250 THE FRUIT GARDEN 



After more than twenty years' experience I am of opinion that on suitable 

 sites in the south of England and in South Wales, furnished with proper appli- 

 ances for making the wine, and with every convenience to lessen labour, vine 

 culture could, taking one season with another, be made a paying industry, and 

 give eniployment to many. It is evident from the foregoing remarks that any 

 one contemplating hardy vine culture with a view to making wine must invest 

 a considerable sum of money in providing suitable plant, buildings for its 

 manufacture, and cellar accommodation for storage before there are any returns. 

 For these reasons, and the uncertainty of our climate, vine growing in the open 

 is a more expensive and risky undertaking than any other phase of hardy fruit 

 culture, and to be remunerative, must only be attempted in the southern 

 counties of England and South Wales. So far as I know the only establishment 

 where it is carried on as a business concern is in the Marquess of Bute's vine- 

 yards. To emphasise the fact that the experimental stage of hardy vine culture 

 in this country has long since been past, it may be as well now to give a short 

 history of the vineyards in question. 



The first portion of the vineyard at Castell Coch, Glamorgan, was planted 

 in the spring of 1875 on the French system, as practised in the neighbourhood 

 of Paris, in Burgundy, and the champagne country, with the variety Gamay 

 Noir, a hardy grape which is grown extensively in the colder wine-producing 

 districts of France. This variety has a strong constitution, fruits freely, and in 

 good seasons its fruit, which makes very good wine, ripens well. The ground 

 was thoroughly trenched, and the vines planted in rows from north to south 

 3 feet apart, 3 feet apart in the rows, and trained to stakes 4 feet high, as 

 raspberry plants are trained. As the canes grow they are securely tied to the 

 stakes, and their points pinched off when they have reached to within a few 

 inches of the top. All the lateral shoots, as soon as they appear, are stopped at 

 the first joint ; the stopping of sub-laterals is continued throughout the growing 

 season, and the tendrils are pinched off from the time the vines begin to grow. 

 This and hoeing, and keeping the ground clean, form the principal work in the 

 vineyard during the summer months. But stopping the lateral shoots gives 

 more work than all the other operations in the vineyard. In England the rainfall 

 is much greater than it is in France, and the vines in consequence grow more 

 strongly, and make more sub-lateral growth than they do in the French vine- 

 yards. Frenchmen visiting the vineyard at Castell Coch were struck with the 

 healthy appearance of the vines, and the vigorous growth they made, which, 

 they said, was stronger than that made in France. 



The vines are pruned as soon as the leaves fall in the autumn, and the canes 

 cut close down, leaving from two to three buds of the current year's growth. 

 This hard pruning is to keep the stools of the vines dwarf and close to the 

 ground, so that the grapes may get as much of the earth's radiated heat as 

 possible. When the pruning is finished, and all the useless shoots cleared away, 

 the stakes are thoroughly examined, and all bad and doubtful ones replaced. 

 The surface of the ground between the rows is then slightly forked and top- 

 dressed with short manure. Manuring is done once in three years according to 

 circumstances, but the vineyard gets a slight dressing of soot every spring before 



