last-mentioned extent of surface. On a wall only twenty-five inches in height, and eighteen feet in length, I have for years trained a vine that is a perfect picture of fertility, the whole surface of the wall being every year literally covered with fine grapes close down to the very stem of the plant. It will thus be seen that small detached portions and vacant spaces of the surface of walls, which in innumerable instances are deemed of no value, and are therefore neglected, may be turned to a most beneficial account.

With reference to the importance of the culture, it deserves especial remark, that, for the making of wine, not only are ripened grapes applicable, but from the leaves, tendrils, and young shoots of vines, and also from unripe or immature grapes, very fine wine may be made, differing in no respect from many sorts of wines imported from abroad, as the following extract from Dr. Macculloch's "Remarks on the Art of making Wine" will sufficiently show :

"Chemical examination has proved that the young shoots, the tendrils, and the leaves of the vine, possess properties and contain substances exactly similar to the crude fruit. It was no unnatural conclusion that they might equally be used for the purposes of making wine. Experiments were accordingly instituted in France for this purpose, and they have been repeated here with success. From vine-leaves, water, and sugar, wines have been thus produced, in no respect differing from the produce of the immature fruit, and consequently resembling wines of foreign growth."

Here, then, is a most important advantage resulting from the culture of the vine, and one, indeed, that is little inferior to that which is derived from the production of the ripened fruit itself. And in order that it may be properly estimated, it must be borne in mind, that throughout the growing season the superabundant foliage of a vine, which consists chiefly of the extremities of the shoots and the tendrils, is so great, as to require to be plucked off once in seven days, if not oftener. It is further stated in the above-mentioned work, that from forty to fifty pounds' weight of leaves, &c., will produce about ten gallons of wine.

Now, every hundred square feet of the surface of a wall, when covered with the foliage of vines in vigorous growth, will yield on an average, every week from the middle of May to the 1st of August, two pounds' weight of excess of foliage. Allowing, therefore, the surface of the walls of a common sized cottage to contain five hundred square feet, on which vines could be trained, it appears that during the eleven weeks above-mentioned they would yield a sufficient quantity of foliage to produce upwards of twenty gallons of wine, which could be made for the mere cost of the sugar!

Again, there would be a considerable quantity of foliage to spare during the remaining months of August and September, to which must be added the excess in the number of bunches of green fruit, which require cutting off after the berries are set, in order to avoid over-cropping the vines, and which sometimes amount to a great number; and also the berries that are cut out in the thinning of the bunches, the weight of which is always considerable; and these being added to the former,

would,

would, at the most moderate calculation, yield in the whole thirty gallons of wine, thus produced from the superabundant foliage and green fruit of vines trained on the surface of a cottage !'-pp. 5-9.

We must now set forth with our author upon a little autumnal

tour:

'Let any person in the month of September make a tour of inspection through the southern counties of England, in which nearly every cottage may be seen with a grape vine trained on its walls. Let him stop at intervals in his journey, and select any number of vines for examination, and carefully estimate the weight of fruit growing on each, and the extent of walling occupied in producing that fruit; and having calculated the average weight grown on every square foot of walling, let him then be told, which he may be with truth, that at least five times the quantity of grapes of superior flavour might be annually produced on the same extent of surface. Let him also select any given district, and estimate the number of superficial feet of walling which the buildings in that district contain, and on which nothing whatever is grown, or at least nothing of any value, and which might, at a trifling cost of time and trouble, be annually covered with fine crops of grapes, and he will find, to his astonishment, that for every square foot on which vines are trained, there are at least twenty square feet that are either entirely vacant or occupied in a useless manner. If he then sum up his calculations, the result will show that for every pound of grapes that is now grown, not less than a hundred pounds might be annually produced on the existing surface of walling without the addition of a single square foot! Nor let it be supposed that this estimate is made hypothetically; on the contrary, it is the result of actual inspection and careful observation, and is considerably within the mark as to the quantity of grapes that might be annually grown. Every moderate-sized dwelling-house, having a garden and a little walling attached to it, may with ease be made to produce yearly a quarter of a ton weight of grapes, leaving a sufficient portion of its surface for the production of other fruit. . . . .

