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PREFACE.

THERE is not, that I am aware of, any work extant in the English Language, that exclusively treats of the Vine, except the Treatise on the Culture of the Vine, written by Speechly in the year 1789. That work, however, though undoubtedly a valuable one, and shewing on the part of the author a thorough practical knowledge of the nature of the vine, in reference to its culture under glass, is, yet, not sufficiently full nor explicit, with regard to the management of that plant, when cultivated on open walls. Hence the principal reason of the appearance of this volume.

In compiling it, I have endeavoured, in as plain and as concise a manner as the nature of the subject would admit, to embody all the necessary points of culture, with the principles on which they are founded; and also to arrange them in such a manner, as to make their

practical application a matter of easy attainment. I have, also, excluded every thing of a technical nature, and have, in many instances, not scrupled to use a phraseology different from that usually employed by writers on horticulture. In adopting this course, my object has been to render the work more generally useful, and especially so to the more humble part of the rural population, by enabling them to avail themselves, without difficulty, of the directions contained in it, and, thereby, the more readily to induce them to turn their attention to the cultivation of a plant, which is capable of adding to their comforts, and increasing their enjoyments, in a much greater degree than has been hitherto supposed.

The details of many operations relative to the culture of the vine, that have been heretofore inserted in works on gardening, have been excluded in the present work, for the simple, and, I trust, satisfactory reason, that the operations themselves when submitted to the test of experience, have been found, either, of uncertain issue, or of very questionable utility.

It remains only to observe, that although the routine of management recommended in the fol

lowing pages, is the result of many years' diligent investigation, and of patient observation, and rests, therefore, on the firm basis of actual experience; I have no reason to expect, nor do I desire, indeed, that this treatise should be considered as worthy of the patronage of the public, otherwise than in proportion to the value and usefulness of the improvements it is designed to introduce, in the culture of that most grateful of all fruit trees, THE GRAPE VINE.

Sidlesham, near Chichester, Dec. 30th, 1834.

ADVERTISEMENT

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THE SECOND EDITION.

THE Author has embraced the opportunity which the publication of a Second Edition offers, to make some additions to the following Treatise, which he trusts will have the effect of increasing its usefulness.

Sidlesham, Jan. 2, 1837.

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