HOARE ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE VINE.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 5, 16 August 1842, Page 3

HOARE ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE VINE.

(From the Quarterly Review.)

“ 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 erode fruit. It was no unnatural conclusion that they might equally he 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 oiic, indeed, that is little interior 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 ol 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, ixc., 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 Ist 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 overcropping the vines, and which sometimes amount to a great number; and also the berries that arc 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 ! “ 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 hears 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-knite must he 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.

“ The natural soil which is most congenial to the growth of the vine, anil 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 brandling 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 principle 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 exerementitious 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 follows. JJut 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 in a medium which dissipates their secretions, and a healthy and vigorous vegetation is the never-failing consequence. All borders, therefore, made expressly for the reception of vines, ought to be composed of a sufficient quantity of dry materials, such as stones; brickbats, broken moderately small; lumps of old mortar; broken pottery ; oyster shells, &c. &c.

“ If the soil and sub-soil be naturally such as is described above ns the most congenial to the growth of the vine, nothing move is required than to trench the ground two spit deep, to clean it well from all weeds, and roots, and to make it as line as possible, and it will then be in a proper state to receive the vines. But if the sub-soil be not naturally dry, it must be made so by the usual process of draining, which is the basis of every improvement that can be made in the soil. The bottom of the drains ought, if possible, to he four feet from tho surface and the drains a foot deep ; the clear depth of the border will then be three feet. If the soil of this be heavy and of a retentive nature, two-thirds of it ought to be taken entirely away, and the remaining portion, which should be the! top spit, made very fine. The deficiency should be made good, by adding an equal quantity of dry materials of the above-mentioned description, and of the sweepings of a high road, all of which must be well mixed and incorporated together. If the natural soil of the border be too sandy and light, the same process may be followed with the exception of the addition of road sweepings. In lieu of these should he added a sufficiency of fine mould collected from molehills, which is generally of a rich loamy nature; or of fresh soil from some neighbouring meadow or common, which, if well pastured, will prove very fertile; but if neither of these can be procured, the deficiency may be made good from the top spit of a field of good arable land. And of whatever nature the soil may be in which it is intended to plant vines; it ought to contain at least one-third of dry mate rials of the above-mentioned description.” (To be continued.)