The grand parent error which prevails universally in the cultivation of the vine on open walls lies in the method of pruning usually adopted, and this is undoubtedly the consequence of the nature of the plant and its peculiar characteristics being in general but little understood. In the course of the growing season a vine in a healthy condition will make a quantity of bearing-wood, sufficient to produce ten times as much fruit as it can bring to maturity. When this fact is considered in connexion with another, namely, that the wood which bears fruit one year never bears any afterwards, and is therefore of no further use in that respect, it will easily be seen to what a surprising extent the pruning-knife must be used, to get rid of the superabundant wood which the plant annually produces. But nine parts out of ten of the current year's shoots, and all those of the preceding ycar, if possible, to be cut off and thrown away, is apparently so much beyond all reasonable proportion, and the rules usually observed in pruning other fruit trees, that few persons ever possess the courage to attempt it. And herein, as remarked

before,

before, lies the capital error in the common method of managing the vine.'-pp. 15, 16.

It being of great importance to ascertain the proper quantity of fruit which the vine will healthily bear, Mr. Hoare instituted a set of experiments. Vines were selected and pruned in the autumn of 1825. As much bearing wood was retained as it was supposed would kill, or, at the least, cripple them for many years. The next year, remarkable for its fine vintage, was selected for the time of trial. The results were, with small variation, the same, and the lamentable case of one vine will sufficiently indicate the fate of all.

to come.

This was a white muscadine, in the eighth year of its age, and, like all the rest, in the highest bearing-condition possible. It produced in the following spring an abundant supply of vigorous bearing-shoots, and showed seventy-eight bunches of fine grapes, the produce of twentynine buds, retained on two horizontal right and left shoots. As the season advanced, the shoots extended themselves rapidly, the bunches of fruit increased in size, and the vine thrived as well as usual, seemingly quite unconscious of the task it shortly had to perform. Blossoming being over, and the fruit set, the trial of strength commenced. On the first of July many of the bunches measured eleven inches from the shoulders to the extremities, and when matured, would have weighed a pound and a half each. They hung close together, forming, as far as they extended on the wall, an entire and compact mass of grapes, the weight of which, if ripened, would have exceeded sixty pounds. The middle of that month arrived, and the berries had only reached the size of small peas, while those on other vines, not subjected to any such trial, were full grown, and had commenced the stoning process. On the 1st of August, no perceptible increase of size in the berries had taken place, and the vine began to show strong symptoms of exhaustion. About the middle of that month the foliage assumed a withering appearance, and on the 1st of September the vegetation of the plant was almost at a stand. The shoots ceased to grow, the fruit and foliage were in a prostrate condition, and the vital energies of the vine appeared quite unable to supply the daily increasing demand for nourishment. Throughout that month it continued in a pitiable condition, and though a valuable plant, it was, nevertheless, suffered to take its course as well as all the others, in order that the trial might be decisive. About the 1st of October, the greater part of the berries having grown as large as middling-sized peas, those on the shoulders of some of the bunches began to show symptoms of ripening, by becoming a little transparent, and at the same time, the berries at the extremities of the bunches began to shrivel. As the month advanced, the ripening process proceeded slowly, but the shrivelling increased rapidly. Towards the latter end of October the trial was over, and the experiment complete; on many entire bunches every berry had shrivelled, and in no bunch had the process of maturation proceeded farther down than the shoulders. The whole crop was gathered about the 1st of November, and the

ripened

ripened portions being put together, weighed nine pounds and a half. Not one of these ripened berries, however, was more than half the usual size, and, in point of flavour, not to be compared to others of the same sort, ripened at least six weeks previously.

The vine was pruned immediately, and cut almost to a stump, to give it every chance of recovering from the blow it had received. But, in the following spring, not a single bud unfolded till nearly a month after the usual time, and at the close of the season, the largest shoot was only twenty-six inches in length, and no larger than a packing-needle, although, in the previous year, the vine had emitted very vigorous shoots twenty-five feet in length. It has been pruned very closely every year since, and has in consequence gradually acquired strength, but although eight years have elapsed since the experiment was made, it has not yet recovered its former vigour.'-pp. 25—27.

