18 INTRODUCTION. 



repeated here with success. From vine leaves, water, 

 and sugar, wines have been thus produced, in no 

 respect differing from the produce of the immature 

 fruit, and consequently resembhng wines of foreign 

 growth." 



Here, then, is a most important advantage resulting 

 from the culture of the vine, and one, indeed, that is 

 little inferior to that which is derived from the pro- 

 duction of the ripened fruit itself And in order that 

 it may be properly estimated, it must be borne in 

 mind, that throughout the growing season, the super- 

 abundant foliage of a vine, which consists chiefly of 

 the extremities of the shoots, and the tendrils, is so 

 great, as to require to be plucked off once in every 

 seven days, if not oftener. It is further stated in 

 the above-mentioned work, that from forty to fifty 

 pounds' weight of leaves, &c. will produce about ten 

 gallons of wine. 



Now, every hundred square feet of the surface of a 

 wall when covered with the foliage of vines in vigor- 

 ous growth, will yield on an average, every week 

 from the middle of May to the first of August, two 

 pounds' weight of excess of fohage. Allowing, 

 therefore, the surface of the walls of a common-sized 

 cottage to contain five hundred square feet, on which 

 vines could be trained, it appears, that during the 

 eleven weeks above mentioned, they would yield a 

 suflacient quantity of foliage to produce upwards of 

 twenty gallons of wine, which could be made for the 

 mere cost of the sugar ! 



Again, there would be a considerable quantity of 

 foliage to spare, during the remaining months of 

 August and September, to which must be added the 

 excess in- the number of bunches of green fruit, 

 which require cutting off after the berries are set, in 

 order to avoid overcropping the vines, and which 

 sometimes amount to a great number ; and also the 

 berries that are cut out in the thinning of the 

 bunches, the weight of which is always considerable; 



