ON THE 



CULTIVATION OF THE GRAPE VINE 



ON OPEN WALLS. 



CHAPTER L 



NTRODUCTION 



The Grape Vine, Vitis Vinifera. Class and order, Pentandria 

 MoNOGYNiA of Linnaeus. 



"The grape vine is a trailing, deciduous, hardy- 

 shrub, with a twisted, irregular stem, and long flexi- 

 ble branches, decumbent, like those of the bramble, 

 or supporting themselves, when near other trees, by- 

 means of tendrils, like the pea. The leaves are large, 

 lobed, entire, or serrated and downy, or smooth ; 

 green in summer, but when mature, those of varieties 

 in which the predominating color is red, constantly 

 change to, or are tinged with some shade of that 

 color; and those of white, green, or yellow grapes, 

 as constantly change to a yellow, and are never in 

 the least tinged either with purple, red, or scarlet. 

 The breadth of the leaves varies from five to seven 

 or ten inches, and the length of the footstalks from 

 four to eight inches. The flowers are produced on 

 the shoots of the same year, which shoots generally 

 proceed from those of the year preceding; they are 

 in the form of a raceme, of a greenish-white color, 

 and fragrant odor, appearing in the open air in this 

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