THE HARDY FRUIT GARDEN. 



365 



Dryness and warmth may be said to be the chief 

 factors in the production of out-of-door Grapes, and 

 these may be augmented by artificial means, such as 

 thorough drainage, raised borders, excessive porosity 

 of soil, &c. 



Three Practical Methods of Cultivating 

 the Grape-vine in the Open Air. — The first 

 is on south walls, the second in ground Vineries, and 

 the third on warm borders in the open, trained to 

 stakes like Raspberries, or as ground cordons, 

 within six inches or a foot of the ground. A 

 fourth possible method may also be noted, that is, 

 to grow Vines in pots, or tubs, in the open, for the 

 clothing of walls, the draping of windows or 

 verandahs, and in favourable positions also ripening 

 some eatable Grapes for dessert. The Grape-vine 

 treated thus will be second to no other plant for its 

 beauty of striking leaves and tendrils, while its 

 liowers rival the Jasmine in fragrance, and its 

 fruit excels that of most berry-bearing climbers. 

 So that, should it fail to ripen its fruit, nothing would 

 be lost in growing it in the positions indicated as 

 a fine foliage plant. But the heat and aridity of 

 not a few balconies would be the likeliest means of 

 maturing out-of-door Grapes, especially as these 

 often succeed best in the most unlikely places. 



The Cheeking of Excessive Growth. — 

 This is full half the secret of success in the culture 

 of out-of-door Grapes. The stronger they grow, as a 

 rule, the fewer and the worse the Grapes they ripen. 

 Poor, fleet, dry, warm borders, and a starving regi- 

 men, are among the most potent means of forcing 

 moderate growth. The fat borders of the inside 

 Vinery must be wholly ignored in the Vineyard in 

 the open. As to depth, eighteen inches or two feet, on a 

 porous or impenetrable base, are sufficient. Dryness 

 must be insured either by a porous bottom or an 

 impervious top, or both. The last has not seldom 

 succeeded in growing and ripening good out-of-door 

 Grapes when all other means have failed. The 

 surface has been laid on a sharp pitch, and covered 

 with three inches of impenetrable concrete, that has 

 shed the rainfall right off the border, and the Vine- 

 roots left to get moisture by capillary attraction, or 

 other means. That they obtained sufficient is 

 abundantly proved by the satisfactory produce. To 

 leave the roots to themselves for periods of three, six, 

 ten, or more years, may be defined as the extreme of 

 the dry system for out-of-door Grapes. 



The warmth of out-of-door Vine-borders may be 

 greatly increased by such modes of culture, also by 

 giving the borders a sharp pitch to the south, and 

 especially by shedding off all the rainfall by surface 

 concreting, or coverings of tarpauling, zinc, corrugated 



iron, or wooden shutters, from October to May. Where 

 expensive methods are not adopted, much may be 

 done to shed off the cold rains by laying the border 

 on a sharp angle, and preserving the surface smooth 

 and hard. Three-fourths of the cold autumn, 

 winter, and cold spring rains will thus be pitched 

 off. Coverings of litter in the early autumn, and 

 the making of borders frost-proof until the end of 

 May, also do much to husband the heat of the pre- 

 vious summer, and to start the border abreast of 

 the warmer atmosphere and augmented heat of 

 the succeeding June. 



Summer Stimulation.— Having insisted on 

 the necessity of poverty, fleetness, dryness, and 

 warmth of root-runs, it may be needful at this point 

 to give a caution against carrying any of these 

 qualities too far. As a rule, the Vine will carry its 

 large spread of leaves and branches, and swell and 

 finish its fruit, without any special assistance. But 

 during long spells of drought, and under heavy 

 crops of fruit, it may be needful to turn a river 

 over these fleet, dry, hot Vine-borders for five or 

 ten hours at a stretch, until every root-fibre is 

 fully soaked with water, clean or foul, such as 

 sewage. "With an average amount of rainfall fairly 

 distributed this will not be needed ; but should little 

 fall during June, July, or August, one, or even two 

 such thorough waterings should be given, and a 

 slight surface mulch of dung after the watering 

 might prove useful. But these are exceptional baits, 

 and not to be looked upon as the regular feeding of 

 Vines in the open air. 



Top-treatment.— Some recommend close plant- 

 ing, as is mostly practised in France, where the 

 Vines are treated as a sort of multiple cordons, and 

 planted from eighteen inches to a yard apart. But 

 Vines in our climate fruit more freely, and ripen 

 more perfectly, when their heads are allowed to run 

 over very considerable areas. The top -growths 

 powerfully assist in keeping the root-runs poor, and 

 the two work together to increase the fertility. 



Training. — The most common method of training- 

 is either horizontal or vertical, or a mixture of both. 

 The start is mostly the same in either case. Vines 

 planted in October or November will mostly be cut 

 back to two or more eyes, say in January or 

 February. The two shoots starting from these will 

 be trained one to the right, the other to the left, 

 within a foot, eighteen inches, or two feet of the 

 base of the wall. These will be allowed to run on, 

 till they meet the next Vine, planted say from 

 three to fifteen or more feet from it, When the 

 shoot meets tbe next Vine, or runs a distance of 



