ON THE VINERY. 



119 



a manner as to leave a space of twelve or fourteen 

 inches between plant and plant. See plate iii. fig. 2. 



As the temporary plants are intended only to pro- 

 duce fruit for a certain period, namely, till the princi- 

 pals get sufficiently large to occupy the whole of the 

 wall, they must be pruned for fruit accordingly* 

 A strong shoot may be pruned to from fifteen to 

 twenty eyes for bearing ; between every two 

 bearers, a shoot should be pruned down to two, 

 three, or four eyes, in order to keep up a succes- 

 sion of bottom wood, till the principals furnish 

 a full supply all along the bottom of the wall. 



If all the Vines at the rafters have grown equally 

 strong, it will be proper to prune every other plant 

 down to three or four eyes, and the rest to from 

 twenty to twenty-five eyes each, the latter ope- 

 ration being intended to produce fruit, and the 

 former to make bearing wood against another 

 year. 



By the end of the second year after planting, 

 the Vines will have extended their rooots to almost 

 every part of the border : and as at this tender age 

 the roots are very liable to receive injury by severe 

 frosts, I would advise the borders to be covered 

 the thickness of three or four inches, with long 

 dead strawy dung. Dung taken from the outsides 

 of old hot-beds is exceedingly proper for this 

 purpose. There is a kind of spirit in dung which 

 produces warmth, and thereby prevents the frost 

 from penetrating the ground, especially if the dung 

 be laid to a considerable thickness. 



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