1847.] The Grape. 11 



subject to disease or the attacks of destructive insects. Besides, 

 it may rapidly be extended, or the crop almost indefinitely in- 

 creased by increased care in its culture. No fruit then can 

 scarcely be said to compete successfully with it; whether we take 

 the ease with which it may be raised, the amount of crop which 

 may be secured, and the value of it; whether it is to be consumed 

 at home for the increase of our own enjoyment, or to be sent to 

 market for the profit which it will there bring us. 



All countries have their native grapes; and hence it is quite 

 difficult to trace the history of the vine, and of its culture, to a 

 satisfactory origin. 



In Britain it is supposed to have been introduced as early as 

 the commencement of the Christian era. In the earliest times it 

 was highly esteemed, and the sacred books abound in allusions to 

 its fertility and value; and hence it has become the emblem of 

 prosperity in all countries. 



Climate limits the culture of the grape. The latitude of 50 or 

 54 north, in Europe, may be considered as the boundary, beyond 

 which, in the open air, it will probably repay for its culture. 

 Under glass, many varieties may be cultivated in the northern 

 sections, or colder regions of the earth, which would necessarily 

 fail in the open air upon walls. But culture under glass is too 

 expensive for the world at large; it is only the out door culture 

 which repays fully the husbandman for his labor. 



There is still another inducement to the culture of the vine. It 

 is this; that almost any space which is adjacent to a wall is a fit 

 one for the occupation of the plant, and will most surely succeed. 

 Hence, in towns, where walls for training exist to an unlimited 

 extent, in connection with yards of greater or less extent, its cul- 

 ture becomes an object of the highest interest. Indeed, it is only 

 in the very densest part of a city, where smoke and other obstruc- 

 tions occur, that it is at all likely to fail. 



The circumstances which favor the production of fruit, both in 

 the vine and in all other productions of this class, is the due pro- 

 duction of wood and fruit; that is, if the vine is suffered to pro- 

 duce by unskilful management a large quantity of wood, it by no 

 means follows that a large quantity of fruit will be formed and 

 ripened; and hence the practice of suffering the vine to spread 

 itself over a large surface of wall is detrimental to the object of 

 culture. The tendency of the vine to spread itself and to form 

 wood to a great extent arises from the constant growth of the 

 vine from its extremities; and the consequence is, that the fruit 

 •is carried a long distance from the root. This rapid extension of 

 vine has to be counteracted by proper pruning; inasmuch as the 

 amount of wood produced in almost all cases is sufficient to de- 

 velop more fruit than it is possible for it to mature. 



