

 It is trained upon a trellis sixty feet in diameter. 

 My informant with another person counted 7000 



