GRAPE VINES ON OPEN WALLS. 23 



that of a garden wall. And this seems to be done un- 

 der the idea, that the more wood there is in a vine the 

 more grapes it will produce, or that the one will be in 

 proportion to the other. It happens, however, that the 

 fact is precisely the reverse. If a vine be suffered to 

 make a large quantity of wood, it will bear but little 

 fruit ; if it- produce good crops of fruit, it will make but 

 little wood ; the one checks the other-. To permit a 

 vine, therefore, to make a great quantity of wood, 

 under the idea of getting thereby a great quantity of 

 grapes, is completely grasping at the substance, and 

 catching the shadow. 



Another reason why the method of cultivating the 

 vine on open walls has remained stationary, may be 

 found in the fact, that in the gardens of the rich, 

 where professed gardeners are kept, grapes on vines 

 of this description are but seldom grown to any extent, 

 a sufficient quantity for the table being brought to 

 perfection under glass. Hence, one of the prin- 

 cipal sources from which improved modes of culture 

 are, in general, derived, is thus closed, and the routine 

 of management of this most valuable fruit thereby 

 consigned to the chances of empirical practice. 



The grand parent error which prevails universally 

 in the cultivation of the vine on open walls, lies in the 

 method of pruning usually adopted, and this is, un- 

 doubtedly, the consequence of the nature of the plant 

 and its peculiar characteristics being, in general, but 

 little understood. The immense quantity of wood 

 which a vine annually produces, and the force with 

 which its sap flows, causing its most vigorous shoots 

 to be formed at the extremities, render it necessary, in 

 order to keep the plant in a good bearing condition, 

 and its branches within a reasonable distance of its 

 stem, that the pruning knife should be used to a far 

 greater extent than is ever practised on any other des. 



