The abridgement of the gardeners dictionary / [Philip Miller].

  • Miller, Philip, 1691-1771
Date:
1763
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The abridgement of the gardeners dictionary / [Philip Miller]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    889/958
    kept conflantly ploughed and harrowed for at leafl one year, to render the furface light; and hereby it will be rendered fertile, by imbibing the nitrous particles of the air (efpe- cially if it be long expofed thereto before it is planted) ; in the next March the ground ihould be well ploughed again, and after having made the furface pretty even, the rows Ihould be marked out from fouth-ealt to north-weft, at the diltance of ten feet from each other; and thefe rows Ihould be crofted again at five or fix feet diftance, which will mark out the exatt places where each plant fhould be placed ; fo that the Vines will be ten feet row from row, and five or fix feet afunder in the rows, nearer than which they ought never to be planted. For herein moll people, who have planted vineyards, have greatly erred, fome having allowed no more than five feet row from row, and the plants but three feet afunder in the rows, and others, who think they have been full liberal in this article, have only planted their Vines at fix feet diftance every way ; but neither of thefe have allowed a proper diftance to them, as I fhall fhew ; for, in the firft place, where the rows are placed too clofe, there will not be room for the fun and air to pafs in be¬ tween them, when the Vines are fully grown, to dry up the moifture, which, being detained amongft the Vines, mull produce very ill effe«5ls : and, fecondly, where the Vines are placed in exatSl fquares fo near together as fix feet, the effeft will be much the fame ; for the autumns in England, are often attended with rains, cold dews, or fogs, fo proper care ihould be taken to remove every thing which may obftrudt the drying up the damps which arife from the ground. The ikilful Fignerons abroad are alfo fenfible how much it contributes to the goodnefs of their Vines, to allow a large fpace between the rows ; and therefore where the quality of the wine is more regarded than the quantity, they never plant their Vines at lefs than ten feet row from row, and fome allow twelve. It was an obfervation of Bellonius, almoft two hundred years fince, that in thofe iflands of the Archipelago, where the rows of Vines were placed at a great diftance, the wine was much preferable to thofe whiph were clofe planted ; and this he poiitively affirms to be the cafe in moll countries where he had travelled. Indeed we need not have recourfe to antiquity for the certainty of fuch fatts, when we are daily convinced of this truth in all clofe plan¬ tations of any kind of fruit, where it is conflantly obferved, that the fruits in fuch places are never fo well coloured, fo early ripe, nor near fo well flavoured, as thofe produced on trees, where the air can freely circulate about them, and the rays of the fun have free accefs to the branches, whereby the juices are better prepared before they enter the fruit. Having thus confidered the diftance which is neceflary to be allowed to thefe plants, we come next to the planting ; but in order to this, the proper forts of Grapes ihould be judi- cioufly chofen, and in this particular we have egregioufly erred in England. Moil of the vineyards at prefent planted here, are of the fweeteft and beft fort of Grapes for eating, which is contrary to the general practice of the Fignerons abroad, who always obferve, that fuch Grapes never make good wine ; and therefore from experience, make choice of thofe forts of Grapes, whole juice, after fermenting, affords a noble rich liquor; thefe Grapes are always auftere, and not fo palatable. This is alfo agreeable to the conftant praftice of our cyder-makers in England, who obferve, that the beft eating Apples feldom make good cyder ; whereas the more rough and auftere lores, after being prefted and fermented, afford a ftrong vinous liquor. And I believe it will be found true ir. all fruits, that where the natural heat of the fun ripens and prepares their juices, fo as to render them palatable, whatever degree of htac thefe juices have more, either by fermentation, or from any other caufe, will ren- 7 der them weaker and lefs fpirituous. Of this we have many inftances in fruits; for if we tranfplant any of our fummer or autumn fruits, which ripen perfedlly in England without the affiftance of art, into a climate a few degrees warmer, thefe fruits will be meally and infipid ; fo likewife if we bake or (lew any of thefe fruits, they will be good for little, lofing all their fpirit and flavour by the additional heat of the fire ; and fuch fruits as are by no means eatable raw, are hereby rendered exquifite, which, if tranfplanted into a warmer climate, have, by the additional heat of the fun, been alfo altered fo as to exceed the moft delicious of our fruits in this country. From whence it is plain, that thofe Grapes which are agreeable to the palate for eating, are not proper for wire; in making of which, their juices mu.ft undergo a ftrong fer¬ mentation ; therefore fince we have in England been only propagating the moft palatable Grapes for eating, and neglected the other forts, before we plant vineyards, we fhould take care to be provided with the proper forts from abroad, which ihould be chofen according to the fort of wines intended to be imitated ; though I believe the moft probable fort to fucceed in England is the Au-vernat, or true Burgundy Grape, (which is rarely found in the Englijh vine¬ yards, though it is a common Grape in the gardens againft walls). This fort of Grape is moft preferred in Burgundy, Champaign, Orleans, and moft of the other wine countries in France; and I am informed, that it fucceeds very well in feveral places to the north of Paris, where proper care is taken of their management; fo that I ihould advife iuch perfons as would try the fuccefs of vineyards in England, to procure cuttings of this Grape ; but herein fome perfon of integrity and judgment fhould be employed to get them from fuch vineyards where no other forts of Grapes are cul¬ tivated, which is very rare to find, unlefs in fome particular vineyards of thofe perfons who are very exadl to keep up the reputation of their wines, nothing being more common than for the Fignerons to plant three or four forts of Grapes in the fame vineyard, and at the time of vintage to mix them all together ; which renders their wines lefs delicate, than in fuch places where they have only this one true fort of Grape. And here I would caution every one againft mixing the juice of feveral Grapes together, which will caufe- the wine to ferment at different times, and in different manners. The cuttings being thus provided (for I would always prefer thefe to layers, or rooted plants, for the reafons given at the beginning of this article) about the beginning of April is the beft feafon for planting, when it will be proper to put the lower ends of the cuttings in water about three inches, fetting them upright for fix or eight hours before they are ufed ; then at the center of every crofs mark al¬ ready made by a line, to the diftance the Vines are defigned, fhould be a hole made with a ipade, or other inftrument, about a foot deep ; into each of which fhould be put one ftrong cutting, placing it a little Hoping; then the hole fhould be filled up with earth, prefling it gently with the feet to the cutting, and raifing a little hill to each about three inches, fo as juft to cover the uppermoft eye or bud* which will prevent the wind and fun from drying any part of the cuttings, and this upper eye only will {hoot ; the under ones, moft of them, will puih out roots, fo that this fhoot will generally be very ftrong and vigorous. After they are thus planted, they will require no other care until they fhoor, except to keep the ground clear from weeds, which fhould be conflantly obferved ; but as the di¬ ftance between the rows of Vines is very great, fo the ground between them may be Town or planted with any kind of efculent plants, which do not grow tall, provided there is proper diftance left from the Vines, and care taken that