FRUIT-GARDENING. 97 



bunch of the same sorts may weigh from two to six pounds ; 

 but bunches have been grown of the ^ Syrian Grape, in Syria, 

 weighing forty pounds, and in England weighing from ten to 

 nineteen pounds. A single vine, in a large pot, or grown as a 

 dwarf standard, in the manner practised in the vineyards in 

 the North of France, ordinarily produces from three to nine 

 bunches ; but by superior management in gardens in England, 

 the number of bunches is prodigiously increased; and one 

 plant, that of the red Hamburgh sort, in the vinery of the 

 royal gardens at Hampton Court, has produced two thousand 

 two hundred bunches, averaging one pound each, or in all 

 nearly a ton. That at Valentine, in Essex, has produced two 

 thousand bunches of nearly the same average weight. 



THE AGE OF GRAPE-VINES. 



The age to which the vine will attain in warm climates is so 

 great as not to be known. It is supposed to be equal or even 

 to surpass that of the oak. Pliny speaks of a vine which had 

 existed six hundred years ; and Bose says there are vines in 

 Burgundy upwards of four hundred years of age. In Italy 

 there are vineyards which have been in a flourishing state for 

 upwards of three centuries ; and Miller tells us that a vineyard 

 a hundred years old is reckoned young. The extent of the 

 branches of the vine, in certain situations and circumstances, 

 is commensurate with its produce and soil. In the hedges of 

 Italy and woods of America they are found overtopping the 

 highest elm and poplar trees ; and in England, one plant 

 trained against a row of houses in Northallerton, covered a 

 space, in 1585, of one hundred and thirty-seven square yards. 

 It was then above one hundred years old. That at Hampton 

 Court, nearly of the same age, occupies above one hundred 

 and sixty square yards ; and that at Valentine, in Essex, above 

 one hundred and forty-seven square yards. The size to which 

 the trunk, or stem, sometimes attains in warm climates, is so 

 great as to have afforded planks fifteen inches broad, furniture 

 and statues ; and the Northallerton vine, above mentioned, in 



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