140 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Anguit 18, 1887. 
worthy of being associated with the famous examples referred to, even 
on the score of size alone, for 3825 square feet of glass are requisite for 
covering it, while as regards training it has no superior, if an equal, 
amongst the other celebrities. 
The Manresa Vine was raised from a cutting by the present 
gardener, Mr. M. Davis, twenty-sixyearsa o, and planted against a wall in 
the garden with the object of growing leaves for garnishing purposes. It 
grew so well that one of its rods was wrapped in haybands to a length 
of 21 feet and carried across the walk to a neighbouring house unheated, 
and a house (heated) 70 feet long was erected over the Vine itself, the 
wall against which it was originally planted being removed. For 
two or three years it bore a succession of fruit—namely, in the heated 
and unheated structures, and in the open air, for one rod was trained 
method of training it will be seen that the bunches hang with very 
much the uniformity that is presented when crops are cut, bottled,” 
and arranged on racks in a Grape room. When viewed from one end 
oE the house the long rods and rows of Grapes, convergin' to the stem 
of the Vine, the si'ht was extraordinary, and perhaps unparalleled. 
But the full extent of the house and Vine cannot be “ taken in ” at 
a glance, because the Vine is not planted at one end, but at a consider¬ 
able distance from it, the twisted rods reaching practically across the 
border, and from there they extend to each end of the structure. 
Obviously our artist could only sketch one portion, the longer, and the 
result is seen in the engraving (fig. 17), together with a near view of 
the main stem and base of the rods before thev reach the roof. He has 
managed also to give a not very bad outline of the cultivator—as fine a 
Fig. 17.—THE MANEESA VINE. 
under the coping of a wall outside. The growth was so rapid, and the 
prospec so encouraging, that the present structure was erected. It is 
a sharply pitched lean-to facing south-east, with a short hip of about 
18 inches from the top of the wall. The height of the back wall is 
12 feet, the front a foot or so, the width of the house 11 feet, but as the 
apex of the hip is the distance indicated from the wall, and a little 
above it, it will be seen that the roof is rather steep—an angle of 50°. 
The length of the house is 224 feet. Under this roof seven rods are trained 
horizontally, the lower one just so that the bunches of fruit hang clear 
of the hot-water pipes, which are close to the ground, the upper rod under 
the apex, the other five rods equidistant between, or about 2 feet apart. 
They are as straight as Vine rods can be, and no laterals are allowed except 
from the upper side, these being a foot apart or so, and trained 
upright, or rather in the natural slanting direction in which they grow 
to the rod next above them, and there stopped. Generally speaking, 
every alternate lateral is allowed to carry a bunch, but the rule is not 
Tigidly adhered to, regard being paid to the weight ot the bunches and 
strength of the laterals, the crop being regulated accordingly. By this 
specimen of a gardener under as fine a Vine of his own raising and 
growing as ever were seen together. 
The seven rods stretching from the stem to both ends of the structure 
represent an aggregate length of 1400 feet, or considerably more than a 
quarter of a mile. But what of the crop? It must be said to his 
credit that Mr. Davis is not a greedy man, who leaves all the bunches 
that show to make a sensation number. He has the good sense not to 
overcrop, and the courage to remove freely, and this year he removed 
1800 bunches before thinning, leaving a less number than usual, or G25, 
but not a few of these are between 3 lbs. and 4 lbs. in weight, and few 
below 1 lb., while many of the berries exceed 3 inches in circumference, 
and in colour and finish leave little or nothing to be desired. Last year 
807 bunches were cut from the Vine and sold in the market for £107. 
The wood is short-jointed, strong, firm, and with little pith, and the 
leaves, to employ the gardener’s expressive phrase, “ like leather.” So 
stout are they that the Vine pest, red spider, could make little im¬ 
pression on them, but this enemy Mr. Davis keeps out of the house, his 
antidote being ammonia rising from nearly fresh horse droppings, with 
