774 



THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. 



[Oct, 



we will select the following methods, as being applicable for 

 the generality of purposes : — 



The mode of Nicol, which he recommended in his works, 

 and which he long successfully practised, is as follows : If 

 the vines be trained up the roof, " there should be three 

 ranges of bearing shoots ; viz. one range at the bottoni of the 

 trellis, from end to end of the house, reaching from within two 

 feet of the gi-ound to five or six feet upwards ; a second reach- 

 ing from a foot, or perhaps two feet under the tops of these, 

 that is, from within seven or eight feet of the ground to the 

 distance of fourteen or fifteen feet upwards from it; and a 

 third range, reaching from a foot or two under the tops of 

 these last to the uppermost row of wires on the trellis ; the 

 shoots of the first or lower range being headed at about five 

 or six feet ; those of the second or middle range about seven 

 or eight, and those of the third or uppermost at about nine 

 or ten feet in length ; all a foot or two more or less accord- 

 ing to their strengths, or to the height or lowness on the plants 

 from which they have issued, and to the extent to which 

 they have sprung, and the maturity they have acquired. The 

 distance at which these shoots should be placed from each other 

 in their respective ranges is about thirty inches, which distance 

 is necessary to give room to the stubs of next year, on which 

 the clusters are to hang, as in this season ; and which dis- 

 tance may be varied a few inches, according to the kind of 

 grajH's, some growing stronger than others. 



" The undermost shoots on the trellis, or those placed 

 nearest to the ground, and which were only trained to the 

 height of a few feet, must be shortened back to two or three 

 joints : it being a principal point in the training of vines 

 always to provide for a supply of bottom-wood, and to keep 

 young wood as near to the gi'ound, or lower parts of the plants, 

 as possible." 



Speechly recommended and adopted in the Welbeck gardens 

 the Dutch mode of training, which consisted of perpendicular 

 shoots being induced to issue from two horizontal branches 

 laid in near the ground, in the first or second year's growth ot 

 the plant. These perpendicular shoots were to be regularly 



