CHAPTER I. 



OF 



MR. REYMONDIN'S WORK 



ENTITLED 



"L'ART DE VIGNERON." 



On Pruning the vine. 



BEFORE entering on the details of the opera- 

 tion, so necessary to the success of the vine cul- 

 tivation, I offer a few brief remarks on the utility 

 and advantages resulting from a judicious adminis- 

 tration of the vineyard, and the important influ- 

 ence on the results of the vintage from pruning 

 with skill and at the favourable seasons. First, a 

 primary object of this operation is, that the vine 

 should not push too much and too heavy wood. 

 Second, that the vineyard should not, in any one 

 season, be suffered to produce too great a crop of 

 fruit, by which in a few years the vine would be 

 exhausted. Third, to assist nature in ripening 

 the fruit, by causing the plant to produce its crop 

 near to the ground,* from which an additional 



* Though this is good counsel to the Swiss cultivator, it 

 should not, I think, influence the vine dresser of Pennsylvania, 



Q 



