50 THE DISEASES VINES ARE SUBJECT TO. 



docile plant ; and if its foliage is kept free from the 

 attacks of insects, if over-cropping is avoided, and the 

 wood well ripened, if the border is made of mode- 

 rately good materials, and the drainage sufficient, the 

 vine will continue in health and vigour for fifty years 

 under any of those systems of pruning and training 

 that are practised by gardeners of intelligence, whether 

 that be the "restrictive" and close-pruning system, or 

 the "extension" and long-spur system. 



I therefore close this chapter as I began it, by say- 

 ing that there is much truth on both sides of this 

 question. 



Where it is necessary to have circumscribed borders, 

 as is generally the case, I would plant a vine to every 

 6 -feet run of a vinery, and grow two rods from each 

 plant. This would give such vigour to the roots as 

 would react on the branches in such a way as to 

 yield both good bunches and berries, while at the 

 same time a border 20 or 30 feet wide would afford 

 them sustenance for many years. 



Where there is ample scope for the roots to run 

 unchecked and uninjured for 150 or 200 feet, then by 

 all means adopt the one-vine or "extension" system, 

 inarching or grafting on to this patriarch all the 

 varieties required. 



THE DISEASES VINES ARE SUBJECT TO. 



In the front rank of these stands the disease known to 

 gardeners as " shanking." This great enemy to grape- 

 growing makes its appearance just as the grapes are 

 changing from their acid to their saccharine state, and 



