VINES IN THE OPEN AIR. 
155 
vinp:s in the open air. 
r>y Mr. H. M. Tod, F.R.II.S. 
In complying with our Secretary's desire that I should write a noto 
•on the cultivation of open-air Vines, I must premise that, although this 
subject is my hobby, I cannot claim to be a scientific instructor in this 
branch of fruit-growing, but only to have studied the matter, collecting 
and comparing facts, and growing as many varieties as possible, but 
with only odds and ends of time to devote to this most interesting 
subject. 
I first took notice of open-air Vines in the London district in the hot 
summer of 1808, and the two following years gave me opportunities of 
further observing that in country districts as well as in the metropolis 
<»pen-air Grapes could be ripened, and thoroughly good and handsome 
'bunches produced. 
On changing houses in 1872 I selected one with the back almost due 
south, and instructed a gardener to plant two Vines there, preparing the 
border specially for them, as the soil was clay. These Vines were Black 
Hamburgh and Buckland Sweetwater. They grew apace, and I took 
■some good black Grapes off the Black Hamburgh in 1874. A friend 
advised me to procure Clement Hoare's work on the Growth of Vines 
on Open Walls, and soon I knew all that writer's rules by heart, and 
found I had made a bad beginning by allowing Vines on walls to fruit 
before their fifth year, although by this time the Black Hamburgh had 
attained to the necessary 2^ inches in circumference. 
In 1877 I had the first opportunity of observing Vines in different 
parts of France, and very soon formed the opinion that we could grow as 
good in England in some seasons, and at all times nearly as good. I 
■also exchanged English Vines for French ones with friends in the cele- 
brated wine-growing departments ; and so for some years I had ' Pineau 
Noir ' from Champagne and the Clos de Vougeot, * Carbinet Sauvignon ' 
from Chateau Lafite, and sundry others. 
I had good Grapes in 1878 on my Black Hamburgh and Buckland 
Sweetwater, and according to Hoare's rule I pruned these two Vines in 
October. Had I not done so I have no doubt they would have flowered 
and tried to fruit a second time that year, as many others did, as I will 
notice later on. 
Early in 187G I heard of Lord Bute's new vineyard in South Wales* 
and went to see it, taking good note of everything about it, and described 
it in a letter published in the Times. The slope of this vineyard on the 
south face of the hill of Castel Coch is very beautiful, sheltered by plenty 
of timber above the old castle, and by other hills all round, except due 
south, where the view extends to the Bristol Channel, five or six miles off. 
Lord Bute made the same mistake as I had done : he made his first wine 
in 1878, before the Vines were fit for it. I saw the two small casks in the 
fermenting stage. 
* See R.H.S> Journal, vol. xvii. 
G 
