i\EW ENGL<ANI> FARMER. 



Published by John B. Russeil, at Ao. 52 JVortli Miu-ket Street, (over the JIgrieiiltmal ll'aichousc). — Thomas G. Pessbndf.n Editor. 



VOL. VI. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1827. 



No. 10. 



HORTICULTURE 



THE VINE. 

 Mr. rKs.sicMM-.N — As there seems to be a very 

 general attention paid of late to the ciillurc of 

 (irapes, I tliought it might not be unacceptable to 

 the public to sec an account of the management 

 of grapes in France. I tlierefore send you a 

 translation from a book kindly lent to mo by a 

 friend, of the p'esent most approved method of 

 training and pruning grapes in France. The 

 work from whicli the extracts are taken is highly 

 respectable. It is called the " Bon Jardinier," (a 

 Good Gardener,) a new and much improved edi- 

 tion, compiled and written by Mons. A. Porteau, 

 ancient chief gardener of the Royal nurseries of 

 Versailles — King's botanist and director of the 

 culture in the Royal country seats of Guyanne — 

 member of thi; Agricultural Societies of the Seine 



1 qualities, and keep them constantly separ.ilc and 



j pure from inferior sorts. 



The walls against which they train their grapes 

 or trellisses are about eight feet high, and are cov- 

 ered with .•> top which projects about nine inches. 

 This protects tiic vino against frosts, against the 

 violence of rain, and also prevents the upper shoot 

 from pushing too vigorously. These walls are 

 furnished with trellisses, the upright standards of 

 vvliich are two feet apart, and the slats or iiori 

 z.oiitul pieces or rails, are nine inches apart; the 

 lower one six inches only from the ground. 



The grape border along this wall is dug and 

 manured to the width of five feet, at least, and to 

 the depth of 15 or 18 inches. If the soil is wet, 

 they slope the border so as to throw off the water 

 from the wall. When the border is prepared, they 

 open a trench at four feet distance from the wall 

 and parallel to it, two feet wide and nine inches 

 deep. They have ready prepared a quantity of 



and Oise, and of the Linntean Society of Paris 



author of the Natural History of Orange trees ; | layers or cuttings, sutiicient for the wall. After 



and also by Mons. Vilmain, (well known hero by j trimming tliem of tendrils and every thing useless 



the trees sent outforsale,) seedsman to the King — j or hurtful, they lay them across the trench at the j second cuttin 



;nember of the Royal Society of Agriculture, an 

 of the Horticultural Society of London, &c. &.C. 



This work was published in 1826, and may be 

 considered the most authoritative work on French 

 Horticulture, extant. A CULTIVATOR. 



lioxhuri', August 27, 1827. 



VLNE. 



The remarks wc are about to uiake, apply to 

 those species or vaaeties whose fruit is sought 

 for the table, and not to those which are cultiva- 

 ted for v/inc. 



A light and deep soil is the best adapted to 

 produce excellent grapes. In poorer soils the vine 

 ian^uishos— in soils more consistent (more stiff,) its 

 productions will be too gross, too watery, and its 

 fruit will have fev;er good qualities. In the cli- 

 mate of Paris (whose summers, though longer, 

 agree very well with those of New-England,) the 

 vine requires a hot or warm exposure, in order to 

 ripen the grapes perfectly, and it \s seldom, excepl 

 under the protection of a wall with a soutli or east- 

 ern aspect, that it finds the heat necessary to its 

 perfection. 



Of all the mo'les adopted of training, or of prun- 

 ing the vine, we shall only speak of one, that 

 practised at Thomery, a village near Fontainbleau, 

 because it appears to us preferable to all others, 

 both for its simplicity and its results. 



As to its results, all the world knows them. It 

 is well known that llie most beautiful and llie best 

 grapes eaten in Paris come from Thomery, (about 

 28 miles distant,) under the name of the Chasselas 

 of Fontainbleau. It has been supposed, that the 

 excellence of these grapes is owing to the nature 

 jf the soil and the favorable exposure of Thomery. 

 By no means. Thomery has not a happy expo- 

 sure, and its soil is clayey, cold, and almost in- 

 credibly hard to cultivate. We must admit then, 

 'hat it is to their treatment of their grapes alone 

 that thoir e.Ncellence and superiority is owin. 

