VIT 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



VIT 



769. 



pruned, leaving one or two eyes on each, according to the 

 strength of the shoot. In the first year, especially if the 

 summer be dry, and they have not been duly watered, they 

 will make but little progress : but in the second year it will 

 be plainly discerned which is the strongest plant, and that 

 only should be left to fill up the vacant space on the wall. 

 The rest should be taken up and planted in other situations 

 where they are wanted. Make choice of the cuttings after a 

 dry warm season ; each should have two inches of the old 

 wood, with one eye of the new. When the Vines are pruned, 

 there will be great choice : select such as are of a middling 

 size, and have the wood round and perfectly ripened. Cut 

 the bottom part perfectly smooth; and if any of the old dead 

 snags remain, cut them off close to the quick wood, and cut 

 the top sloping towards the back of the hot-house or frame. 

 Put only one cutting in each pot, which should be a deep 

 forty-eight, filled with rich light mould well prepared. The 

 plants will thus grow much stronger and quicker than when 

 many are crowded together, and the sun and air will have a 

 freer admission to ripen the wood. When the plants begin 

 to get strong, and the pots full of roots, shift them into 

 larger pots (thirty-twos.) This mode is best adapted to 

 private gardens. But they who raise plants for sale, and 

 cannot conveniently spare so much room, may plant three or 

 more cuttings in each pot. A method frequently practised 

 by nurserymen and gardeners, who wish to have their plants 

 fit for sale the same year, is to set them in pots in the hot- 

 house, among the tan, on the flues, or round the curbs of 

 the pit. They may be raised in this manner, either singly 

 in small pots, or several together in larger ones, transplant- 

 ing them singly when they have taken root. In this case 

 it will be necessary to have a hot-bed ready to plunge the 

 pots in as soon as they are transplanted. Thus their growth 

 will be forwarded very much, and before autumn they will 

 be fit for sale. 



On the Pruning and Training of Vines, In the management 

 of the Vines after being thus raised and trained, as they 

 rarely produce fruit from wood that is more than a year old, 

 care should be taken to have such wood in every part of the 

 tree : and as the size and fineness of the bunches depend in 

 a great measure on the bearing-wood being strong and well 

 ripened, where the Vines produce small bunches, they should 

 be cut down to two or three eyes, in order to have strong 

 wood for the next year. If there be much old naked wood 

 on the Vines, with some small weak shoots at the extremities, 

 cut them down as near the ground as possible: you will 

 then have no fruit for that year. Or, you may cut every 

 other shoot; leaving the old ones to produce some small 

 Grapes. The next year, there will be plenty of fine wood, 

 provided the strongest shoots have been nailed in, and all 

 the side-shoots pinched off, or cut out with a sharp penknife 

 close; to the bud or eye: but never twist them, for by twist- 

 ing you hurt the bud that is to produce fruit next year; 

 always observing to cut as near to a bud as possible, and 

 taking care to lay in the wood very thin in summer, that the 

 sun and air may be freely admitted to ripen it well. Keep 

 the shoots nailed to the wall, to prevent their being broken 

 by high winds; and pick off all the side-shoots every time 

 they are nailed, which ought to be done several times during 

 the summer months, according to the quickness of their 

 growth. In fine weather they will require to be looked over 

 once every fortnight or three weeks. Never suffer the Vines 

 to run together in a cluster, and mat; for that will infallibly 

 ruin them for bearing the succeeding year. It is advised 

 that the Vines be trained in a serpentine manner; and the 

 shoots of such should be topped as soon as the Grapes 



come to the size of small peas, at a joint or two above the 

 fruit ; but never top the leading shoot, nor that which you 

 intend should bear fruit next year. In the second year 

 never prune till the beginning of February, except in very 

 forward seasons, owing to a fine autumn and mild winter, 

 after the wood has been well ripened in the preceding sum- 

 mer; in which case the Vines will be more forward in the 

 middle of January, than in backward seasons at the end of 

 March. It is common to begin pruning soon after the fall 

 of the leaf; but if a frost sets in before the wood is hard, 

 it will be very much injured. When the leaves begin to 

 fall, take a soft broom, and sweep them off upwards gently ; 

 which will assist in hardening the wood. In February, always 

 make choice of the strongest and longest shoots, leaving 

 them as long as the eyes are good and plump, and the wood 

 round ; but by no means leave them when they become flat, 

 for such seldom bear fruit, or if they do, it will be very 

 small. Never lay in any that lias less than from fifteen to 

 thirty good eyes, according to the strength of the shoot ; 

 which will produce two bunches from every good eye. The 

 shoots that have borne fruit in the preceding year should be 

 cut out the next year, except when you want to fill the wall, 

 and the shoots are very strong. Never leave any but fine 

 strong wood, always cutting at the second, third, or fourth 

 eye ; rubbing the lowest bud off, and that which comes out 

 at the joint between the new and last year's wood. By these 

 means you will get as much fruit from these short shoots as 

 you would have by the common way of pruning-. Observe 

 to leave two or three of the strongest shoots for next year's 

 bearing wood, and never to top them. If there is not room 

 to train them, you may lead them over the tops of the other 

 trees, if the Vines are planted against piers; or you may run 

 them behind the standards, and thus cover the whole of the 

 wall. You may also run the shoots at the bottom of the wall 

 behind the dwarf trees ; or you may tack them down over 

 the top of the wall, on the other side where the walls are 

 low; you may train them over the tops of trees on each side; 

 which never does any harm to the trees below, provided 

 they are kept nailed to the wall ; they may even be planted 

 on north and east aspects, and trained over the tops of the 

 south and west walls to fill the upper parts, till the Peaches 

 and nectarines cover them, when a part of the Vines must 

 be cut away. The usual season for pruning is the end of 

 October, but about the beginning of April, when the Vines 

 begin to shoot, they should be carefully looked over, rub- 

 bing off all small buds from the old wood, which only pro- 

 duce weak dangling branches : this may be repeated in the 

 following month. 



On Watering Vines. The Vine requires a warm dry soil in 

 England, yet in a hot dry summer it should have a plenti- 

 ful supply of water, especially in the hot-house. In hot 

 countries the Vine is said to grow most luxuriant near water, 

 and the allusions to this circumstance in Scripture are very 

 frequent. In Madeira, we are told, they do not attempt to 

 plant Vineyards, except where there is a command of water: 

 and in Spain a copious vintage depends upon abundant rains. 

 With respect to Vines on walls in the open air, after the 

 Grapes are set and begin to swell, they may be watered three 

 times a week, if the weather be hot and dry, with the Barrow 

 Engine; sprinkling them all over the leaves and fruit, press- 

 ing your forefinger over the top of the pipe, to thiow the 

 water as tine as small rain. This will keep the Vines clear 

 from dust and insects, and promote the swelling of the fruit; 

 but it must never be done when the nights are cold and 

 frosty. The best time for the operation is about four o'clock, 

 in a south aspect; for the sun will then be going off the wall, 



