PRUNING THE VINE : THE EXTENSION SYSTEM. 5 1 



the plant ; and the crop from a Vine so trained is fully greater than 

 that of several Vines occupying a similar space. In the extension 

 system the young rods may be pruned on the spur system, as already 

 described. Some of the best examples of this system are to be seen 

 in the Black Hamburgh Vine at Mr. Kay's, Finchley, which is pruned 

 to five main stems, extending over the entire roof of the house, eighty- 

 nine feet long by eighteen feet wide, which space it filled in six 

 years ; the Muscat house at Longleat, eighty feet long, four Vines, 

 one at each corner, filling the entire space ; and the great Vine at 

 Cumberland Lodge, Windsor Park. 



Another noteworthy specimen of the extension system is the Black 

 Hamburgh Vine at Manresa House, Roehampton. This was raised 

 from a cutting by the present gardener, Mr. M. Davis, and planted 

 against a wall in the garden thirty-one years ago, for supplying 

 leaves for garnishing. It grew well, and one of its rods was taken 

 under a walk into a neighbouring house. The Vine has now seven 

 rods, trained as straight as lines, horizontally, about two feet apart, 

 under the sharply pitched lean-to roof. They are disbudded on the 

 under side, shoots being taken at intervals of about a foot from the 

 upper side only, occupying the space to the next rod. The Vine fills a 

 house two hundred and twenty -four feet long, and the aggregate length 

 of the rods is one thousand three hundred and sixty five feet, or 

 upwards of a quarter of a mile ; the Grapes hanging in long, straight 

 lines, with the regularity of bottled Grapes on racks in a fruit room, 

 have an imposing appearance. The bunches average from one 

 pound to three pounds in weight, and the berries are large and well 

 finished. One season, eight hundred bunches were cut and sold for 

 107. This Vine is in perfect health, is the pride of the place, and 

 a credit to its manager. 



The Vine being diffuse and somewhat rambling in its growth, there 

 can be no doubt that the principle of extension is more consonant with 

 its natural habit than that of repression, of which the spur system is 

 an extreme development. Extension is assuredly favourable to long- 

 evity, whereas the opposite treatment more rapidly uses up the 

 -energies of the plant. The more a Vine is allowed to grow the greater 

 amount of vital force it secures ; were it not that the Vine is an 

 exceedingly good-tempered subject, and quickly recuperative, this 

 result would become more generally apparent than it now is. Rich 

 feeding, with restricted growth, will lead to the production of heavy 

 crops of fine fruit, but it is a high pressure system of management, 

 and it is seldom long before Vines break down under it, and lapse 

 into a condition of mediocrity. 