 Before we say any thing of their method, we would 

 remark that they are very cautious in selectin 

 their varieties— they take only those of the best 



feet from the ground cannot be formed as soon as 

 the first — the third will be still more late, and so 

 on. Whatever be the height to which you pro- 

 pose to carry your stalk or stem, you ought not to 

 advance it more than 12 or 15 inches each year, 

 and preserve its lateral buds to increase its growth 

 and furnish fruit. But as soon as the stem hag 

 reached the requisite lieight it is absolutely neces- 

 sary to siippre.ss and cut off all lateral buds on the 

 main stem throughout. Lot us now suppose all the 

 stems arrived at the required or proposed height,and 

 that their two last or upper branches are extend- 

 ed to the right and left to form the two arms of 

 the bearing brandies (cordons,) we will now shew 

 liow these two arms or branches are to be cut till 



they have gained the length of four feet each 



The first year you will cut so as to have three 

 good eyes or buds from 4 to G inches apart. Two 

 of these eyes will be cut so as to form bearing 

 wood, and the third will he employed to lengtheL 

 the brunch. Caro must be taken to train vertical- 

 ly the shoots destined to bear the fruit. At the 

 the bearing shoots thus trained 



upper end which was towards the wall nearly to a 

 perpendicular---then fill the trench two thirdsfuU, 

 and spread the residue of the earth over the bor- 

 der. They then put into the trench three inches 

 of manure, which keeps the plants fresh and moist, 

 i-nd prevents the ground from getting dry and 

 hard. 



In March, they cut in the plants to two eyes 

 above ground ; they weed, dress and water the 

 border during the first season, if it be needful, 

 for the young planted grape requires a gentle de- 

 gree of moisture. They tie the young shoots of 

 the year to some supporters, and do every thing 

 to favor its growth. The second year, if any of 

 the plants have more than one branch, they pre- 

 serve but one. They bury the new wood as the 

 first year, and so on till they reach the wall. At 

 every time they lay the shoot they cut in till they 

 reach strong ripe? wood well furnished witli good 

 eyes (or buds)— -it will generally take three years 

 before it reaches the wall, but, in the mean time, 

 they gather some fine bunches while the grape is 

 reaching the wall. 



We now come to the formation of the bearing 

 branches [cordons.] If the wall is eight feet hish 

 you would make five such branches [on each side,] 

 the first six inches from the ground, and the four 

 other, eighteen inches apart upon the horizontal 

 rails of the trellis or espalier, arranged previously 

 .■=0 as to effect this object. The stalk destined to 

 the lowest bearing branch will be cut off just at 

 the height of the branch, if it has at that place a 

 double eye or two eyes. If it has not, you must 

 cut it above the eye which is next above the low- 

 est rail of the trellis. These two eyes are des- 

 tined to furnish the two lowest branches (to right 

 and left) on the lowest rail. The one that is too 

 high must be bent down gently, and that which is 

 too low, trained up and fastened to the trellis so 

 that both shall be in the same horizontal line. 



The second [cordon] bearing branch being at 2 



bottom with the top towards the v/atl, and at the i vertically must be cut leaving two eyes or bude- 

 dijtance of twenty inches, one from the other, and j and the terminal branch in like manner must be 

 cover them with four or five inches of soil, and j so trimmed as that there will be three eyes, two 

 tread them down; at tlie same time raising the : of which will be reserved for bearers, "and the 



third to prolong the siioot as in the former year, 

 and so proceed till each lateral branch shall have 

 reached the length of four feet. Each branch 

 ought then to liave eight bearing eyes or shoots, 

 all if possible on the upper side. When all the 

 five plants shnll have reached their height and 

 length, you ivill liave oif a surface of eight I'eet 

 square, (or 04 square feet,) eighty bearing branch- 

 es (coursons) of two eyes each, which will each 

 produce two branches, bearing two bunches each, 

 or 320 bunches on eight feet square of surface. 



The eyes at the bottom of the shoots of the 

 grape are very close together and extremely small, 

 There are no less than six in the space of two 

 lino.>, or the fifth of one inch. When you cut the 

 bearing branch long, say one or two inches, these 

 little eyes become extinct and do not push — but 

 if you cut close to them they grow and give 

 very beautiful bunches. Able gardeners are well 

 aware of this, they cut within one line (or one 

 tenth of an inch) or even less. It is for this rea- 

 son that these branches never become long undev 

 their management. 



Those who are ignorant of the nature of the 

 vino cannot conceive how a bearing branch shall 

 have given fruit for twenty years, and not be at 

 the end of the time one inch long. If there be 

 more than two buds start from the same brancli 

 (or courson) it is absolutely necessaryto suppress 

 or pinch the surplus off even if they have fiye 

 bunches. 



The writers further caution cultivators to treat 

 the young shoots very tenderly in training them, 

 because they easily break off when they are 

 young. You ought not to force them into a verti- 

 cal position till the berry of the grape is large — 

 till then, all you need do is to take off all shoots 

 which have no grapes, to break off tendrils, and 

 to pinch off the extremities of the bearing shoots. 

 When the grape has nearly attained its size it ie 

 beneficial to water the fruit from a water |(0t in 



