case the vine will be undercropped. This, however, very seldom happens, but to go beyond the true bearing point, and to overcrop a vine whenever the quantity of fruit shewn will admit of it, is of almost universal occurrence, not only with vines trained on open walls, but with those under glass also. It is impossible to place this injurious practice in too prominent a point of view, for it is the prolific parent of almost every evil that can befal a vine, and it is really so general, that scarcely one vine in ten thousand escapes it.

Although, therefore, the proportionate quantities mentioned in the scale, are much less than vines are frequently permitted to bear, they may be regarded as a close approximation to the greatest weight of fruit which can be borne, so as to be brought to the highest degree of maturation which the climate will permit. There may be a little increase in the powers of maturation of vines, when trained on very warm aspects, but I have never found it prevail to any extent, nor to be sufficiently uniform in its occurrence, to justify any variation in the proportions laid down in the scale. Some sorts of vines, also, are constitutionally disposed to shew more fruit than other sorts, but the capability to mature the fruit, is pretty nearly equal in all. It may be further remarked, that if a vine during any season be undercropped, the deficiency may be partly made

D

good the following year, by causing it to bear a considerable portion of fruit more than its allotted quantity, as stated in the scale. This results from the sap not having been all expended in ripening the fruit, it has in consequence accumulated, and the plant is thereby enabled to mature a greater weight of fruit in the ensuing season, than it otherwise could do, from the sap generated in the current year.

The manner in which it is intended that this scale should be practically applied, is to measure the stem of a vine at the autumnal pruning, and to retain no more good well-ripened fruit-buds, than is supposed necessary to produce the given weight of fruit that corresponds to its girt. And if there should be any excess above that quantity in the ensuing summer, the crop must be reduced to the given weight, by cutting off a sufficient number of bunches, as soon as the blossoming is over and the fruit set, as the weight of it when ripened may then be easily estimated.

With respect to the number of buds, that are necessary to be left at the autumnal pruning to produce any given weight of fruit, I have found it to be a good general rule, and applicable to all those sorts of grapes usually cultivated on open walls, to consider every bud (rejecting the two bottom ones on each shoot) as equal to the production of half a pound weight of fruit ;

that is, if the stem of a vine measure five inches in girt, its capability is equal to the maturation of twenty-five pounds' weight of grapes, and, therefore, the number of buds to remain after pruning will be fifty. This proportion, would, in general, be too great, even in the shyest-bearing sorts, but as accidents frequently happen to the bunches during their early growth, and as there will, in general, be some buds that will not burst, provision must be made against these casualties, by reserving a greater number of buds than would otherwise be required. The proportionate number therefore above-mentioned, I have found to answer well, and to be sufficient to meet all contingencies.

It is necessary to observe, that all the experiments on which the scale is founded, were made on vines growing in 50° 46′ north latitude.

CHAPTER IV.

ON ASPECT.

A GOOD aspect, which is of prime importance in perfecting the fruit of the vine, may be termed, when considered in reference to the surface of walls, an amelioration of climate; and soil and climate, are the two grand causes of all the differences which appear in the productions of the earth.

The warmer the aspect, the greater perfection does the grape attain in our climate, provided all other circumstances are alike, and if the greatest quantity of the sun's rays shining on the surface of a wall, were alone to be considered as constituting the best aspect, there would of course be no difficulty in naming a due southern one as better than any other. But warmth alone is not sufficient; shelter is equally necessary. There is a strong counteracting agent, which, as its effects fall more or less on any surface of walling on which vines are trained, proportionately injures them and retards their growth, and the maturation of their fruit. That agent is the wind.

There is no period in the growth of a vine, from the moment of its being planted as a cutting or otherwise, to the extremity of its existence, in which any movement of the air that may properly be called wind, will not have a greater or less pernicious effect on its well-being. The perspiration of a vine is so great, principally through the medium of its fine large leaves, with their broad surfaces disposed in such a manner as to enjoy the full effects of the solar and atmospherical influences, that an extraordinary supply of sap is required, to rise every instant of time throughout the growing season, to enable it to recruit its loss. On the foliage of a plant, performing some of its most important functions in such a manner, if a strong wind should blow at any time for the space only of a few hours, the flow of sap is seriously checked, evaporation proceeds at a most exhausting rate, and the leaves and young shoots being speedily emptied of the moisture accumulated in their cells and vessels, become rigid, and their pores completely closed. The vegetative powers of the plant being thus prostrated, cannot resume their functions till after the wind has ceased for several hours or even days, according to its previous violence and duration.

I have made repeated observations on the growth of the leading-shoots of vines in the