PREFACE. 



THERE is not, that I am aware of, any work extant in the 

 English language that exclusively treats of the Vine, except the 

 Treatise on the Culture of the Vine, written by Speechly in the 

 year 1789. That work, however, though undoubtedly a valuable 

 one, and showing on the part of the author a thorough practical 

 knowledge of the nature of the Vine, in reference to its culture 

 under glass, is yet not sufficiently full nor explicit, with regard to 

 the management of that plant when cultivated on open walls. 

 Hence^the principal reason of the appearance of this volume. 



In compiling it, I have endeavored, in as plain and as concise 

 a manner as the nature of the subject would admit, to embody 

 all the necessary points of culture, with the principles on which 

 they are founded ; and also to arrange them in such a manner as 

 to make their practical application a matter of easy attainment. 

 I have, also, excluded every thing of a technical nature, and have, 

 in many instances, not scrupled to use a phraseology different 

 from that usually employed by writers on horticulture. In adopt- 

 ing this course, my object has been to render the work more 

 generally useful, and especially so to the more humble part of the 

 rural population, by enabling them to avail themselves, without 

 difficulty, of the directions contained in it, and thereby the more 

 readily to induce them to turn their attention to the cultivation of 

 a plant, which is capable of adding to their comforts, and in- 

 creasing their enjoyments, in a much greater degree than has been 

 hitherto supposed. 



The details of many operations relative to the culture of the 

 Vine that have been heretofore inserted in works on gardening, 

 have been excluded in the present work, for the simple, and, I 

 trust, satisfactory reason, that the operations themselves, when 

 submitted to the test of experience, have been found, either of un- 

 certain issue, or of very questionable utility. 



It remains only to observe, that although the routine of man- 

 agement recommended in the following pages, is the result of 

 many years' diligent investigation, and of patient observation, 

 and rests, therefore, on the firm basis of actual experience, I have 

 no reason to expect, nor do I desire, indeed, that this treatise 

 should be considered as worthy of the patronage of the public, 

 otherwise than in proportion to the value and usefulness of the 

 improvements it is designed to introduce, in the culture of that 

 most grateful of all fruit trees, THE GRAPE VINE. 



CLEMENT HOARE. 



