166 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



or admixture of all sorts of spurious compounds formed with the 

 fruit of the Japan Medlar or Nespera (Mespilus or Eriobotrya 

 japonica Thunb.), Oranges, Pears, &c. In the Canaries much less 

 progress has been made towards the reinstatement of the vine ; 

 and the cultivation of Cochineal had become so profitable and 

 popular, that four or five years ago no steps at all were beiDg 

 made in that direction. In the Cape Verdes very little wine, 

 comparatively speaking, and that only of very inferior quality and 

 merely for home consumption, had ever been made before the 

 setting in of the disease ; and the vine at present exists only here 

 and there in gardens. In one of these at Porto Praia, the capital 

 of St. Iago, I was presented by the owner with a bunch of fine, 

 well-flavoured grapes, though not quite ripe, in the middle of 

 March. 



The mode of cultivation in Madeira of the vine is somewhat 

 peculiar. Across one end of the whole breadth or length of the 

 piece of ground or terrace to be planted, a broad deep trench is 

 excavated by a number of men (often from 10 to 20) working side 

 by side. In this trench, which is never less than 5 or 6, and often 

 10 or 12 feet deep, are planted shoots of the last year's growth 

 from 12 to 20 feet in length, the lower portions of these being 

 laid horizontally along the bottom of the trench when their whole 

 length exceeds, as usually it does, the depth of the latter, the 

 longest shoots being preferred. The trench is then filled in 

 gradually by the men working on regularly, as it were, backwards, 

 and filling up the first by throwing up the soil all along to the 

 same depth, till they have formed at a few feet distant another 

 similar trench ; and so on successively till the whole soil of the 

 plot of ground has been upturned and planted. In 2 or 3 years 

 the plants begin to bear, and in 5 or 6 are in full bearing. Their 

 continuance in the latter state varies excessively, according to the 

 soil, situation, or supply of water. It is rarely less than 10 or 15, 

 and still more rarely above 30 years. 



Though the roots do not usually spread below two or three feet 

 of the surface, the long remaining part of the originally planted 

 shoot below this depth thickens and retains a sort of vitality, and 

 perhaps acts like the fleshy rhizomes or tubers formed by certain 

 plants, especially in warm climates or in dry soils, to supply the 

 roots and plant above with coolness if not moisture from the lower 

 depth to which it reaches. 



The pruning-time is in February or March, according to the 

 elevation of the vineyard. The vines are in full leaf and flower in 



