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    FRUITS 1ST THEIR SEASON. 161

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    Ii.-^-Geape Gatherings. Whether Our Firs...

    ripening . "Whether for wine making or to serve for humbler uses , it would certainly be "well were more general attention paid to the

    open-air cultivation of a plant which , however it may require greenhouse pampering to secure its full perfection , may yet be made to

    attain no slight degree of excellence at the cost of a little care and trouble . Many a wall now bare and unsightly might be turned into

    an object of beauty and a source of pleasure and profit were it taken advantage of and dedicated to the vine , for properly prepared soils and

    _jiidicious pruning are the chief requisites for the production of good grapes ; and it is owing" to the general ignorance on these points ,

    rather than to ungenial climate , that this fruit so rarely ripens in the open air in England . " One of the principal causes of grapes not

    ripening well on open walls in this country , " says the eminent _grapegrower , Clement Ho are , " is the great depth of mould in which the

    roots of vines are suffered to run ; which , enticing * them to j ) enetrate in search of food below the influence of the sun ' s rays , supplies them

    • with too great a _qiiantity 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 . " The simple

    remedy is a supply of dry materials , such as broken bricks , bones , & c , to the soil , by means of which the roots are also enabled to obtain

    air , which is as requisite to them as earth , and gain too the room necessary for the discharge of excrementitious matter . The importance

    of this subject in an economical point of view may be judged by the declaration of Mr . Hoare , that "it is not too much to assert that the

    surface of the walls of every _cottag-e of a medium size , which 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 . " Thus the English vine might become as serviceable to the cottager

    as the Irish pig , while it would certainly be a more agreeable . adjunct to a dwelling .

    Whatever were the virtues of our vintage in the olden time , its ' excellence , so far as temperature was concernedwas solely owing * to

    the unassisted kindliness of our much reviled climat , efor it was not until the beginning of the last century that grapes , were fostered

    by artificial heat , and fifty years more elapsed before they were . cultivated under glass .

    A vineyard once planted requires indeed constant care , but rarely needs renewal , for the plants are said to improve in quality until

    they are fifty years old , and many are found in full bearing in France and Italy which have at least not deteriorated during a

    lapse of three centuries , while Pliny mentions one patriarchal vine which had attained even double that age . They should not begin

    to bear until the stem close to the ground is three inches in circumference , which it will probably be in the course of four or -five years

    after planting , and five pounds of fruit will then be a sufficient crop not to overtask the powers o . f the young plant , the calculations of

    vol . vx . . . m

    Fruits 1st Their Season. 161

    FRUITS 1 ST THEIR SEASON . 161

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Nov. 1, 1860, page 161, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01111860/page/17/