614 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



produced fruit or not, whetHer it has teen 

 reduced to the condition of a short spur by 

 pinching bacls during summer, or is a shoot of 

 greater length. Hitherto it has been considered 

 expedient, and as suitable to our climate, to en- 

 courage the growth of young wood only to a 

 limited extent, because the smaller the volume 

 the more likely is it to become matured. The 

 older or leading branches, however, have been 

 and are carried to a considerable length, some 

 holding an opinion that the fruit produced 

 farthest from the root is the best. This, we 

 may, however, remark, is different from the 

 views introduced by the managers of the vine- 

 yards on the Rhine, and indeed in all cold vine- 

 growing countries, who train their vines much 

 as we do our red and white currants. In accord- 

 ance with the former of these views, vines are 

 often trained as in the annexed figs., 252, 2S3, 



Fig. 252. 



VINE-TRAINING. 



254, which undoubtedly answers the end in 

 view. Others again plant their vines at consi- 

 derable distances apart, and, training the main 



VINE-TRAINING. 



single stem upright to the height of the wall, 

 conduct a main leading shoot along under the 

 coping to the right hand and to the left, and 



Fig. 254. 



VINE-TRAINING. 



these they carry to a very great distance, and, by 

 inverting the bearing shoots, fill up the spaces 

 on the wall not as yet covered with other fruit 

 trees. As the vine may be carried to 100 feet 

 or more in each of these directions, various sorts 



might be grafted on them to afford variety, 

 while the root of the main stem would not 

 interfere with the roots of the other trees, as 

 one plant would be sufficient for a long wall. 



The vine is also trained on the open wall 

 in the vertical manner, the most opposite in 

 principle from that to which we have alluded. 

 It is thus managed : The plants are set at 

 from 3 to 5 feet apart, their shoots consist- 

 ing of three series; viz., the oldest, which has 

 also attained the greatest length, or reached 

 nearly to the top of the wall, will produce its 

 fruit upon the upper third of its length. At 

 the winter-pruning this shoot is cut out close 

 to the ground, to make way for another young 

 shoot, which will rise from an eye in the shoot 

 adjoining. The next oldest branch bears fruit 

 on the second or middle third of its length, and 

 in course of the following season gains the top 

 of the wall, and is cut out in its turn. The next 

 or lowest branch produces its fruit on the lower 

 third of the wall, each of these succeeding one 

 another in regular succession. This mode is 

 often met with in English gardens. 



Mr Saunders, of Tedworth Park, has shown, 

 in his " Treatise on the Culture of the Vine," p. 

 23, a much more systematic method of training 

 on the open wall. He plants his vines 2 feet 

 apart, either in autumn, or, if the border is not 

 prepared, not later than the month of March, so 

 as to enable them to strike young fibres before, 

 the buds begin to swell. At pruning leave only 

 two buds at a foot and a half from the ground ; 

 those under them should be cut off with a sharp 

 knife after they are grown to the length of a foot 

 or so. Select the strongest and remove the 

 others. When the shoot has reached to the top 

 of the wall or building pinch it off, and follow 

 the directions given for vines planted in vineries. 

 It will, however, require some degree of care 

 and attention in keeping the lateral shoots 

 removed so as to admit the sun and air to the 

 wood, in order to get it well ripened before the 

 cold weather sets in, as much of the success 



Fig. 255. 



SAUNDERS' VINE-TRAINING. 



depends on the wood and eyes being well 

 matured. When this end is fully accomplished. 



