THE GBAPE. 113 



enough while it does last. This, however, may be over- 

 come by due attention to other circumstances which can 

 be made to exert a counterbalancing influence, for " one 

 of the principal causes of grapes not ripening well on 

 open walls in this country," says the eminent grape- 

 grower, Clement Hoare, " is the great depth of mould in 

 which the roots of vines are suffered to run; which, 

 enticing them to penetrate in search of food below the 

 influence of the sun's rays, supplies them with too great a 

 quantity of moisture; vegetation is thereby carried on till 

 late in the summer, in consequence of which the ripening 

 process does not commence till the declination of the sun 

 becomes too rapid to afford a sufficiency of heat to perfect 

 the fruits." The simple remedy is a supply of loosely 

 laid dry materials, such as broken bricks, bones, &c., to 

 the soil, by means of which the roots are also enabled to 

 obtain air, which is as requisite to them as earth. The 

 importance of this subject in an economical point of view 

 may be judged by the declaration of Mr. Hoare, that "it 

 is not too much to assert that the surface of the walls of 

 every cottage of a medium size, which is applicable to the 

 training of vines, is capable of producing annually as many 

 grapes as would be worth half the amount of its rental." 

 Thus the English vine might become as serviceable to the 

 cottager as the Irish pig, while it would certainly be a 

 more agreeable adjunct to a dwelling. 



A system, too, has been lately introduced by the French, 

 which holds out a fresh hope of our ultimately attaining 

 general success in open air grape culture, it being strongly 

 recommended as a very effectual means of hastening the 

 ripening process, " especially in cold and damp climates." 

 This method, termed "ringing," first practised by a gen- 

 tleman residing near Bambouillet, on a cold damp soil, 

 consists in removing from every branch of the vine, just 

 below the first bunch of grapes, a ring of bark from -^ to 

 j% of an inch wide (the latter width is usually found most 

 successful), and is performed soon after the flowering of 

 the vine, when the fruit is just forming. -"When a com- 

 mittee of the Paris Horticultural Society visited, in 1858, 

 the scene of M. B.'s operations, to test the effects of his 



8 



