A practical treatise on the cultivation of the grape vine on open walls

Front matter

THE HARTLEY INSTITUTION, I

SOUTHAMPTON.

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Preface

There is not, that I am aware of, any work extant in the English language that exclusively treats of the Vine, except the Treatise on the Culture of the Vine, written by Speedily in the year I789. That work, however, though undoubtedly a valuable one, and showing on the part of the author a thorough practical knowledge of the nature of the Vine, in reference to its culture under glass, is, yet, not sufficiently full nor explicit, with regard to the management of that plant, when cultivated on open walls.

Hence the principal reason of the appearance of this volume.

In compiling it, I have endeavoured, in as plain and as concise a manner as the nature of the subject would admit, to embody all the necessary points of culture, with the principles on which they are founded ; and also to arrange them in such a manner as to make their pracyiii PREFACE.

tical application a matter of easy attainment.

I have, also, excluded every thing of a technical nature, and have, in many instances, not scrupled to use a phraseology different from that usually employed by writers on horticulture. In adopting this course, my object has been to render the work more generally useful, and especially so to the more humble part of the rural population, by enabling them to avail themselves, without difficulty, of the directions contained in it, and thereby the more readily to induce them to turn their attention to the cultivation of a plant, which is capable of adding to their comforts, and increasing their enjoyments, in a much greater degree than has been hitherto supposed.

The details of many operations relative to the culture of the vine that have been heretofore inserted in works on gardening have been excluded in the present work, for the simple, and, I trust, satisfactory reason, that the operations themselves when submitted to the test of experience, have been found, either, of uncertain issue, or of very questionable utility.

It remains only to observe, that although the routine of management recommended in the fol-

PREFACE. i x

lowing pages, is the result of many years' diligent investigation, and of patient observation, and rests, therefore, on the firm basis of actual experience ; I have no reason to expect, nor do I desire, indeed, that this treatise should be considered as worthy of the patronage of the public, otherwise than in proportion to the value and usefulness of the improvements it is designed to introduce, in the culture of that most grateful of all fruit trees, The Grape Vine.

CLEMENT HOARE.

Contents

CHAP.

PAGE

I. Introduction 2

Introduction

The Grape Vine, Vitis Vinifeka. Class and order, Pentandria Mouogynia of Linnffius.

" The Grape Vine is a trailing, deciduous, hardy shrub, with a twisted irregular stem, and long flexible branches, decumbent, like those of the bramble, or supporting themselves, when near other trees, by means of tendrils, like the pea.

The leaves are large, lobed, entire, or serrated and downy, or smooth ; green in summer, but when mature, those of varieties in which the predominating colour is red, constantly change to, or are tinged with some shade of that colour ; and those of white, green, or yellow grapes, as constantly change to a yellow, and are never in the least tinged either with purple, red, or scarlet. The breadth of the leaves varies from five to seven or ten inches, and the length of the foot-

B

INTRODUCTION.

stalks from four to eight inches. The flowers are produced on the shoots of the same year, which shoots generally proceed from those of the year preceding ; they are in the form of a raceme, of a greenish-white colour, and fragrant odour, appearing in the open air in this country in June ; and the fruit, which is of the berry kind, attains such maturity as the season and situation admit, by the middle or end of September. The berry or grape is generally globular, but often ovate, oval, oblong, or fingershaped ; the colours green, white, red, yellow, amber, and black, or a variegation of two or more of these colours. The skin is smooth, the pulp and juice of a dulcet, poignant, elevated, generous flavour. Every berry ought to enclose five small heart or pear-shaped stones ; though, as some generally fail, they have seldom more than three, and some varieties as they attain a certain age, as the ascalon, or sultana raisin, none. The weight of a berry, depends not only on its size, but on the thickness of its skin, and texture of the flesh, the lightest being the thin-skinned and juicy sorts, as the sweetwater or muscadine." — Loudon 's Encyclopedia of Gardening.

Of all the productions of the vegetable world, which the skill and ingenuity of man have rendered conducive to his comfort, and to the enlargement of the sphere of his enjoyments, and the increase of his pleasurable gratifications,

INTRODUCTION.

The Vine stands forward as the most pre-eminently conspicuous. Its quickness of growth, — the great age to which it will live ; so great indeed as to be unknown, — its almost total exemption from all those adverse contingencies which blight and diminish the produce of other fruit-bearing trees, — its astonishing vegetative powers, — its wonderful fertility, — and its delicious fruit, applicable to so many purposes, and agreeable to all palates, in all its varied shapes, combine to mark it out, as one of the greatest blessings bestowed by Providence to promote the comfort and enjoyments of the human race.

