CULTIVATION OP THE VINE. 153 



towards the bottom. We should also be govern- 

 ed by the state of the weather, as this labour 

 should not be performed in a moist or wet time, 

 nor even when there may be cause to apprehend 

 the approach of rain. Instead of advantage un- 

 der such circumstances, the result will rather be 

 unfavorable. The vineyard which has received 

 the first labour in a careless manner, should be 

 deep by the drought immediately after the fin- 

 ishing of the work, as without this necessary 

 precaution, the vines assume a yellow tinge, and 

 the production of that season will be diminished 

 in quantity, and of a quality greatly inferior to 

 that of the adjacent vine grounds, in which this 

 important work has been skilfully performed. 

 Those whose habit it is to work the vineyard too 

 late in the season, commit a great error in the 

 cultivation. A vineyard suffered to remain too 

 late, in the condition in which the vine is usually 

 found before the performance of this work, ex- 

 periences an injurious loss of time, in comparison 

 with those in which the work is performed in 

 proper season. It is deprived of all the salutary 

 influence of the spring sun, and the beneficial ef- 

 fects of early rains; besides which a serious mis- 

 chief arises from the rapid accumulation of 

 noxious weeds, that all this time will be making 

 head, and acquiring such a force, as will prove 

 during the whole season, destructive to the pros- 

 perity of the vineyard. No subsequent labour 

 that can be given to it will repair the consequen- 

 ces of such ill-judged neglect. Moreover, where 

 this work is postponed to a late period of the 

 season, it is never so well performed. The fear 



