VITIS. 



in rows ten or twelve feel apart, choofing warm dry fandy 

 fuuations : in all the cafes fettling the earth about the 

 roots by proper watering. 



In all the different forts of vines, the fruit is produced 01 

 the young fhoots of the fame year, which arife direftly from 

 the eyes or buds of thole Ihoots which were afforded in the 

 former year. This is a matter of importance, and deferves 

 much attention in the work of pruning. 



Methods of Pruning and Training Fines. — In the manage- 

 ment of the vines, after being thus raifed and trained, as they 

 rarely produce any bearing (lioots from wood that is more 

 than one year old, care lliould be taken to have fuch wood 

 in every part of the trees ; for the fruit is always produced 

 upon the fhoots of the fame year, which come out from buds 

 of the lall year's wood, as has been already feen. The 

 method praftifed by gardeners is to fhorten the branches 

 of the former year's growth down to three or four eyes at 

 the time of pruning ; though fome leave thefe fhoots much 

 longer, and think that by this practice they obtain a greater 

 quantity of fruit : but what is gained in quantity is pro- 

 bably loft in quality ; therefore the beft method is perhaps 

 to fliorten the bearing fhoots to <,bout fo'jr eyes in length, 

 as the lowermoil feldom is good, and three buds are luffi- 

 cient, as each will produce a ihoot, which generally has two 

 or three bunches of grapes ; fo that from each of thofe 

 (Itoots there may be expefted fix or eight bunches, which is 

 a fuflicient quantity. Thele fhoots rauft be laid in about 

 eighteen inches afunder, as where they are clofer, when the 

 fide-fhoots are produced, there will not be room enough to 

 train them againil the wall, which fhould always be provided 

 for ; and as their leaves are very large, the branches (hould 

 be left at a proportionable diftance from each other, that 

 they may not crowd or fhade the fruit too much. 



In the winter pruning of the vines, it is advifed to make 

 the cut juft above the eye, Hoping it backwai-d from it, 

 that if it fhould bleed, the fap may not flow upon the bud ; 

 and where there is an opportunity of cutting down fome 

 young ihcots to two eyes, in order to produce vigorous 

 fhoots for the next year's bearing, it fhould always be done, 

 as in flopping cf thofe fhoots which have fruit upon them 

 as foon as the grapes are formed, which is frequently prac- 

 tifed, it often fpoils the eyes for producing bearing branches 

 the following year. The ufual feafon for this pruning is the 

 end of Oftober. But about the end of April, or the begin- 

 iiing of the following month, when the vines begin to fhoot, 

 they fhould be carefully looked over, rubbing off all fmall 

 buds which may come from the old wood, which only pro- 

 duce weak dangling branches ; as alio when two fhoots are 

 produced from the fame bud, the weakefl of them fhould 

 be difplaced, which will caufe the others to be ftronger ; 

 and the fooner this is done the better. And in the middle 

 of the laft month they fhould be gone over again, rubbing 

 off and difplacing all the dangling fhoots as before, and at 

 the fame time faltening up all the ftrong branches, fo that 

 they may not harg from the wall ; for if their fhoots hang 

 down, their leaves will be turned with their upper furfaces 

 the wrong way, and when the fhoots are afterwards trained 

 upright, ihey will have their under furface upward ; and 

 until the leaves are turned again, and have taken their right 

 polition, the fruit will not thrive ; fo that the not obferving 

 this management will caufe the grapes to be a fortnight or 

 three weeks later before they ripen : befides, by fuffering 

 the fruit to hang from the wall, and be ftiaded with the 

 clofenefs of the branches, it is generally retarded in its 

 growth ; therefore, during the growing feafon you fhould 

 coiiflantly look over the vines, difplaciHg all dangling 



branches and wild wood, and fallen up t!;e other fhoots re- 

 gularly to the wall ; and towards the middle of June . the 

 bearing branches fhould be flopped, which will improve the 

 fruit, in doing which three eyes fhould always be left above 

 the bunches. But though this is praftiled on thofe flvjots 

 which have fruit, it is not to be performed upon tliolir 

 which are ii. tended for bearing the next year, as theie mult 

 not be flopped until the middle of July, as by flopping them 

 too foon, it may caufe the eyes to fhoot out flrong lateral 

 branches, and in that way injore them. In tlie lummer 

 feafon care fhould be taken to rub off all dangling branches, 

 and train up the fhoots regularly to the wall as before, 

 which greatly accelerates the growth of the fruit, and 

 admits the fun and air more freely to them, which is necef- 

 fary to ripen and give the fruit a rich flavour ; but the 

 branches fhould not be too much divefled of their leaves, as 

 is the practice with fnme. 



A late writer, Mr. Forfyth, has, however, attempted an- 

 other mode of pruning and training vines, from trials made 

 on vines planted againfl the piers of a fouth wall, among 

 peaches, neiEtarincs, and plums, &c. in which the fruit was 

 fo fmall and hard as to be unfit for the table. They had 

 been trained upright, which induced fuch a luxuriance of 

 growth, as made the fap to flow into the branches in the 

 place of the fruit. He confequently let, it is remarked, in 

 1789, two ftrong branches grow to their full length without 

 topping them in the fummer, and in the following year trained 

 them in a ferpentine form, leaving about thirty eyes on each 

 fhoot, which produced one hundred and twenty fine bunches 

 of grapes, weighing from one pound to a pound and a quarter 

 each. Every one that faw them faid that the large ones 

 were as fine as forced grapes ; while the fmall ones pro- 

 duced from branches of the fame vine, trained and pruned 

 in the old way, were bad natural grapes, and not above 

 twice the fize of large currants. And in order more fully 

 to prove the fuccefs of the experiment, he next year trained 

 five plants in the fame way, allowing the fhoots intended for 

 bearing wood to run to their full length in fummer, training 

 them wherever there was a vacancy between the old trees ; 

 where there was none, he ran them along the top of the wall, 

 without topping them. In winter he trained them in a 

 ferpentine manner, fo as to fill the wall as regularly as pof- 

 fible ; and they were, it is afTerted, as produftive as thofe 

 in the former year. And after a three years' trial, he 

 thought he was warranted to follow the fame praftice with 

 the whole ; when, in the year 1793, he fent, it is remarked, 

 for the ufe of his majefty and the royal family, three hun- 

 dred and feventy-eight ba/kets of grapes, each weighing 

 about three pounds, without planting a fingle vine more 

 than there were the preceding year, in which he was able to 

 fend only fifty-fix bafkets of the fame weight ; and thofe 

 fo bad and ill-ripened, that he was afhamed of them, as they 

 were not fit to be fent to the table. 



Th?s, he thinks, fufiiciently proves the great advantage 

 that the ferpentine method of training pofTefTes over the 

 common method. He advifes, that the fhoots fhould be 

 brought as near as poffible from the bottom of the vine, that 

 the wall may be well covered. When the walls are high, 

 and the fnoots from the ferpentine branches flrong, they are 

 fometimes let remain ; but if the walls are low, and the 

 ferpentine branches produce weak fhoots, they are cut out 

 in the autumnal pruning, and the flrongeft of the young 

 wood trained up in their room. 



It is noticed, that as the fize and finenefs of the bunches 

 of grapes depend in a great meafure on the bearing wood 

 b?ing flrong and well ripened, great attention fhould be 



paid 