From the remotest records of antiquity, the vine has been celebrated in all ages, as the type of plenty, and the symbol of happiness. The pages of Scripture abound with allusions to the fertility of the vine as emblematical of prosperity; and it is emphatically declared, in describing the peaceful and flourishing state of the kingdom of Israel during the reign of Solomon, that " Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, from Dan even to Beersheba." The source of enjoyment thus mentioned to record the happy state of the Jewish nation, may be, with reference to the vine, literally possessed by the greater portion of the inhabitants of this island.

The native country of the vine is generally considered to be Persia, but it has been found

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INTRODUCTION.

wild in America, and is now become naturalized in all the temperate regions of the world. In the northern hemisphere, it forms an important branch of rural economy from the 21st, to the 51st parallel of latitude, and by an improved method of culture, very fine grapes may be annually grown on the surface of walls, in the open air, as far north as the 54th parallel, and even beyond that in favourable seasons.

The vine is supposed to have been introduced into Britain at the commencement of the Christian era ; and history amply proves, that for a long series of ages, vineyards were very common in the southern parts of this island, and that the quantity of wine produced from them was so great, as to be considered one of the staple products of the land. From some cause or other, however, they have fallen into general neglect, although good grapes might be grown on vines, trained as espaliers, or in the same manner as in the vineyards abroad, from which excellent wine could be made, at a cost that would not exceed that of moderately strong beer. Why vineyards should have so completely disappeared, it is difficult to say, since there are many thousands of acres of poor land, that are of little value in an agricultural point of view, but on which vines would flourish, and produce abundant crops of grapes, and yield thereby a most profitable return.

INTRODUCTION.

Vines are now cultivated in this country, only against walls, upon the roofs of buildings, and under glass. The expense attending the growing of grapes under glass, is such, however, as obviously to place that method out of the reach of the mass of the people ; and vineyard culture, now that it has fallen into disuse, is, perhaps, considered so much in the light of a commercial speculation, that those who possess the means of practising it, are deterred from employing them, from an apprehension that the risk and uncertainty attending it, would prove more than sufficient to counterbalance its advantages. But the cultivation of vines on open walls being free from these and all other objections, presents an advantageous method of producing grapes, which may be embraced by every person who has at his command a few square feet of the surface of a wall. This mode of culture, indeed, offers to the possessors of houses, buildings, and walled gardens, and even to the most humble cottager, ample means of procuring with the greatest certainty, an abundant supply of this most valuable fruit. It is not too much to assert, that the surface of the walls of every cottage of a medium size, that is applicable to the training of vines, is capable of producing, annually, as many grapes as would be worth half the amount of its rental.

Every square foot of the surface of a wall, may, in a short space of time, be covered with bearing

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INTRODUCTION.

wood, sufficient to produce on an average, a pound weight of grapes, and I have frequently grown double that quantity on a similar extent of surface.

From this it will be seen how valuable the surfaces of walls are, and what advantages are lost by those who suffer any portion of them to remain vacant. Nor must it be supposed, that a single vine requires for its training, a large portion of walling. That it does, I am aware, is a very common notion, but it is a very erroneous one, and one that has, no doubt, arisen, from the universally defective method of pruning and managing that plant ; whereby the wood is suffered, and, indeed, encouraged to extend itself most disproportionately beyond the capability of its fruit-bearing powers. I scarcely ever allot more than from forty to fifty square feet of surface for one vine, and unless the soil and situation be very superior indeed, a single vine will require a space of time not less than twenty years at least, before it will possess a sufficient degree of strength, to enable it to mature, annually, a greater quantity of grapes than can be trained on the 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

INTRODUCTION.

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 in the production of the fruit of the vine.

And with reference to the importance of the culture of the vine, as affording a most valuable and highly esteemed fruit, it deserves especial remark, that for the making of wine, not only are ripened grapes applicable to that purpose, 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 shew.

" 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 im-

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INTRODUCTION.

mature 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 every 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 first 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 !

INTRODUCTION.

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 overcropping 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, 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 ! Bearing in mind, therefore, these important facts which cannot be controverted, it will, I think, be readily acknowledged, that too great a degree of importance can scarcely be attached to the cultivation of the vine.

The management of this plant is in itself, also, one of the most pleasing, and most interesting branches of horticultural practice. And, it may with truth be asserted, that of all the occupations that can be resorted to for the purposes of recreation, those connected with the garden are the most delightful. From these, indeed, spring many of the most elegant enjoyments of life, and the exercise of them is at once a source of health, of contentment, and of unalloyed, and tranquil-

INTRODUCTION.

lizing pleasure. So congenial to our ideas of happiness, is the recreation afforded by a garden, that there is scarcely any one to whom the possession of it, is not an object of strong desire.

