54 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



Mr. Augur. I was not there in the fruit season ; the fruit 

 was all gathered. I only saw the naked vines ; but I should, 

 judge, from two and a half to three feet each way from the 

 main stem. We all understand that the fruit is produced on 

 the present season's wood, and from each of those eyes on this 

 vertical stem there is a branch which has from three to four 

 clusters, and where the wood is tolerably short-jointed there 

 are a good many branches and a good many clusters ; those 

 are thinned out and the wood shortened back a little, accord- 

 ing to the growth. 



Mr. Wheeler. I would like to ask Mr. Augur or Mr. Hale 

 if the practice of girdling vines during the fruiting season is 

 recommended now, as it was some few years since ? 



Mr. Augur. I believe it is a practice that is very generally 

 condemned. It is occasionally done in order to secure larger 

 fruit ; but, in a great many of the horticultural societies, it is 

 against the rule to accept fruit from girdled vines. 



Question. I would like to ask if they take a new cane for 

 the next year ? 



Mr. Augur. They do, invariably, from near the ground. 

 Mr. Williams. Tlie locality that my friend speaks about 

 is noted throughout the land as being one of the finest grape- 

 grdiwing regions in this country. It is a paradise, compara- 

 tively speaking. They know nothing of mildew or rot, the 

 two great difficulties with which we Jerseymen have to con- 

 tend. The climate in this respect has a great deal to do with 

 the success of grape culture. What the climate is here in 

 Connecticut I cannot say, and it would be unwise and pre- 

 sumptuous for me to advise you how to prune your vines. 



Perhaps the idea that this gentleman on my left has advanced 

 may have something to do with it. It is a question whether 

 we do not get better crops if we give our grape-vines light and 

 ' air than we do if we adopt the system which Mr. Augur has 

 described as practiced on the Hudson. I have long been of 

 the impression that mildew is largely developed and fostered 

 where the air is* confined near the ground. I have always 



