764 



V IT 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



VIT 



this length will not be too much. In most places where 

 these hot-walls have been built, they are commonly planted 

 with early kinds of Grapes, in order to have them early in 

 the season ; but this is hardly worth the trouble, for it is but 

 of little consequence to have a few Grapes earlier by a month 

 or six weeks, than those against common walls; therefore 

 whenever a person is willing to be at the expense of these 

 walls, they should be planted with some of the best kinds of 

 Grapes, which rarely come to any perfection in this country 

 without the assistance of some artificial heat, of which the 

 following sorts are the most valuable: The Red Muscat of 

 Alexandria, the White Muscat of Alexandria, the Red Fron- 

 tinac, the White Frontinac, the Black Frontinac. When the 

 Vines which are planted against the hot-walls are grown to 

 full bearing, they must be pruned and managed after the 

 same manner as hath been directed for those against common 

 walls, with this difference only, viz. that those seasons when 

 they are not forced, the Vines should be carefully managed 

 in the summer for a supply of good wood, against the time 

 of their being forced, so that it will be the better method to 

 divest the Vines of their fruit, in order to encourage the wood ; 

 for as few of the sorts will ripen without heat, it is not worth 

 while to leave them an the Vines during the season of resting, 

 except it be the Common Frontinacs, which in a good season 

 will ripen without artificial heat, but even on these many 

 Grapes should not be left during the years of their resting; 

 because as the design of this is to encourage and strengthen 

 them, therefore all possible care should be had that the young 

 wood is not robbed by overbearing ; for those years when the 

 Vines are forced, the joints of the young wood are generally 

 drawn farther asunder than they ordinarily grow in the open 

 air; so that when they are forced two or three years succes- 

 sively, the Vines are so much exhausted, as not to be recovered 

 into a good bearing state for some years, especially if they 

 are forced early in the season ; or, where great care is not 

 taken in the summer to let them have a proper share of free 

 air, to prevent their being drawn too much, and also to ripen 

 their shoots. Those years when the Vines are forced, the 

 only care should be to encourage the fruit, without having 

 much regard to the wood, so that every shoot should be 

 pruned for fruit, and none of them shortened for a supply of 

 young wood, because they have been so managed by pruning 

 in thu years of their resting, as to replenish the Vines with 

 new wood. Those Vines which are designed for forcing in 

 the spring, should be pruned early the autumn before, that 

 the buds which are left on the shoots may receive all possible 

 nourishment from the root, and at the same time the shoots 

 should be fastened to the trellis in the order they are to lie; 

 but the glasses should not be placed before the Vines till 

 about the middle or end of January, at which time also the 

 fires must be lighted, for if they are forced too early in the 

 year, they will begin to shoot before the weather will be 

 warm enough to admit air to the Vines, which will cause 

 the young shoots to draw out weak, and thereby their joints 

 will be too far asunder, consequently there will be fewer 

 Grapes on them, and those bunches which are produced will 

 be smaller than when they have a sufficient quantity of air 

 admitted to them every day. If the fires are made at the 

 time before directed, the Vines will begin to shoot the middle 

 or latter end of February, which will be six weeks earlier 

 than they usually come out against the common walls, so 

 that by the time the other Vines are shooting, these will be 

 in flower, which will be early enough to ripen any of these 

 sorts of Grapes perfectly well. The fires should not be 

 made very strong in these walls, for if the air is, heated to 

 about ten degrees .above the temperate point on the botanical 



thermometers, it will be sufficiently warm to force out the 

 shoots leisurely, which is much better than to force them 

 violently. These fires should not be continued all the day- 

 time, unless the weather should prove very cold, and the 

 sun does not shine to warm the air, at which times it will be 

 proper to have small fires continued all the day; for where 

 the walls are rightly contrived, a moderate fire made every 

 evening, and continued till ten or eleven of the clock at night, 

 will heat the wall, and warm the enclosed air to a proper 

 temperature ; and as these fires need not be continued longer 

 than about the end of April, (unless the spring should prove 

 very cold,) the expense of fuel will not be very great, because 

 they may be contrived to burn coal, wood, turf, or almost 

 any other sort of fuel ; though where coal is to be had 

 reasonable, it makes the evenest and best fires, and will not 

 require so much attendance. When the Vines begin to 

 shoot, they must be frequently looked over to fasten the 

 new shoots to the trellis, and rub off all dangling shoots ; 

 in doing of which great care must be taken, for the shoots 

 of these forced Vines are very tender, and very subject to 

 break when any violence is offered. The shoots should also 

 be trained very regular, so as to lie as near as possible to 

 the espalier, and at equal distances, that they may equally 

 enjoy the benefit of the air and sun, which is absolutely 

 necessary for the improvement of the fruit. When the 

 Grapes are formed, the shoots should be stopped at the 

 second joint beyond the fruit, that the nourishment may not 

 be drawn away from the fruit in useless shoots, which must 

 be avoided as much as possible in these forced Vines ; upon 

 which no useless wood should be left, which will shade the 

 fruit, and exclude the air from it by their leaves. As the 

 season advances and the weather becomes warm, there 

 should be a proportionable share of free air admitted to the 

 Vines every day, which is absolutely necessary to promote 

 the growth of the fruit; but the glasses should be shut close 

 every night, unless in very hot weather, otherwise the cold 

 dews in the night will retard it. The bunches of the White 

 Frontinac should also be carefully looked over, and the small 

 Grapes cut out with very narrow-pointed scissars, in order 

 to thin them, for these berries grow so close together on the 

 bunches, that the moisture is detained between them, which 

 often occasions their rotting ; and the air being excluded 

 from the middle of the bunches, the Grapes never ripen 

 equally, which by this method may be remedied, if done in 

 time ; and as these Grapes are protected by the glasses from 

 the blights which frequently take those which are exposed, 

 there will be no hazard in thinning these Grapes soon after 

 they are set, at which time it will be much easier to perform 

 this operation, than when the Grapes are grown larger, and 

 consequently will be closer together ; bnt in doing this the 

 bunches must not be roughly handled, for if the Grapes are 

 the least bruised, or the bloom which there naturally is upon 

 them, be rubbed ofF, their skins will harden, and turn of 

 a brown colour, so that the fruit will never thrive after; 

 therefore the scissars which are used for this purpose should 

 have very narrow points, that they may be more easily put 

 between the Grapes without injuring the remaining ones. 

 The other sorts of Grapes which I have recommended for 

 these hot-walls, not producing their fruit so close together 

 on the branches, they will not require this operation, unless 

 by any accident they should receive a blight, which often 

 occasions a great inequality in the size of the Grapes; 

 which, whenever it thus happens, will require to be reme- 

 died by cutting off the small Grapes, that the bunches 

 may ripen equally, and appear more sightly. By the 

 middle of June these Grapes wilj be almost full grown, 





