158 OPEN AIR GRAPE CULTURE. 



CHAPTER IX. 



WALLS AND TRELLISES THEIR INFLUENCE AND CON- 

 STRUCTION. 



ALTHOUGH the influence of the various forms of 

 walls, trellises and stakes upon the growth and matu- 

 rity of the vine depends somewhat upon the system of 

 pruning and training pursued in connection with 

 them, still, it cannot be doubted but that their forms 

 and the materials of which they are made also exert 

 an influence which is by no means to be disregarded. 



In this country, walls devoted to the culture of the 

 vine have not been used to a sufficient extent, to 

 afford reliable data as to the benefit to be derived from 

 them. Many single vines, however, are trained on 

 the ends of houses and along board fences, and from 

 a careful examination of several such examples, we 

 are inclined to believe that in exposed situations the 

 erection of cheap walls would pay well, even in vine- 

 yards. 



"When vines are judiciously trained in front of 

 brick walls and at a few inches 9 distance from them, 

 the grapes uniformly ripen sooner than those on 



