VARIOUS WAYS OF PLANTING VINES. 29 



of the rafters, a distance of 21 feet. If, instead of per- 

 manent vigour and productiveness, an immediate return 

 were the object aimed at, I have no hesitation in saying 

 that such a vine would yield 50 Ib. of grapes this 

 autumn. 



In planting vines some are great advocates for laying 

 a considerable length of the stem in the soil ; I am not. 

 I thing it an evil, and that the vigour and extent of 

 roots that a vine will make, depends, not on the length 

 of stem laid in the soil, but on the extent of healthy 

 foliage it can get fairly exposed to light and air. I 

 have planted others in the following way : I cut back 

 the plants to within one inch of the surface of the soil 

 in the pot, allowed them to break and grow a yard of 

 young wood, and then planted them so as to lay an 

 inch of the young wood in the soil, when a tuft of roots 

 starts from the junction of the old and new growths ; 

 but when there is any danger of fungi being in the soil, 

 this plan should not be adopted. In the case of plant- 

 ing young vines struck from eyes the same year, the 

 roots can sometimes be disentangled and laid out suffi- 

 ciently, without reducing the ball entirely ; and when 

 this can be done, it is best to let it be so, as, by that 

 means, less of a check is given to the plant. In 1858 

 I planted a vinery on the 15th of May. This house is 

 110 feet long. I prepared 75 vines for it in the follow- 

 ing manner : I had as many pieces of thin turf cut as 

 there were vines. The turf was in pieces 2 feet long 

 and 18 inches broad. I laid five or six pieces of hazel 

 rods longitudinally under each turf, and across their 

 ends I tied another piece with bits of wire, thus forming 

 sort of turf-trays. On these I laid 2 inches of soil ; and 