Yet, to a very numerous class of persons, the inhabitants of towns, this source of enjoyment is in a great measure cut off.

The Vine, however, can be cultivated equally as well in a town as in the country, and, in very many instances, the means for that purpose are possessed in a much greater degree than in the country. The immense accumulation of buildings in towns, and their suburban districts, and also those of the metropolis itself, present an astonishing extent of surface of walling, well calculated to ripen the fruit of the vine. The only obstacle to the growth of that plant in towns, is the impurity of the atmosphere ; but though this impediment is sufficiently formidable, certainly, it exists only in the heart of London, and its dense and crowded districts, and in those of other large towns.

I am persuaded, therefore, that, if the method of cultivating the vine on correct principles, and the certainty which under proper management, never fails to attend the production of its fruit, were more generally known, its propagation and culture would increase both in town and country, to an extent that at present can scarcely be conceived.

INTRODUCTION.

II

It is for the purpose of diffusing a mode of cultivating this valuable plant, which is more definite and simple in its nature than any that has hitherto been promulgated, and by which the quantity of its fruit may be prodigiously increased, and the flavour greatly improved, that the following pages have been written. It is hoped that the whole management of the vine is therein made sufficiently clear, to enable every person who possesses facilities for the growing of grapes, to employ them in the most advantageous manner, in the production of this highly esteemed fruit.

12 PRESENT METHOD OF CULTIVATING

Chapter II

OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRESENT METHOD OF CULTIVATING GRAPE VINES ON OPEN WALLS.

There is, I believe, no branch of practical horticulture, which the possessors of gardens are so deficient in the knowledge of, as in that which embraces the culture of the grape vine ; and, yet, singular as it may appear, there is no fruit-tree of any description that grows in this country, that can be depended upon with such certainty for a full crop, or that will yield so ample a return, as a vine judiciously cultivated on an open wall.

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 grapevine 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,Jive 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 shew, 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.

It is difficult to account for the indifference which has hitherto been manifested towards the propagation of the vine, or to assign sufficient

14 PRESENT METHOD OF CULTIVATING reasons, why a fruit so universally esteemed as the grape, should have remained stationary* in respect to any improvement in its mode of culture.

I suspect, however, that the force of custom and example will be found amongst the chief operating causes. Scarcely any person when planting vines against his premises, ever thinks of setting apart for any one to be trained on, a less space of walling than a hundred and fifty, or two hundred square feet, seeing that the universal practice is to suffer a single vine to cover as quickly as possible, the entire surface of one side of a house or building, or a large portion of that of a garden wall. And this seems to be done under the idea, that the more wood there is in a vine, the more grapes it will produce, or that the one will be in proportion to the other. It happens, howevei', that the fact is precisely the reverse. If a vine be suffered to make a large quantity of wood, it will bear but little fruit ; if it produce good crops of fruit, it will make but little wood ; the one checks the other. To permit a vine, therefore, to make a great quantity of wood, under the idea of getting thereby a great quantity of grapes, is completely grasping at the substance, and catching the shadow. ,

Another reason why the method of cultivating the vine on open walls has remained stationary, may be found in the fact, that in the gardens of the rich, where professed gardeners are kept, grapes on vines of this description are but seldom grown to any extent, a sufficient quantity for the table being brought to perfection under glass.

Hence, one of the principal sources from which improved modes of culture are, in general, derived, is thus closed, and the routine of management of this most valuable fruit, thereby consigned to the chances of empirical practice.

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. The immense quantity of wood which a vine annually produces, and the force with which its sap flows, causing its most vigorous shoots to be formed at the extremities, render it necessary, in order to keep the plant in a good bearing condition, and its branches within a reasonable distance of its stem, that the pruning knife should be used to a far greater extent, than is ever practised on any other description of fruit-tree whatever. The most severe manner, indeed, in which that instrument is at any time applied to other trees, is as nothing when compared with that required by the vine.

In the course of the growing season, a vine in a healthy condition, will make a quantity of

16 PRESENT METHOD OF CULTIVATING bearing-wood sufficient to produce ten times as much fruit as it can bring to maturity. When this fact is considered in connection 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 year, 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, lies the capital error in the common method of managing the vine.

