Chap. XXII.] CULTURE OF THE VINE AT TIIOMERY. 385 



quently trained as a horizontal cordon line over line ; but to 

 execute this form well requires time and skill, which only culti- 

 vators who devote themselves specially to it can afibrd, and it 

 may he safely said that letting the Vines run straight up the 

 walls and with their spurs at each side is better than any less- 

 simple mode. The really-important points to bear in mind are — 

 first, the warmer the exposure is, the better for the Grape ; 

 second, that the walls are white, or nearly so, as the Vines get 

 more heat on such walls than they do on dark ones, and are 

 maintained in better health ; third, that wide and efficient 

 copings are used to 

 }iormit the fruit to 

 thoroughly ripen in 

 autumn, and pre- 

 vent its being 

 spoiled by heavy 

 rains ; and that the 

 liigher walls are 

 found to possess an 

 advantage over the 

 lower ones. The 

 plants are fre- 

 quently raised in 

 rough baskets for 

 convenience of re- 

 moval and sale. 

 Several of the ap- 

 pliances here in use 

 are sensible ones, 

 which might be found useful in other ways than that of Vine- 

 culture. For instance, the movable scaffold to facilitate the 

 labours of the women who attend to the walls in summer, the 

 shade to shield them from the sun, and the frame for conveying 

 a number of small baskets laden with Grapes from the walls to 

 the Grape-room. 



Grafting is frequently performed, and chiefly to replace a bad 

 by a good variety, or to hasten the fructification of a new one. 

 The plant is cut down to within nine or ten inches of the soil, 

 and with the gouge an incision is made on the smoothest side, a 



Moval'le Scaffold used Jor thinning the Grapes. 



