120 The Cultivation of the Grape Vine. 



stop tliem, then the whole growth would be 2100 feet, to be 

 cut off eventually, and lost! As my vines are managed, the 

 whole amount of the annual pruning could be put into a bit 

 of stove pipe twenty inches long and five inches diameter, 

 and shut up out of sight ! 



I can hardly assent to the proposition '•' to let them grow 

 till September." Mr. Gore must have trained his vine very 

 different from mine, (horizontally, perhaps,) or he could not 

 have room for this great growth, and still ripen his fruit. 

 All his suggestions, though, are very valuable, and I rejoice 

 indeed that at length I am not alone in systematic experiment 

 with this excellent fruit. 



All the other points of Mr. Gore's culture I have ever 

 recommended and followed, except these two; the "weed- 

 ing" is first rate, and I will do so this year; the '-summer 

 pruning" I fear to adopt, for reasons above given. The 

 " spur pruning " system I have always followed; also "pro- 

 tecting the vine in the winter with a light covering of 

 boughs;" also my vines are "kept down on the ground," 

 and not put up on the trellis till May 25th. I "water and 

 syringe " my vines frequently, and " mulch " a// the season 

 through, with old spent tan, some four inches thick. (See 

 Mag. Hort., Vols. XVI, p. 548, and XVII, p. 118.) 



I regret that Mr. Gore gave no account of the weight or 

 measure of his crop, or the number of the bunches. Per- 

 haps in a future number of your Magazine I shall have the 

 pleasure to see a statement of his crop and all the items. 

 These statements do great good. The experience of a 

 sensible man is worth an ocean of "theory," where thou- 

 sands get swamped before one is ready to graduate. I send 

 you a sketch of my large vine, on its trellis, ready to grow 

 in 1853. It always looks smart and tidy. [This will appear 

 in our next No.] 



MEMORANDA. OLD VINE. 



1845. — Vine planted Nov. 10th; two years old at the time. 



1846. — Vine browsed by a calf in summer ; a few strag- 

 gling bunches hid themselves and rij[)ened first rate ; fruit 

 and bunches small. 