A vine in the third or fourth year of its growth, will in general shew a few bunches of grapes, and these are usually suffered to remain and ripen, instead of being plucked off as soon as they appear, having been produced before the plant has sufficient strength to mature them without injury to its constitution. Although the quantity be small, it inflicts a severe blow on the vital energies of the vine, from the exhausting nature of the process of maturation. At the proper season the pruning knife is applied, but the operator being in perfect ignorance, as to whether the

GRAPE VINES ON OPEN WALLS.

plant has sufficient strength to ripen any fruit or not in the following year, looks at the young wood, and seeing four or five good strong shoots, cuts them back to as many buds each, leaving, perhaps, twenty in the whole. Summer comes, and the vine having been seriously crippled by the premature ripening of fruit in the preceding year, and having now twenty shoots to supply with nourishment instead of two or three, the sap is so diminished in quantity, and distributed also through so many channels, that it is incapable of forming an inch of really good bearing-wood. The shoots protrude, and though small, produce a great mass of foliage ; the evaporation from this being far too great for its loss to be supplied by the roots, a languid circulation of the juices of the plant takes place, and it receives thereby a most serious check in its growth. The result is, that, at the end of the season, no shoots larger in size than that of a small wooden skewer are to be seen except at the extremities.

The proper season arriving, the vine is again pruned, and again eight or ten times as many buds are retained, as the plant can nourish. The same disproportionate mass of foliage follows of course, and the same exhausting effects are produced on the vital powers of the plant. No bearing-shoots are formed except at the extremities, and these being retained at the autumnal pruning, old blank wood begins rapidly to cover

18 PRESENT B1ETH0D OF CULTIVATING the surface of the wall. The method of pruning, also, being, in general, what is called the spur method, tends more than any other to the permanent retention of old wood. And thus, the vine commences its fruit-bearing life under the most adverse circumstances.

The same mode of culture being followed in yearly succession, the vine quickly spreads over its allotted space of walling, exceeding, perhaps, two hundred, or even three hundred superficial feet. It then contains a vast number of long and useless limbs, on which may be seen scores of excrescences, dignified with the name of spurs, producing in the growing season a superabundance of foliage, but with little fruit, and that of an inferior description, and requiring in its management a tenfold portion of time and trouble, beyond what would be necessary under a proper mode of culture.

To these characteristics of the usual method of managing a vine, may be added two others ; namely, that of suffering the stem and principal branches to be covered with several years' accumulation of decayed layers of bark, and of continually digging the border in which the roots run, and cropping it with vegetables, even close up to the very stem.

This brief description of the method of cultivating vines on open walls, will apply, I believe, to ninety-nine out of every hundred throughout

GRAPE VINES ON OPEN WALLS.

the country. And it may be remarked of it, that during the very first year of the plant having been suffered prematurely to ripen fruit, and throughout every successive year afterwards, not a single point of culture has been practised, but what may be described as most erroneous. Every step taken, has been apparently for the purpose of rearing a superstructure of old barren wood, rather than the production of abundant crops of fine flavoured fruit.

Can it be matter of surprise, therefore, that under such a mode of culture, grapes grown on open walls, do not, in general, attain to a higher degree of perfection ?

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Chapter III

ON THE CAPABILITY AND EXTENT OF THE FRUIT- BEARING POWERS OF THE TINE.

There is not a single point of culture in the whole routine of the management of a vine, the knowledge of which is of so much importance, as that which enables the cultivator to ascertain with precision, the greatest quantity of fruit he can annually extract from it, without checking its growth, or injuring its vital powers. The operation of pruning, if it be not guided by this, is an operation performed perfectly at random, and every inch of bearing-wood either cut out, or retained under such circumstances, is done in utter ignorance of the consequences, whether they will ultimately prove injurious or beneficial to the health and fertility of the plant. And yet, necessary as is this knowledge, and without the guidance of which, in pruning, neither good flavoured grapes, nor good crops, can with certainty be annually obtained, all the rules hitherto laid down for the pruning of vines, have been promulgated, unaccompanied with the slightest instruction to lead the pruner to a knowledge of this most valuable point of culture.

OF THE VINE.

Such, however, is the importance of proportioning the quantity of fruit to be matured, to the capability of the plant, that in Miller's Gardener's Dictionary it is stated, in reference to the cultivation of the vine in foreign countries, "that when gentlemen abroad let out vineyards to vignerons, there is always a clause inserted in their leases, to direct how many shoots shall be left upon each vine, and the number of eyes to which the branches must be shortened ; because, were not the vignerons thus tied down, they would overbear the vines, so that in a few years they would exhaust their roots, and render them so weak, as not to be recovered again in several years, and their wine would be so bad, as to bring a disreputation on the vineyard, to the great loss of the proprietor."