16 INTRODUCTION. 



little value in an agricultural point of view, but on 

 which vines would flourish, and produce abundant 

 crops of grapes, and yield thereby a most profitable 

 return. 



Vines are now cultivated in England only against 

 walls, upon the roofs of buildings, and under glass. 

 The expense attending the growing of grapes under 

 glass is such, however, as obviously to place that 

 method out of the reach of the mass of the people ; 

 and vineyard culture, now that it has fallen into disuse, 

 is, perhaps, considered so much in the light of a com- 

 mercial speculation, that those who possess the means 

 of practising it are deterred from employing them, 

 from an apprehension that the risk and uncertainty 

 attending it would prove more than sufficient to coun- 

 terbalance its advantages. But the cultivation of vines 

 on open walls being free from these and all other ob- 

 jections, presents an advantageous method of producing 

 grapes, which may be embraced by every person who 

 has at his command a few square feet of the surface 

 of a wall. This mode of culture, indeed, offers to the 

 possessors of houses, buildings, and walled gardens, 

 and even to the most humble cottager, ample means 

 of procuring with the greatest certainty an abundant 

 supply of this most valuable fruit. It is not too much 

 to assert, that the surface of the walls of every cot- 

 tage of a medium size, that is applicable to the training 

 of vines, is capable of producing, annually, as many 

 grapes as would be worth half the amount of its rental. 

 Every square foot of the surface of a wall may, in a 

 short space of time, he covered with bearing wood, 

 sufficient to produce on an average a pound weight of 

 grapes, and I have frequently grown double that quan- 

 tity on a similar extent of surface. 



From this it will be seen how valuable the surfaces 

 of walls are, and what advantages are lost by those 



