The Feijit Garden. 133 



he found after several years bearing that the grapes fail in size 

 or flavor, the vines should be cut down to the main horizontal 

 shoots at the bottom of the trellis. New uprights will be pro- 

 duced, which treat as before. 



This is the way to have good crops of perfect grapes. If 

 you desire wood and leaves instead, less pruning will do. The 

 annual pruning should be performed either in November, in 

 February, or early in March — at least a month before vegeta- 

 tion commences. All the other pruning required may be per- 

 formed with the fingers or a pair of scissors. Only two 

 bunches should be allowed to grow on one shoot; and the end 

 of the shoot should be pinched off, four or five joints beyond 

 the last of these, when the grapes are about half grown. All 

 suckers and supernumerary shoots should be rubbed ofi" so soon 

 as they appear. Beyond this, no leaves must be removed, as 

 they are absolutely essential to the full development and ripen- 

 ing of the fruit. Every third year, at least, the borders where 

 the grapevines are growing should have a heavy top-dressing 

 of manure. 



Grapes may be preserved for a considerable time by taking 



the ripe bunches when free from external moisture, and packing 



them in jars, filling all the interstices with baked saw-dust or 



bran. 



2. The Oueeaxt — Hiies Biibum. 



The currant is supposed to be a native of the north of Eu- 

 rope. There are several varieties, of which the best are Red 

 Dutch, White Dutch, and Knight's Sweet Red. 



Of the black currant {vibes nigrum)^ the only sort worthy 

 of cultivation is the Black Naples. 



The currant is more easily cultivated than any other fruit. 

 The best mode of propagating it is by planting out cuttiugs in 

 tlie fall, or quite early in the spring. It is well to procure the 

 cuttings in the fall, and keep them like scions until spring. By 

 taking out all the eyes of a cutting except the three or four 

 upper ones, currants can easily be kept in the form of little 

 trees. 



