GRAPE-VINE PRUNING AND TRAINING. 329 



succession, and admit a uniformity of treatment in each 

 houso. Where there is not a suite of vineries, but only 

 one large house, the late varieties should be placed near 

 the entrance of the flues, where the temperature is higher. 

 Pruning and Training. — Very numerous have been the 

 directions given in reference to these particulars; but we 

 cannot here go into such details, nor is it necessary. The 

 great object is the reproduction of bearing, that is, annual 

 wood, over the whole surface of the house. When this is 

 accomplished, the next matter to be determined is the num- 

 ber of eyes or buds to be left on each shoot, that is, 

 whether we shall adopt the short or the long system of 

 pruning. The former is most allied to the practice of 

 foreign vineyards, and has been most successfully employed 

 in this country. According to this method, all the lateral 

 shoots are cut down to single eyes, as des-cribed in Loncl. 

 Hortic. Trans., iv., 104. For a particular description of 

 the long system, we may refer to the same volume, p. 246, 

 or to Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Gardening, second 

 edition, p. 548. To these references, we shall only add a 

 few general remarks. (1.) It ought to be the great aim of- 

 the British gardener to make his vines grow as luxuriantly 

 as possible ; for the good quality of the grapes, when pro- 

 perly ripened, is generally commensurate with the strength 

 of the shoots and size of the berries. The borders should 

 therefore be made rich ; but they ought to be rather wide 

 than deep, deep planting being adverse to the ripening of 

 the fruit. (2.) In order to secure a proper degree of vigor, 

 vines should be limited in extent and pruned during winter, 

 rather severely than otherwise. To enable us to eircum- 

 scribe the plants, it would be well to introduce as many 

 separate plants into the vinery as can be done without con- 

 fusion. For an illustration of this principle, we may refer 



