of the Vine on open Walls, 675 



of any vine, its capability will be equal to the maturation of 

 10 lb. of grapes for every remaining inch of girt; thus, for a 

 vine 3 in. in circumference allow 5 lb., for one of 5 in. 25 lb., 

 and one of 10 in. 75 lb. (p. S'i.), and so on. No vine is allowed 

 to bear before the stem is 3 in. in girt. (p. 35.) We entirely 

 coincide with Mr. Hoare as to the impropriety of allowing young 

 vines to bear prematurely, as we know of instances in which it 

 has been attended with the worst consequences. In pruning, as 

 many buds are left as are supposed necessary for the production 

 of the requisite quantity of fruit, reckoning each bud as equal 

 to the production of half a pound's weight of fruit (p. 38.), the 

 two lowest buds on each shoot not being included ; and this 

 plan generally leaves a sufficiency for meeting all contingencies, 

 and for admitting of the thinning of the bunches, if there should 

 be too many, in summer. 



The chapters on pruning and training will be read with much 

 interest. Mr. Hoare, after giving a description of the ascent of 

 the sap, and of its final elaboration in the leaves, shows that the 

 less quantity of old wood there is betwixt the leaves and the 

 root, the greater will be the circumference of the stem, and, conse- 

 quently, the greater its capability of maturing fruit. He contends 

 that in spur pruning, from the great quantity of elaborated sap 

 which is necessary to form the new concentric layer upon the 

 old stems, comparatively little can be left to enter the roots, 

 and that, in fact, " naked branches are consumers, not producers, 

 or, in other words, drones in the hive." He particularly objects 

 to the system of spur pruning upon open walls, as the buds left 

 by it, viz. those at the base of the shoot to the extent of two 

 or three, are never sufficiently matured, the best buds being 

 those which are produced from the beginning of May to the 

 middle of July ; and also from the great trouble necessary to 

 manage the buds, and the many cuts that are required in prun- 

 ing the vine, &c. He gives a decided preference to the long rod 

 system, "which recommends itself by its simplicity; by the old 

 wood of the vine being annually got rid of; by the small number 

 of wounds inflicted ; by the handsome appearance of the vine ; 

 and by the great ease with which it is managed." He allows 

 that the spur system may be successfully adopted under glass ; 

 because, the sap being more highly elaborated, fruit will be pro- 

 duced from the buds seated at the base of the shoots. Little as 

 we know of the cultivation of the vine upon the open wall, we 

 should be inclined to adopt Mr. Hoare's opinion, for this simple 

 reason ; that, in the open air, the same genial warmth which 

 causes the expanding of the buds likewise sets the sap in motion 

 at the roots ; and that, therefore, there is no occasion for an old 

 stem, which, however, we conceive to be of much importance in 

 a forcing-house, by acting as a reservoir to the expanding shoots, 



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