THE ROOTS OF GRAPE VINES. 173 



duced in this country by an established vine would be 

 about 25 feet in length, and the buds would be, on an 

 average, distant from each other betwixt 4 and 5 

 inches. The shoots produced in these different coun- 

 tries, therefore, would each contain pretty nearly the 

 same number of buds ; and the question immediately 

 arises, what was the cause of the great disproportion 

 that existed in the length of these shoots 1 Simply, no 

 other than the greater intensity of the light and heat 

 which the Spanish shoots enjoyed over the English 

 shoot. Nature was as long manufacturing 1 of an 

 inch of wood in Spain as she was 4 inches in this 

 country ; but then, in the former instance, the bright 

 light of the sun, and the intensity of his rays, would 

 not let the shoot go ahead. Their united influence 

 caused it. to linger in its growth, and its watery sap, 

 therefore, was turned into a jelly-like substance almost 

 as fast as it was produced, and then fine fruit buds was 

 the natural consequence. And these shoots may be 

 considered as types of all others produced within the 

 vinous latitude. 



Thus it will be seen that a certain amount of direct 

 solar light and heat will cause slowness of growth in 

 the shoots of a vine, and the consequent production of 

 fine fruit buds ; any point of culture, therefore, that 

 may he followed for the purpose of causing a vine to 

 grow fast, and to compel its shoots to elongate at a 

 railroad pace, is a step taken in the wrong direction, 

 and calculated to produce an opposite effect to that 

 which is intended, and such is the case with rich and 

 highly manured borders, which incite the roots to an 

 unnatural growth, and cause the shoots to elongate at 

 too rapid a rate, thereby producing long-jointed ple- 

 thoric wood, and such a mass of rampant foliage as 

 can with great difficulty be kept within its allotted 

 bounds. All such borders are at the same time much 



