Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-08-07
VINE FROM HOME GARDENS
DECLINE OF THE GRAPE GROW
ING INDUSTRY In BRITAIN.
Destruction of Monasteries and
Fashion for Foreign Goods
Blighted English Vineyards.

When one speaks of homemade wine
people usually think of the cowslip or
raspberry varieties. Yet when | was a
boy in Suffolk we made a delicious still
Mosele' from the grapes We picked from
two great old vines that grew on a wide
expanse of southeast wall.
The still Moselle | buy today. grown on
the banks Of the Rhine under much more
trying climatic conditions. is no better,
and often much worse, than that We pro-
duced by the simple expedient of piling
up the ripe grapes in large washing tubs.
, kneading them by hand leaving the re-
sulting pulp to ferment, then straining
the liquid into a cask, the bung of which
was left open that the scum could
work out of it in a sort of gigantic canli-
flower. ! remember yet the joy of being
allowed to scrape this Off Next year the
wine was fit to be bottled and drunk, and
uncommoniy good ii was. though We never
attempted to add the alcohol and sugar
which would have transformed ii into
Sparkling Moselle instead of still.
1t is a matter Of history that vine grow
ing was introduced into this country al
the beginning of the Christian era, and
all over the south of England places
called by the name vineyard still exist.
though the vines have vanished, pfooaoiy
the last real vineyard being the one al
Paines Hill, Gotham, Wnich was zone
away with in 1920.
The theory most often advanced TO eX-
plain this disappearance of staple Brit
ish industry is that the deforestation OF
the country produced an unfavoraoie
change of climate This is absurd, as
II could only make the climate dTier-an
advantage SO far as grape growing is
| concerned. and certainly the climate OF
Suffolk has not altered in the thirty years
since / was a boy.
The true causes were probably the de-
struction of the monasteries, for the old
monks were famous gardeners-and the
fashion for foreign goods, especially Tor
that heavy wine from Orpoto Wnich Is
respons ible for SO much of the govt our
great-grandfatehrs have bequeathed to
US.
Monopoly of Foreign Wines.
Just as the French maraicher has been
allowed to monopolize the London market
for early vegetables, SO the continental
winegrower has been allowed to monopo-
lize the English wine merchant. Now,
however, that the Royal Horticultural So
ciety has planted vineyard In us
ga rdens at Wisely, we are awaiting the
result Of the experiment with keen in
terest, for as vines require poor soil
much of the land round London, Tor IN
stance, would be too rich for tnem-the
success of this industry would allow a
good profit to be made on many acres OF
almost barren pasture land.
Every moderate-siZed house with a
south or east wall might produce quar-
ter of ton Of grapes: 200 buncnes were
gathered last year from house IN Lad
broke-grove the outer edge of Bays
water. Yet the vines one used to see on
the old-fas hioned matched cottages have
been allowed to die off or run wild: peo-
pie have lost the art Of properly pruning
and thinning out so that the vine should
fruit early, allowing the grapes to ripen
before the cold weather. The white
Sweetwater grape, II properly aged.
would invariably ripen, and could be
grown in the fields as tomatoes are. Ten
years ago it was believed impossible
thoroughly to ripen tomatoes out OF
doors, but now enormous quantities are
grown thus.
Field Culture of Vines.
For field culture of hardy vines the first
essential is the right sort OF land. The
. whole surface should be light, sandy
loan, one and one-half to two feet deep,
with either graveliy or chalky subsoii,
and full rubble. The north side Of river
is an IDEAL spot for this purpose, with a
gradual descent to the south and always
open to the east. so as TO have the full
effect of the early morning sun TO Dry up
moisture. We see this position on the
banks of the Rhine from Rudesheim to
Cologne, on the Lake of Geneva round
Lausanne, and in that place, now entirely
built over, still known as THE Nine-
yard at Bath. A river is not essential
of course; in the Bordeaux district and
more northern parts of France, as once
i'm England. enormous quantities are
grown in the fields.
l should like to see small experimental
patches OF one or two rods started all
over the south of England. That success
is possible is shown by the fact That the
Marquis of Butte planted vineyard at
Castle Coch, near Cardiff, about twenty
years ago, and the supply of wine from 1t
is not equal to the demand, while recent
ly Mr. English of Arlington Park, near
Croydon, also started a vineyard. and
last October won the Royal Horticultural
Society's prize for the best basket of out
door grapes.