ANNUAL MEETING. 145 



constantly wet as to inflict upon the plants irreparable injury, or, on the other 

 hand, a severe drought may so parch thetn as to ruin a crop of fruit if no 

 worse. 



It is needless, on the other hand, to advise against the selection of very 

 light, poor, or excessively porous soils. 



The alternative, tlierefore, is a loamy soil, whetlier clayey or sandy, with a 

 subsoil either naturally pervious or thoroughly underdraiiied. 



Ill the climate of Michigan, the aspect should be either level, southerly, or 

 southeasterly, never westerly or northerly, — even in the mild climate of Italy 

 a western exposure is considered inadmissible, — and the plantation should, by 

 its slope, or by other effective means, be sheltered from the influence of cold, 

 northerly, or westerly winds. 



PLANTING. 



European vineyard ists often plant their vines as close as three feet ; and our 

 earlier American planters, borrowing their ideas from this source, failed to 

 consider the difference in the natural vigor of the two classes, and commenced 

 a similar practice, which is not even yet wholly abandoned ; although there is 

 and has been a growing tendency to attribute the rotting of the fruit, and 

 perhaps other unfavorable particulars, to the excessive pruning requisite to 

 keep them within such prescribed limit. Be this as it may, it can liave little 

 to do witli the earlier pruning of the plants; hence we omit farther remark on 

 this point till a subsequent branch of the subject shall require its farther con- 

 sideration. 



Assuming that the planter will have already learned the A. B. C. of horti- 

 culture, — the necessity of the thorough fertilization and preparation of the 

 soil, — and that he knows how and when to plant well and successfully, and 

 moreover, that he understands what constitutes a suitable plant for his pur- 

 pose, we pass to the subject of 



PRUNING. * 



First Year. 



We would advise, by preference, the use of plants of one season's growth — 

 certainly not older than two years; and, without regard to their relative vigor, 

 all should, when planted, be cut back to one shoot, and that shoot to two or 

 three good buds. 



In the early summer these buds will probably each send forth a shoot. 

 After they shall have formed from two to four leaves each, select the strongest 

 one — the lower by preference, and cut away, rub off, or pinch off the tip of 

 the other, and thus direct the full vigor of the plant to the formation of a 

 single strong shoot or cane; which should be tied upright to a temporary 

 stake, instead of being left to trail upon the ground, by which means its vigor 

 will be considerably increased. 



As its growth progresses it will push forth laterals, the growth of which 

 must, of course, be so much in diminution of the vigor of the primary shoot. 

 These laterals, therefore, must be stopped above tlie first leaf by pinching off 

 their tips; if their growth is renewed, stop them again after forming another 

 leaf, continuing so to do. To cut them wholly away would usually force a 

 new growth from a bud at the base of the lateral. 



We have now brought the plant to the close of its first season's growth in 



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