22 PRESENT METHOD OF CULTIVATING 



or at least nothing of any value, and which might, at 

 a trifling cost of time and trouble, be annually cover- 

 ed with fine crops of grapes; and he will find to his 

 astonishment, that for every square foot on which 

 vines are trained, there are at least twenty square feet 

 that are either entirely vacant, or occupied in a useless 

 manner. If he then sum up his calculations, the 

 result will show, that for every pound of grapes that is 

 now grown, not less than a hundred pounds might be 

 annually produced on the existing sarface of walling 

 without the addition of a single square foot ! Nor let 

 it be supposed that this estimate is made hypothetically ; 

 on the contrary, it is the result of actual inspection 

 and careful observation, and is considerably with- 

 in the mark as to the quantity of grapes that might 

 be annually grown. Every moderate-sized dwell- 

 ing-house, having a garden and a little walling at- 

 tached to it, may, with ease, be made to produce, 

 yearly, a quarter of a ton weight of grapes, leaving a 

 sufficient portion of its surface for the production of 

 other fruit. 



It is difficult to account for the indifference which 

 has hitherto been manifested towards the propagation 

 of the vine, or to assign sufficient reasons why a fruit 

 so universally esteemed as the grape, should have re- 

 mained stationary in respect to any improvement in its 

 mode of culture. 



I suspect, however, that the force of custom and 

 example will be found amongst the chief operating 

 causes. Scarcely any person, when planting vines 

 against his premises, ever thinks of setting apart for 

 any one to be trained on, a less space of walling than 

 a hundred and fifty, or two hundred square feet, see- 

 ing that the universal practice is to suffer a single vine 

 to cover as quickly as possible the entire surface of 

 one side of a house or building, or a large portion of 



