WISE NEGLECT. 141 



much wood. If you do not ha'vc room upon the trellis to lay 

 in that wood, your only alternative is to crop heavily, in which 

 case the strength of the vine goes to the crop, and the balance 

 to wood. If, on the contrary, the root is small, the growth of 

 the top will be less, and every experienced man will be able to 

 see if it is weak, in which case he will prune back pretty closely. 

 But if he has got too much wood, ho will sec that the root- 

 power is too great, and let it bear heavy crops of fruit, to 

 restore the balance and the force of the vine going to mature 

 the fruit, he will find it manageable. 



You see, therefore, that with a little wise neglect, and cheaper, 

 processes than we have thought to be needful, you will achieve 

 the highest success. No matter how you train the grape, so 

 long as you have spurs of good wood. So long as it continues 

 to make wood satisfactory to you, no matter what may be the 

 form, though the stem of the vine be contorted ever so much, 

 though it have the most grotesque form, still you will have your 

 crop. Training is more a matter of taste than necessity, except 

 in so far as some forms are more convenient to prune and har- 

 vest the grape from than others. There is not the least necessity 

 for training in set forms in regard tq crop or quality. 



Those ripe cuttings which you will take from the vine should 

 have at least two buds ; if very short-jointed, three. Cut them 

 off with a clean, close cut, just below the lower bud, from which 

 point the roots are most copiously emitted, and leave the tip of 

 the shoot one inch above the bud which is to make the vine, 

 that it may project from the ground and be observed when 

 hoeing. Plant the cuttings in mellow earth a few inches apart. 

 Leave the top of the shoot just apparent upon the surface, and 

 that will leave the bud a little less than an inch below the sur- 

 face, from which place it grows with the greatest facility, giving 

 you no more trouble, except to furnish a slight shade of branches 

 or leaves or anything else, until it has got two or three leaves, 

 in order that the young shoot may not be burned under the 

 powerful heat of the sun. No further care is needed, except to 

 keep the ground clean. Then you will have vines of your own 

 growing, of wood known to be healthy, from which you can 

 select out the best and reject the weak altogether, and so estab- 

 lish a vineyard that shall be sure to have thoroughly healthy 

 vines throughout its whole extent. 



