210 



FRUITS. 



[chap. 



butts. Cut the four shoots that have borne, so as to leave but 

 one hud at the butt. And they will then be sendmg out wood, 

 while the other four will be sending out fruit. And thus you 

 go on year after year, for your life ; for, as to the vine, it will, 

 if well treated, outlive you and your children to the third, and 

 even the thirtieth, generation. The vine at Hampton Court is 

 now (1833) betw^een sixty and seventy years old. During 

 the summer there are two things to be observed, as to pruning. 

 Each of the last years shoots has thirty-two buds, and of course 

 it sends out thirty-two shoots with the grapes on them, for the 

 grapes come out of the two first fair buds of these shoots. So 

 that here would be an enormous quantity of w ood, if it were all 

 left till the end of summer. But, this must not be. When the 

 grapes get as big as peas, cut off the green shoots that bear them, 

 at tivo buds' distance from the fruit. This is necessary in order to 

 clear the vine from confusion of branches, and also to keep the 

 sap back for the supply of the fruit. These new shoots, that have 

 the bunches on, must be kept tied to the trellis, or else the wind 

 would tear them off. The other thing is to take care to keep 

 nicely tied to the bars the shoots that are to send forth bearers the 

 next year ; and, if you observe any little side-shoots coming out 

 of them, to crop these off as soon as they appear, leaving nothing 

 but the clear, clean shoot. It may be remarked that the butt, 

 as at b, when it is cut off the next time, will be longer by a bud. 

 That will be so ; but, by the third year, the vine will be so strong 

 that you may safely cut the shoots back to within six inches of 

 the main trunk, leaving the new shoots to come out of it where 

 they will ; taking care to let but one grow for the summer. If 

 shoots start out of the main trunk irregularly, rub them off as soon 

 as they appear, and never suffer your vine to have any more than 

 its regular number of shoots. Thus far with regard to the train- 

 ing and pruning of vines in espalier. I have now to speak of 

 training against a wall ; training under glass in a green-house ; 

 and training against a house. If against a wall, you proceed to 

 raise the young vine in precisely the same manner as before 

 directed ; but, in place of carrying the trunk upright, in order 

 to have bearing shoots come out of the side of it, as in plate 8, 

 you cut it down to within two eyes of the bottom. Suppose you 

 have got the vine, fig. 2, plate 8. Instead of bringing out from 

 it four shoots of a side, bring out only the two bottom ones, cut- 



