MANAGEMENT OF FRUIT TREES, &c. 



121 



Ohfervatiom and Experiments on the Training and Pruning 



of Vines* 



The following is the method that I purfued with feme 

 Vines which were planted againft the piers of a South wail, 

 and among old Peaches, Nectarines, Plums, &c. 



When I took them in hand, the fruit was fo fmall and hard 

 as to render it unfit to be fent to the table. The Vines were 

 trained upright, which caufed them to grow fo luxuriantly 

 that the fap flowed into the branches inftead of the fruit. 



In the year 1789 I let two ftrong branches grow to their 

 full length without topping them in the Summer. In 1790 

 I trained them in a ferpentine form (See Plate X.), leaving 

 about thirty eyes on each fhoot, which produced one hun- 

 dred and twenty fine bunches of Grapes, weighing from one 

 pound to a pound and a quarter each. Every one that faw 

 them faid, that the large ones were as fine as forced Grapes ; 

 while the fmall ones produced from branches of the fame 

 Vine, trained and pruned in the old way, were bad natural 

 Grapes, and not above twice the fize of large Currants. 



More fully to prove the fuccefs attending this experiment, 

 1 next year trained fire plants in the fame way, allowing the 

 fhoots intended for bearing wood to run to their full length 

 in Summer, training them wherever there was a vacancy be- 

 tween the old trees ; where there was none, I ran them along 

 the top of the wall, without topping them. In Winter I 

 trained them in a ferpentine manner fo as to fill the wall as 

 regularly as pofhble : they were as productive as thofe in the 

 former year. 



R After 



