V I T 
When the fruit are all gathered, you fhould firune 
the Vines, whereby the litter of their leaves will be 
entirely removed at once, and their fruit will be the 
forwarder the fucceeding year, as has been before 
oblerved. 
As many of the rich eft and beft forts of Grapes will 
not ripen in England, unlefs the feafon proves very 
warm, or the foil and fituation are very favourable, 
there have been many hot walls built to accelerate 
the ripening of this fruit, and bring it to full perfec- 
tion by artificial heat •, and as thefe fucceed very well 
when they are properly contrived, and the Vines 
rightly managed, I fhall here give proper direftions, 
which, if duly attended to, will be fufficient to inftrud 
perfons in both. 
The method of building hot walls will be treated un- 
der the article Wall, fo I fhall pafs it over in this 
place, and proceed to the preparing of the ground for 
planting. The borders againft thefe hot' walls fhould 
have the earth taken out two feet deep (provided the 
ground is dry,) otherwife one foot will be fufficient, 
becaufe in wet land the borders fhould be raifed at 
leaft two feet above the level of the ground, that the 
roots of the Vines may not be injured by the wet. 
When the earth is taken out, the bottom of the trench 
fhould be filled with ftones, lime rubbiffi, &c. a foot 
and a half, or two feet thick, which fhould be level- 
led and beaten down pretty hard to prevent the roots 
of the Vines from running downward. The trenches 
ffioukl be made five feet wide at leaft, otherwife the 
roots of the Vines will in a few years extend them- 
felves beyond the rubbiffi, and finding an eafy paffage 
downwards, will run into the moift ground, and 
thereby imbibe fo much wet, as to leften the vinous 
flavour of the Grapes •, but before the rubbiffi is filled 
into the trench, it is a better method to raife a nine 
inch wall, at five feet diftance from the hot wall, 
which will keep the rubbiffi from intermixing with 
the neighbouring earth, and alfo confine the roots of 
the Vines to the border in which they are planted, fo 
that they cannot reach to the moifture of the ground 
about them. Tins nine inch wall fhould be isifed to 
the height of the intended border, fo will be of great 
ufe to fay the plate of timber of the frames upon, 
which will be necefiary to cover the Vines when they 
are forced, whereby the timbers will be better pre- 
ferved from rotting; and where the borders are raifed 
to any confiderable height above the level of the 
ground, theie walls will preferve the eaith of the 
borders from falling down into the walks ; but in car- 
rying up thefe walls, it will be proper to leave little 
openings about eight or ten reet diftance, to let the 
water pafs off, becaufe when the rubbiffi at the bot- 
tom of the trench unites and binds very hard, the 
water cannot eafily find a paffage thiough it ; there- 
fore it will be the better method to leave thefe fmall 
paffages in the front wall, left the moifture being 
confined at bottom, fhould be pent up as in a ditch, 
which will be of ill confequence to the Vhnes, but 
thefe openings fhould be two feet below the furface. 
