GRAPE GROWING IN THE OPEN AIR. 



3. Planting. This should be done as early in the autumn as 

 possible, so that the roots may get into action before winter, otherwise 

 it is better deferred till spring is well advanced. 



"For planting Vines the blush of spring is best, 

 or else autumnal cold." 



4. Pruning and Training. This must to a certain extent be very 

 similar to the practice adopted under glass. Vines to be trained to 

 single stems should be planted about three feet apart, and pruned on 

 the spur system, the shoots or spurs being allowed to form at about 

 fifteen inches apart. It is preferable, however, to allow Vines on open 

 walls to cover a greater space, and to have many stems or branches. 

 These may be trained in an upright or vertical direction, at about 

 eighteen inches apart, and may be pruned on the spur system ; a 

 preferable method, however, is that of training the stems in a 

 horizontal direction. Thus, at the first pruning, the Vine is cut down 

 to a height of about eighteen inches, and three shoots or stems trained 

 up the first year ; at the winter pruning one of these branches is 

 trained out horizontally to the right, the other to the left ; these being 

 pruned according to their strength to four or five feet in length, form 

 the first or lower tier of branches on which the fruiting shoots or spurs 

 are to be produced. The third shoot is trained upright ; if strong it 

 may be pruned to four or five feet long, and the following season one 

 or more side branches added in a similar manner, the distance apart 

 being fully eighteen inches. The fruit-bearing shoots may be about 

 twelve inches apart, and all nailed in on the upper side of the branches 

 only. Vines so trained may be extended to any distance, and pruned 

 in winter in the usual manner. Disbudding must be carefully 

 attended to, and the bearing shoots regularly stopped at one leaf 

 beyond the fruit, and all the lateral shoots subsequently produced 

 must be carefully removed. 



To secure the best results the bunches and berries should be 

 carefully thinned, and in the case of white Grapes, fully exposed 

 during the ripening period to the rays of the sun. If long straggling 

 bunches are produced, it is better to shorten them, as short compact 

 bunches ripen best. 



In regard to the most suitable varieties for cultivation in the open 

 air, the greater portion of the SweetAvater section, with a few of the 

 smaller Muscats, will be found more or less suitable. In France the 

 variety met with is invariably the Chasselas de Fontainebleau, which 

 in this country is known as the Royal Muscadine. As grown in 

 France, with the beautiful cinnamon-russet colour, it is very rich and 



g'.easant. The Royal Muscadine is, at the present time, the leading 

 rape for out-door culture. A much better variety, not yet sufficiently 

 well known, is the Chasselas Vibert, which produces larger berries 

 and ripens about a week earlier than the Royal Muscadine ; Ascot 

 Citronelle and Grove End SweetAvater, Miller's Burgundy, Black July 



