52 THE BOOK OF THE GRAPE 



in the manner advised will, when treated as recom- 

 mended under the heading of " Treatment in the 

 first year after planting," make good thick rods the 

 full length of the rafters in the same year, every 

 one of which would be capable of ripening a fair 

 crop of grapes in the following year if necessary. 

 All the same, this will not be desirable where super- 

 numerary vines have been planted as recommended 

 above. By following this arrangement, a fair crop 

 of grapes is secured the first year after planting 

 without in any way interfering with the future welfare 

 of the permanent vines, seeing that they are thus 

 enabled to gain size and strength before there is any 

 real occasion to crop them. Of course every grower 

 who propagates his own vines, and, therefore, has 

 an ample stock to hand, plants supernumeraries where 

 a distance of four or five feet is allowed between the 

 permanent rods. 



It not unfrequently happens that vines which have 

 been forced year after year to produce ripe grapes by 

 the middle or end of April, or even a month later, 

 become exhausted, or in other words, worn out. To 

 remedy this, some growers give such vines a rest, that is, 

 allow them to push into growth of their own accord for 

 a couple of years in succession, cropping them lightly 

 until they have regained sufficient vigour to be forced 

 again ; two houses planted with early bearing varieties 

 being thus necessary to the annual production of early 

 grapes at the dates indicated above. 



Although this method of rejuvenising partly exhausted 

 vines answers well enough, it is, nevertheless, much 

 better to root the vines out as soon as the grapes are 

 ripe, that is, where unmistakable symptoms of ex- 

 haustion were observed in the vines the previous 

 year, and vines were accordingly prepared in readi- 

 ness for replacing the old vines when the crop of 