When the walls are finiffied and thoroughly dry, the 
rubbiffi fhould he filled in, as before dire&ed ; then 
there fhould be freffi light earth laid upon it two feet 
thick, which will be a fufficient depth of foil for the 
Vines to root in. Thefe borders fhould be thus pre- 
pared at leaft a month or fix weeks before the Vines 
are planted, that they may have time to fettle. The 
beft time to plant phem is about the end of March, 
or the beginning of April,, according as the feafon 
proves early or late. Thefe I would alfo advife to be 
planted with cuttings, rather than rooted plants, for 
the reafons before affigned, but there fhould be two 
cuttings put into each hole, or placed at a nearer 
diftance, left any of them fhould fail ; for if all fhould 
fucceed, the weakeft of them may be eafily drawn 
out the following fpring. Thefe cuttings fhould be 
well cliofen from good bearing Vines, and the fhoots 
fhould be well ripened, otherwife they will never 
•make good plants. The diftance thefe Vines ffiomd 
V I T 
be allowed to remain is the fame as for common walls, 
i. e. about fix feet. In planting them there fhould 
be holes opened with a lpade, about fourteen or fif- 
teen inches deep, for if there be but three or four 
inches of good earth under the foot of the cuttings 
it will be fufficient ; then the cuttings fhould be laid in 
the holes a little doping, afterward the earth fhould be 
filled into the holes, and gently preffed with the foot 
to the cuttings, and raifed in a heap over them, fo as 
juft to cover the uppermoft eyes of the cuttings ; 
afterward lay a little mulch on the furface of the 
ground about the cuttings, to prevent the fun and 
air from drying the earth, and if the fpring fhould 
prove very dry, they fhould have fome water once a 
week, which will be as often as the cuttings require 
it, for nothing will deftroy them fooner than too much 
water, which rots their bark, and deftroys them. If 
thefe cuttings are well chofen, and the inftruftions 
here laid down duly obferved, they will make ftrong 
fhoots the firft fummer, for I have frequently planted 
cuttings which have fliot five feet in one year, but 
then I carefully rubbed off all the fide dangling fhoots 
as they were produced, and never permitted more 
than one ffioot to remain on each cutting, which is 
what fhould always be obferved by thofe who have 
the care of Vines. With this management there will 
be little hazard of the cuttings taking root, for in 
upwards of five hundred cuttings which I received 
from Italy, and which had been cut off from the 
Vines in the beginning of November, wrapped up 
in Mofs, and put on board the ffiip, (which did not 
arrive at the port of London until March, fo that 
they were full four months cut off before they were 
‘ planted,) there were not twenty of the number which 
failed, and many of them ffiot about fix feet the firft 
feafon. 
As I have direfled the pruning of Vines to be per- 
formed in autumn (which is without difpute the beft 
feafon for this work,) foin preferving of the cuttings 
till the planting feafon, I have advifed them to be cut 
to their lengths, and their ends laid into the ground, 
and then , covered with litter or Mofs to keep the air 
from them ; but fince I have found it a much better 
method not to fhorten the fhoots, from which the 
cuttings are to be made, -"but to lay their ends juft in- 
to the ground, about two inches deep, and fo leave 
them at full length, only obferving to cover them 
with dry litter or Peas haulm in frofty dry weather, 
tho’ in moift weather the covering fhould not remain, 
on, becaufe it would make the cuttings grow mouldy, 
which would greatly injure them.- Then; in the fpring, 
when they are to be planted, they fhould betaken out 
of the ground, and their upper part cut off) fo as to 
reduce them to about fourteen inches in length, ac- 
cording to the diftance of the buds or eyes ; for thofe 
cuttings whofe buds grow pretty, clofe together, need 
not be left more than one foot long, but in others 
fourteen or fixteen inches will be full fhort. The 
leaving the upper part of the fhoots On all the winter 
is of great fervice to the cuttings, becaufe when they 
are cut off in autumn, the air penetrates the wound- 
ed part, and greatly injures the other eyes. 
The management of thefe Vines, for the three firft 
years after planting, being the fame as is praftifed 
for thofe againft common walls, I ffiall not repeat it 
in this place, having fully treated of that already ; 
only will obferve, that during thefe three years, the 
Vines fhould be encouraged as much as poffible, and 
the fhoots not left too long, nor too many in number 
on each root, that they may be duly ripened and pre- 
pared- for bearing the fourth year, which is the foon- 
eft they fhould be forced ; for when any forts of fruit- 
trees are forced by fire too young, they feldom con- 
tinue long in health, fo that what fruit they produce 
is fmall, and not well- flavoured ; therefore, in being 
over hafty to fave a year or two, very often the whole- 
defign mifearries; for unlefs the trees are in a proper 
condition to bear much fruit, it is not worth while to 
make fires for a fmall quantity of ftarved ill-iafted 
4 fruit. 
