The above plan of training the vine at Thomery was engraved from that in Loudon's Gardener's Magazine, and like that in the London Horticultural Transactions, is evidently wrong. The vines are represented as set two feet asunder, which is too far, rendering it necessary to bring the whole of the fifth cordon from the back ground, through a perforation in the wall. I have directed to place the vines but nineteen or twenty inches asunder, which enables them to cover completely the whole wall.

On the southern, eastern, and western exposures of the wall, they are furnished with trellises, the upright standards of which are two feet apart, and the horizontal rails are nine inches apart; the lower one six inches only from the ground.

The grape border along this wall, is dug or manured to the width of five or six feet, and to the depth of fifteen or eighteen inches. If the soil is moist or strong, they slope the border so as to throw off the rains from the wall; this prevents the accumulation of water at the roots of the vines, and is essential to success. When the border is prepared, they open a trench at four feet distance from the wall, and parallel to it, two feet wide and nine inches deep. They have ready prepared, a quantity of cuttings sufficient for the wall; these are about two feet long, and from being taken with a piece of old wood attached to the heel, are called croisettes, [cruciform,] but this form is not considered indispensable. These they lay across the trench at the bottom, with the top towards the wall, and at the distance of twenty inches asunder, and cover them with four or five inches of soil, and tread them down; at the same time raising the upper end which was towards the wall, nearly to a perpendicular; then fill the trench two thirds full, and spread the residue over the border. They then put into the trench, three inches of manure, which keeps the plants fresh and moist, and prevents the ground from becoming dry and moist.

In March, [November with us] they cut in the plant to two eyes above ground; they weed, dress and water the border during the first season, if needful, for the young planted grape requires a gentle degree of moisture. They tie the young shoots of the year to some supporters, and do everything to favor its growth. The second year, if any of the plants have more than one branch, they preserve only the strongest. They bury the new wood as the first year, and so on till they reach the wall. At every time they lay the shoot, they cut in, till they reach strong, ripe wood, well furnished with good eyes. It will generally take three years before it reaches the wall, but in the meantime they gather some fine bunches.

We now come to the formation of the cordons or horizontal branches. If the wall is eight feet high, it will require five cordons [or five tiers of branches]; the first six

inches from the ground, and the four others eighteen inches asunder, upon the horizontal rails of the trellis, which had been previously so arranged as to effect this object. The stalk destined to form the lowest cordons, [or horizontal branches to right and left,] will be cut just at the required height, if it has at that place a double eye. If it has not,

you must cut it above the eye which is next above the lowest rail of the trellis. These two eyes are destined to furnish the two lowest branches or horizontal arms, the one to the right the other to the left on the lowest rail. The one that is too high must be bent down gently, and that which is too low trained up, and then bent. first year however, these branches are trained obliquely, as they would not bear being bent and confined to their destined horizontal position till the next year, when both are finally secured to the trellis in the same horizontal line.

The

The second cordon [or horizontal line of branches,] being at two feet distance from the ground, cannot be formed as soon as the first; the third will be still later, and so on. Whatever be the height you design to advance your stalk or stem, you ought not to advance it more than twelve or fifteeen inches each year, and preserve its lateral buds to increase its growth, and furnish fruit. But as soon as the stem has reached the requisite height, it is absolutely necessary to suppress and cut off all lateral buds on the main stem throughout.

Let us now suppose, that all the stems have arrived at their required or destined height, and that the two last branches are extended, the one to the right and the other to the left, to form the two arms of the cordon, [horizontal branches;] we will now show how these two arms are to be cut, till they have gained the length of four feet each.

The first year you will cut so as to leave three good eyes or buds, from four to six inches apart. Two of these eyes will form bearing wood, the third will be employed to lengthen the branch. Care must be taken to train verti Ically the shoots destined to bear the fruit; the other is trained obliquely the first year, and bent down and secured in its horizontal position afterwards. At the second pruning, the bearing shoots thus trained vertically must be cut, leaving only two eyes, or buds'; and the terminal branch must in like manner be so trimmed, as that there will be

three eyes, two of which will be reserved for bearers, and the third to prolong the shoot as in the former year, and so proceed till each lateral branch shall have reached the length of four feet. Each branch ought then to have eight bearing eyes or shoots, all if possible, on the upper side. When all the five plants shall have reached their height and length, you will have on a surface of eight feet square, eighty coursons or bearing branches of two eyes each, each producing two branches, which will each bear at least two bunches of excellent grapes, or three hundred and twenty bunches on eight feet square of surface, [sixtyfour square feet.]

According to Mr Loudon, at Montreuil, they practise a more expeditious, though perhaps less perfect mode; and instead of requiring three years for the vine to reach the wall, the vines are laid in horizontally, a few inches beneath the surface, and their tops brought to the wall at once. In this case the vines are bent and surrounded by brickbats, and thus forced to throw out innumerable roots.

The eyes at the bottom of the shoots of the grape are very close together and extremely small. There are no less than six in the space of two lines, or the sixth of an inch. When you cut the bearing branch long, say one or two inches, these little eyes become extinct or lie dormant and do not push but if you cut close to them, they develope-they grow and produce beautiful clusters. Able gardeners are well aware of this, they always cut their coursons or bearing branches at the distance of a line, (or one twelfth of an inch,) sometimes even less. It is for this reason that these branches never become long under their management. Those who are ignorant of the nature of the vine cannot conceive how a bearing branch shall have given fruit for twenty years, and not be at the end of the time an inch long.

As soon as the young shoots of the vine have grown to a sufficient length, they are attached to the treillage, the stronger ones first, but loosely, until they have acquired sufficient elasticity. Great caution is here necessary; you ought not to force them into a vertical position till the berry is large, for they break off easily when young.

The lateral shoots which break near the eyes on the young wood, and the tendrils, should be suppressed while young. And if there be more than two buds which start

from the same courson, [spur,] the supernumerary ones must be suppressed, even though they exhibit fruit. Two bourgeons [branches,] each decorated with two beautiful clusters, are more valuable than a greater number of inferior size. But caution is here necessary; those supernumerary shoots which start from the base should not be removed too soon, for if removed too suddenly it gives a shock to vegetation, or occasions wasteful bursts of sap; you wait until the wood has acquired some consistence and until new channels are provided for the expenditure of the sap by the expansion of the leaves, and until after the grapes are set.

At Thomery, the young wood is pinched at its extremity after the bloom is set, as soon as it reaches the cordon next above it. This has the effect of momentarily suspending the flow of sap in these shoots, and by that means it accelerates their maturity and renders them more ligneous. It promotes the growth of the eyes, and is indispensable for filling the lower eyes of the spurs on which cultivators rely for the next year's crop; pinching or stopping the wood either prematurely or tardily is alike productive of bad consequences. Weak shoots are pinched sooner in proportion to their strength, but none are permitted on any account to push beyond the cordon. Should it appear that the shoots of the extremities of the cordons [horizontal arms,] impoverish those of the centre, the former are pinched repeatedly until the equilibrium is restored.

The season they generally prefer for the winter pruning, is from the first of February to the first of March, before the first movement of the sap takes place. The earliest pruned vines are found to break first. The vignerons avoid cutting close to the eyes, lest they might be injured by the wood dying down to them, the wood of the vine, from its spongy nature, not healing readily and being liable to decay at a wound. To guard against this they always cut midway between the eyes, sloping the cut to the opposite side of the shoot, so that the eye may not be damaged by its bleeding.

When vines are planted at once close to a wall, and in a level, deep border, and at an extended distance, they absorb an immoderate degree of nourishment, which gives rise to a rank and late vegetation, which retards the ripen