GRAPE VINES ON OPEN WALLS. 21 



CHAPTER II. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRESENT METHOD OF CULTIVA- 

 TING GRAPE VINES ON OPEN WALLS. 



THERE is, I believe, no branch of practical horticul- 

 ture, which the possessors of gardens are so deficient 

 in the knowledge of, as in that which embraces the 

 culture of the grape vine ; and, yet, singular as it may 

 appear, there is no fruit tree of any description that 

 grows in this country, that can be depended upon with 

 such certainty for a full crop, or that will yield so am- 

 pie a return, as a vine judiciously cultivated on an 

 open wall. 



Let any person, in the month of September, make a 

 tour of inspection through the southern counties of 

 England, in which nearly every cottage may be seen 

 with a grape vine trained on its walls. Let him stop 

 at intervals in his journey, and select any number of 

 vines for examination, and carefully estimate the 

 weight of fruit growing on each, and the extent of 

 walling occupied in producing that fruit ; and having 

 calculated the average weight grown on every square 

 foot of walling, let him then be told, which he may be 

 with truth, that at least Jive times the quantity of 

 grapes of superior flavour might be annually produced 

 on the same extent of surface. Let him also select 

 any given district, and estimate the number of super- 

 ficial feet of walling which the buildings in that dis- 

 trict contain, and on which nothing whatever is grown, 



