V I T 



V I T 



trained, as they rarely produce any bearing shoots 

 from wood that is more than one year old, care 

 should be taken to have such wood in every jaarl 

 of thetrees ; forthefruit is always produced upon 

 the shoots ofthe same year, which comeoutfrom 

 buds of the last year's wood. Tlie method 

 practised by gardeners is to shorten the branches 

 of the former year's growth, down to three or 

 four eyes, at the time of pruning; though some 

 leave these shoots much longer, and think that 

 by this practice they obtain a greater quantity of 

 fruit : but what is gained in quantity is probably 

 lost in quality ; therefore the best method is 

 perhaps to shorten the bearing shoots to about 

 four eyes in length, as the lowermost seldom is 

 good, and three buds are sufficient, as each 

 will produce a shoot, which generally has 

 two or three bunches of grapes : so that from 

 each of those shoots there may be expected six 

 or eight bunches, which is a sufficient quantity. 

 These shoots must be laid in about eighteen 

 inches asunder; as where they are closer, when 

 the side shoots are produced, there will not be 

 room enough to train them against the wall, 

 which should always be provided for ; and as 

 their leaves are very large, the branches should 

 be left at a proportionable distance from each 

 other, that they may not crowd or shade the 

 fruit too much. 



In the winter pruning of the vines, it is ad- 

 vised to make the cut just above the eye, sloping 

 it backward from it, that, if it should bleed, the 

 sap may not flow upon the bud ; and where 

 there is an opportunity of cutting down some 

 young shoots to two eyes, in order to produce 

 vigorous shoots for the next year's bearing, it 

 should always be done, as in stopping of those 

 shoots which have fruit upon them as soon as 

 the grapes are formed, which is frequently prac- 

 tised, it often spoils the eyes for producing 

 bearinc; branches the following year. The usual 

 season" for this pruning is the end of October. 



About the end of April, or the beginning of 

 the following month, when the vines begin to 

 shoot, they should be carefully looked over, 

 rubbing off all small buds which may come from 

 the old wood, which only produce weak dan- 

 glinc; branches ; as also when two shoots are pro- 

 duced from the same bud, the weakest of them 

 should be displaced, which will cause the others 

 to be stronger; and the sooner this is done the 

 better. And in the middle of the last month 

 they should be gone over again, rubbing off and 

 displacing all the danglmg shoots as before, and 

 at the same time fastenmg up all the strong 

 branches, so that they may not hang from the 

 w all ; for, if their shoots hang down, their leaves 

 will be turned with their upper surfaces the 



Vol.11. 



wrong way, and when the shoots are after- 

 v.'ards tramed upright, they will have their un- 

 der surface upward ; and until the leaves are. 

 turned again, and have taken their right posi- 

 tion, the fruit will not thrive ; so that the not 

 observing this management will cause the 

 grapes to be a fortnight or three weeks later be- 

 fore they ripen : besides, by suffering the fruit 

 to hang from the wall, and be shaded with the 

 closenessof the branches, it is greatly retarded in 

 its growth ; therefore during the growing season 

 you should constantly look over the vines, dis- 

 placing all dangling branches and wild wood, 

 and fasten up the other shoots regularly to the 

 wall ; and towards the middle of June the bear- 

 ing branches should be stopped, which will im- 

 prove the fruit, in doing which three eyes should 

 always be left above the bunches. But though 

 this is practised on those shoots which have fruit, 

 it is not to be performed upon those which are 

 intended for bearing the next year, as these 

 must not be stopped until the middle of Julv, as 

 by stopping them loo soon it may cause the 

 eyes to shoot out strong lateral branches, and in 

 that way injure them. In the summer season 

 care should be taken to rnb off all dangling 

 branches, and train up the shoots regularly to 

 the wall as before, which greatly accelerates the 

 growth of the fruit, and admits the sun and air 

 more freely to them, which is necessary to ripen 

 and give the fruit a rich flavour ; but the 

 branches should not be too much divested of 

 their leaves, as is the practice with some. 



Mr. Forsyth has, however, attempted another 

 mode of pruning and training vines, froin trials 

 made on vines planted against the piers of a 

 south wall, among peaches, nectarines, and 

 plums. Sec, in which the fruit was so small 

 and hard as to be unfit for the tabic. They had 

 been trained upright, which induced such a 

 luxuriance of growth asniade the sap toflowinto 

 the branches in the place of the fruit. " He let," 

 he says, "in 1789, two strong branches ijrow 

 to their full length without toppiny; them in the 

 summer, and in the following year trained them 

 in a serpenlme form, leavmg about thirty eyes 

 on each shoot, which produced one hundred 

 and twenty fine bunches of grapes, weighino; 

 from one pounil to a pound and a quarter each. 

 Every one that saw them said that the large ones 

 were as fine as forced grapes ; while the small 

 ones produced from branclies of the same vine, 

 trained and pruned in the old way, were bad 

 natural grapes, and not above twice the size of 

 large currants. And in order more iuily to 

 prove the success of the experiment, he next 

 year trained live plants in the same way, allow- 

 msr the shoots intended for bearing w.joJ to imi 

 3 U 



