ROOTS OF GRAPE VINES. 153 



effects of manure are intended to apply exclusively to 

 vines cultivated under glass, and not to those trained 

 on the open wall. These latter frequently suffer from 

 adverse contingencies of the season, and are thereby 

 exposed to many drawbacks on their growth ; manure, 

 therefore, of a dry and moderate nature, and of perma- 

 nent duration, such as bones, may be beneficially 

 applied to the soil in which their roots are growing. 

 But the case is very different with vines, the branches 

 of which are trained under glass. The foliage of 

 these never experiences the adverse effects of strong 

 or parching winds, or storms of hail, or long con- 

 tinued drought. The shoots and leaves are so com- 

 pletely under command, that the cultivator can make 

 the vines do almost what he pleases. He can at any 

 time create a temperature that is warm and moist; 

 and this is so congenial to the growing shoots and 

 leaves of vines, that in an atmosphere of this descrip- 

 tion they will almost get their own living without 

 troubling the roots for any nourishment at all. It is 

 a mistaken notion, therefore, to suppose that because 

 a vine is forced^ that is, made to produce its fruit at a 

 contrary period of the year than under natural circum- 

 stances it otherwise would do, it therefore requires a 

 highly manured border for the roots to grow in. 

 Quite the contrary is the case, and yet how universal- 

 ly is this notion acted upon ! 



The effect of forcing vines under glass is to cause 

 great rapidity of growth in the shoots, and tliis is 

 unfavorable to the formation of good fruit buds. 

 Slowness of growth is the first step towards the pro- 

 duction of good bearing- wood ; and this point should 

 be aimed at by exposing the shoots during their 

 growth to the greatest possible amount of light and 

 heat. These all-powerful agents will check the too 

 rapid growth of the shoots, and thereby produce 

 short-jointed wood ; and this description of wood, in 

 whatever part of the world it may be produced, is 

 always prolific. 



Some few years since, the author received a bundle 



