8 



A TREATISE ON THE 



that can be practised, for even a bed of flowers would be suffi- 

 cient to exclude from the roots below the action of the air and 

 sun, which are necessary to their well-doing. 



When the leaves have acquired the faded appearance of a 

 forest-tree in November, and the wood is perfectly hard and ripe, 

 then, and not till then, is the proper time to give them rest by 

 exposure. At this time the vines should be pruned, and, in doing 

 so, it is the practice of many persons to cut the young rods down 

 to within a bud or two of the original stem, thus deferring the 

 time of bearing for another year, with a view of invigorating and 

 establishing the vines ; but I am perfectly convinced, and pre- 

 pared to say from experience, that, provided the foregoing in- 

 structions for the treatment of them up to this period have been 

 fully and carefully observed, they will be in a fit state to carry 

 out a good crop the next season. My own system of pruning is 

 as follows : — Shorten the young rods two feet from the top down- 

 wards. By doing this, the vines, in the next forcing, will have 

 room to shoot forth and bear their fruit without coming in con- 

 tact with the top or back of the^ house. The side lateral shoots 

 should be also cut o£P to within half an inch of the bud from 

 the base of which they proceed. When this is done, the next 

 thing will be to arrange them for their season of rest, or win- 

 tering ; a period of six weeks, at least, should be allowed for the 

 purpose, and as much longer as possible. 



And now I hope to be able to prove the second advantage 

 given by the double walls. The only thing required is to slide 

 out the upright sashes from the outer wall, which must be 

 done from the end of the house, then disengage the vines from 

 the wires to which they have been trained, and dispose of 

 them by securing them to the pillars, or any other convenient 

 plan which may suggest itself. This can be readily done without 

 the vines undergoing that twisting and distortion so hable to 

 bruise and injure them when taking them out of houses, as they 

 are usually built. In the present case all that difficulty is re- 

 moved, without any danger of checking a free circulation of the 



