height of the growing season, and have many times noted the fact, that during the space of twenty-four hours when the wind has blown briskly, the shoots exposed to its influence have not perceptibly grown at all, while, shortly afterwards, the wind having entirely sunk away, the same shoots have grown upwards of three inches in a similar space of time, the temperature of the air in a sheltered situation being alike during each period.

And if two young vines be planted by the side of each other, against a wall exposed to the north, for the purpose of trying the experiment, by excluding the influence of the sun's rays, and one be kept nailed to the wall every five or six inches of its growth throughout the summer, and the other be suffered to be blown about without any such protection; the former will be found at the end of the season, to have grown in the size and extent of its shoots, three or four times as much as the latter. Nothing, indeed, can be more tender, or less calculated to withstand the effects of the wind than the extremities of the young shoots of a vine, which, from being extremely porous, are almost as susceptible of its withering influence, as the sensitive plant is of the touch of the hand.

Many instances might be circumstantially detailed of the injurious effects of the wind upon

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established vines during their summer's growth; two, however, of recent occurrence, will, perhaps, suffice.

On the eleventh of June, 1833, a strong wind sprang up early in the morning from the west, and increased in force till noon, when it blew quite a gale, and continued so to do throughout the day. It slackened a little during the night, and gradually decreased in violence the next day, dying entirely away by the evening. The effects of this wind on a vine of the white muscadine sort trained on a wall having a western aspect, were carefully observed. It had on a full crop of fruit, and a good supply of fine young bearing-shoots, and was altogether in a most thriving condition. Such, however, were the injurious effects of the wind, in dissipating all the accumulated secretions of the foliage, and then closing, almost hermetically, its pores, and thereby totally deranging the vital functions of the plant, that, although in the height of the growing season, not the slightest appearance of renewed vegetation could be discerned in any part of its leaves, shoots, or fruit, until the third day of July, or twenty-two days afterwards. It never produced another inch of good bearingwood throughout the remainder of the season, but lingered in a very weak and sickly condition; and the fruit, which had been previously estimated at 90lbs. weight, did not exceed 55lbs.

when gathered, and that of a very inferior description, in point of flavour, and size of berry. Its leaves, also, having been thus crippled, were shed prematurely, a month before their natural time, and hence the deficiency in the flavour and size of the grapes.

The other instance, which happened shortly afterwards, is still more decisive. On the 30th of August following, about eight o'clock in the evening, a strong wind began to blow from the south-west, accompanied with heavy rain. At nine it blew violently, and continued so to do until noon the next day. It then slackened, and, veering to the north-west, died away some time during the following night.

The full force of this wind fell on a remarkably fine Black Hamburgh vine, trained on a wall, having a south south-western aspect, and its effects were, therefore, proportionately destructive. Many of the principal branches were torn so completely from their fastenings, that their extremities swept the ground. The bunches of fruit were knocked about, and portions of them, as well as single berries, lay scattered on the ground in every direction. On the fruit, however, that survived the wreck, the effects of the wind were remarkable. It must be stated, that the wall on which the vine is trained, is ten feet high, and is so situated, that to the height of about three feet from the ground, the wind

had but little power over it, its force being broken by an outer wall, standing at a little distance off, in front of it. On the lower part of the wall so protected, the grapes not having been much injured, began to change their colour and ripen about the twentieth of September, and on the twelfth of October every berry was perfectly matured; while all those that remained on the vine above three feet from the ground, were, on the first of November, as green and as hard as on the thirtieth of August when the high wind occurred. Shortly afterwards these began to change their colour, and ultimately ripened tolerably well by the first week in December. Thus, solely through the effects of a strong wind, there were to be seen at the same time, on the same branches of this vine, and within nine inches of each other, bunches of grapes, the lowermost of which were perfectly ripe, while the uppermost were quite green and hard, and not within seven weeks of reaching the same state of maturity.

These facts, which might be multiplied indefinitely, sufficiently shew the injurious effects of strong winds, and the necessity of protecting vines as much as possible from their destructive consequences. Nor must it be supposed that high winds are those only which injure the vine. Every wind that blows on the foliage of a vine, deranges its functions, and thereby retards the

growth of the plant, and the maturation of its fruit, in a greater or less degree, in proportion to its violence and duration.

In the choice of a good aspect, therefore, shelter from high or often-recurring winds becomes a prime consideration, and those aspects that are the least exposed to their effects, and that receive a full portion of the solar rays, may, accordingly, be deemed the best. There are, however, in general, so many local circumstances which affect the warmth and shelter of the surfaces of walls and buildings, that these alone, where they exist, must determine the best aspects for the training of vines. But if there be no such local circumstances to influence the choice of aspect, then, I have no hesitation in stating, from a careful observation of the qualities and flavour of the fruit of the different vintages for many years past, that the best aspects in which grapes can be brought to the highest degree of perfection on open walls, that the latitude and climate of the southern parts of England will permit, are those that range from the eastern to the south-eastern, both inclusive, the last of which, indeed, may be considered the very best.

On walls having any of these aspects, the sun shines with full force in the early part of the morning, at which time there is something highly favourable to vegetation in the influence