16 INTRODUCTION. 



against walls, upon the roofs of buildings, and under 

 glass. The expense attending the growing of grapes 

 under glass, is such, however, as obviously to place 

 that method out of the reach of the mass of the 

 people ; and vineyard culture, now that it has fallen 

 into disuse, is, perhaps, considered so much in the 

 light of a commercial speculation, that those who 

 possess the means of practising it, are deterred from 

 employing them, from an apprehension that the risk 

 and uncertainty attending it, would prove more than 

 sufficient to counterbalance its advantages. But the 

 cultivation of vines on open walls being free from 

 these and all other objections, presents an advan- 

 tageous method of producing grapes, which may be 

 embraced by every person who has at his command a 

 few square feet of the surface of a wall. This mode 

 of culture, indeed, offers to the possessors of houses, 

 buildings, and walled gardens, and even to the most 

 humble cottager, ample means of procuring, with the 

 greatest certainty, an abundant supply of this most 

 valuable fruit. It is not too much to assert, that the 

 surface of the walls of every cottage of a medium 

 size, that is applicable to the training of vines, is 

 capable of producing, annually, as many grapes as 

 Avould be worth half the amount of its rental. Every 

 square foot of the surface of a wall, may, in a short 

 space of time, be covered with bearing wood, suffi- 

 cient to produce on an average a, pound weight of 

 grapes, and I have frequently grown double that 

 quantity on a similar extent of surface. 



From this it will be seen how valuable the surfaces 

 of walls are, and what advantages are lost by those 

 who suffer any portion of them to remain vacant. 

 Nor must it be supposed, that a single vine requires 

 for its training a large portion of walling. That it 

 does, I am aware, is a very common notion, but it is 

 a very erroneous one, and one that has, no doubt, 

 arisen from the universally defective method of 

 pruning and managing that plant ; whereby the wood 