From this and other experiments made on vines growing in 50° 46' N. L., it appeared clearly that the capability of vines to mature fruit was in direct proportion to the circumference of their respective stems; and Mr. Hoare gives a scale, according to which he pruned in the winter of 1830 nearly forty vines of different sorts and of various ages, leaving in each no greater number of buds than appeared on an average calculation to be sufficient to produce as much fruit as the vine was allowed to mature. In the following summer, as soon as the berries were set, the number of bunches requisite to produce the given weight of fruit were sclected, and the excess immediately cut off. Mr. Hoare has strictly adhered to this plan ever since, and he states that it has enabled him to produce finer grapes than he had ever seen or heard of being grown on open walls in this country.-(p. 29.)

Boisterous, and indeed almost any, winds being injurious to the vine, a sheltered situation and good aspect are of the highest consequence. From a careful observation of the qualities and flavour of the fruit of the different vintages for many years past, Mr. Hoare has no hesitation in asserting that the aspects in which grapes can be brought to the highest degree of perfection that the latitude and climate of the southern parts of England will permit, are those that range from the eastern to the south-eastern, both inclusive-the last of which he considers the very best.

'On walls having any of these aspects, the sun shines with full force in the early part of the morning, at which time there is something highly favourable to vegetation in the influence of his rays. These, darting nearly perpendicularly on the foliage of a vine, while the dew yet remains, and its beautiful crystal drops hang suspended, as it were, by magic to the angular extremities of the leaves, seem to stin.ulate the vital energies of the plant in an extraordinary degree, and to excite them to a vigorous excrcise of all the important functions appertaining to vegetable life.'-pp. 42, 43.

The next best aspects, according to Mr. Hoare's experience,

are

are those which follow in succession from south-east to south. He allows due south to be a good aspect, but the blustering south-west winds are a considerable drawback: nor are those that range from due south to due west not good, provided they be sheltered. North of the western point he has found the maturity of both wood and fruit uncertain, though tolerably good grapes, he informs us, may be grown on the surface of a wall having an aspect west by north. There is, however, he adds, another aspect north of the eastern point of the horizon, namely east by north, which is very good. On a wall facing this point, the sun shines till about eleven o'clock in the forenoon; and Mr. Hoare has, for many years past, brought several sorts of grapes, including the Black Hamburgh, to great perfection in such a situation.

Now for the soil

The natural soil which is most congenial to the growth of the vine, and to the perfection of its fruit in this country, is a light, rich, sandy loam, not more than eighteen inches in depth, on a dry bottom of gravel, stones, or rocks. No sub-soil can possess too great a quantity of these materials for the roots of the vine, which run with eagerness into all clefts, crevices, and openings. In these dry and warm situations, the fibrous extremities, pushing themselves with the greatest avidity, and continually branching out in every possible direction, lie secure from that excess of moisture which frequently accumulates in more compact soils; and, clinging like ivy round the porous surfaces of their retreats, extract therefrom a species of food, more nourishing than that obtained by them under any other circumstances whatever.

One of the principal causes of grapes not ripening well on open walls in this country is the great depth of mould in which the roots of vines are suffered to run, which, enticing them to penetrate in search of food below the influence of the sun's rays, supplies them with too great a quantity of moisture; vegetation is thereby carried on till late in the summer, in consequence of which, the ripening process does not commence till the declination of the sun becomes too rapid to afford a sufficiency of heat to perfect the fruit.

To prevent this, the sub-soil should be composed of dry materials. It is almost impossible, indeed, to make a vine border of materials that shall be too dry or porous. It is not mere earth that the roots require to come in contact with, to induce growth and extension, but air also, which is as necessary to them as to the leaves and branches. The excrementitious matter discharged from the roots of a vine is very great, and if this be given out in a soil that is close and adhesive, and through which the action of the solar rays is feeble, the air in the neighbourhood of the roots quickly becomes deleterious, and a languid and diseased vegetation immediately follows. But if the roots grow in a soil composed of dry materials, mixed together in such a manner as to possess a series of cavities and interstices, into which the sun's rays can enter with freedom, and there exert their full power; the air in which the roots perform their functions becomes warmed and purified, they absorb their

food