Miscellaneous Intelligence. 213 



but when the vine is limited to one cordon, it maintains that one in vigour 

 under any such circumstances of privation. 



" Might not training 1 on these principles, if accommodated to their pecu- 

 liar natures, be applied with advantage to our pear trees on walls, and 

 ipp'e trees on espaliers ; it would probably counteract their tendency to 

 run naked at the lower parts and centre, and bear only at the extremities. 



" When pruning their vines, the vignerons avoid cutting close to the eyes^ 

 lest they might be injured by the wood dying down to them ; the wood of 

 the vine, from its spongy nature and the peculiarity of its alburnum, not 

 healing readily, ana being liable to decay at a wound. To guard against 

 this, they always cut midway between the eyes, sloping the cut to the oppo- 

 site ;;ide of the shoot, so that the eye may not be damaged by its bleeding. 

 They are also careful to inflict no wounds unnecessarily, and those they do 

 make they finish off in the neatest manner. 



" The season they generally prefer for the winter pruning is from the be- 

 ginning of February to the beginning of March, before the first movement 

 Of the sap' takes places. The earliest pruned vines are found to break firs'; 



mer Pruning or Training. — Cut out weak shoots, unless any should 

 become necessary to replace failures in the spurs. 



" As premature summer pruning is productive of the same bad effects a3 

 follow late summer training, in occasioning wasteful bursts of sap, it is con- 

 sidered prudent, before the stronger shoots are cleared oft", to wait until the 

 wood has acquired some consistence, and until new channels are prepared 

 lor the expenditure of the sap by the expansion of the leaves." 



Stripping a plant of its leaves and shoots suddenly, always gives a shock 

 Jo its vegetation, and therefore should be very carefully and gradually per- 

 formed, until the grapes are set. 



Pinching or Stopping the Young Wood.— This accelerates the maturity of 

 the shoots, and swells the buds of the spurs. At Thomery the young wood 

 is pinched after the bud is set. " Should it appear that the shoots of the 

 extremities impoverish those of the centre, the former are pinched repeat- 

 edly until the equilibrium is restored. 



" When the vignerons of Thomery, before the adoption of the present 

 system, during a period of thirty years, made a practice of planting their 

 vines far apart, their growth was so luxuriant that they were under the 

 necessity of leaving a distance of 2 ft. between each cordon, and even that 

 was found insufficient as they shot beyond it, and could only be kept within 

 bounds by repeatedly cutting in the youug wood, though in an advanced 

 state ; but since they have adopted the practice of close planting, and by a 

 judicious selection have procured varieties which grow more kindly, pinch- 

 ing alone is found sufficient to keep the plants in order." 



Care of the Fruit.— Cut off the extremities of long bunches, for they 

 generally ripen late. Let only two remain on a shoot. Thin the berries of 

 close bunches, and remove insects. When the bunch is three-fourths ripe, 

 take oft" a few leaves to admit the sun and air to colour the fruit. " In doing 

 this, the leaf is torn off at the extremity of the foot-stalk, which is left be- 

 hind to attract the sap"f?]. The bunches are frequently put in hair bag, 

 protect them from birds ; but more commonly they are screened with 

 cloths, matting of straw or bass, or with fern, which, late in the season, is 

 removed during the middle of fine days, and which will preserve fruit on the 

 trees till Christmas. [This we saw done in M. Decouffle's garden in October 

 hut, and found some of the grapes still hanging on the end of his hous. 



tirst week of January, 1829, which he expected to keep there till 

 February.] 



" None but the driest weather is chosen for gathering in the crop, it would 

 quickly spoil if stored moist. The bunches are handled with nicety, and 

 only by the stalk, to preserve the bloom; those intended for keeping are 

 cut Ketore they arc quite ripe. Some are spread on beds of fern, others are 

 hung up on hair lines in reverse, with the shoulders down, as that position 

 prevents the berries from lying so close as to rot." 



Tillage and Manuring.— The ground is hoed twice a year, after the sum- 

 training, and at the fall ot the leaf, but never dug. The surface is 



