102 



PRACTICi:: OF GAIiDEI^aKG, 



8. — G^-ape yines. 



In the climate of London, or anywhere south or not 

 much north of it, grape vines may supply an agreeable 

 luxury or a profitable crop, where they can be trained on 

 the wall of a dwelling or other erection, and have an aspect 

 between south-east and south-west. Although a little 

 uncertain in their ripening, on account of the variations 

 in our climate, they will seldom fail if properly treated, 

 and the hardiest sorts chosen. 



The black cluster and the white sweet-water are the only 

 two kinds that can thoroughly be depended on ; the black 

 Hamburgh, though a finer and better variety, ripening its 

 crops comparatively seldom. 



Grape vines should be planted on a raised border that 

 has been well drained, and is, in fact, coated with brick or 

 stone rubbish, or rough gravel, at the bottom. It should 

 not be more than two feet or two feet six inches deep ; as 

 grapes ripen much better when the vines are grown on a 

 rather shallow border. The soil should be composed of 

 good turfy loam, rotten dung, and chalk if it can be had, 

 in the proportions of one-half loam, two-sixths manure, 

 and one-sixth chalk, which should be well mixed, and laid 

 with a slope outwards from the wall. The vines may be 

 planted in November. If, by chance, a path runs along 

 the front of a house, and traverses the vine border, it 

 should be paved, and used as little as possible for 

 a few years, as much direct trampling would spoil the 

 border. 



Grape vines should be planted young, — when not more 

 than two or three years old, — in the month of I'^ovember. 

 They may be trained horizontally from a single upright 

 stem, or two branches may be trained horizontally, in 

 opposite directions, towards the bottom of the wall, to the 

 IcDgth of two or three yards each, and then turned up the 

 wall, filling in the middle space with lateral shoots from 

 these, trained upright. The pruning of the grape vine 

 should be partly performed during the growing season, 

 when it will require stopping and training, at least twice 

 in the summer ; but principally in November, when it 



