PRUNING AND TRAINING THE VINE. 455 



leader to again make its way to the top of the house, and perhaps a 

 little further. As the side snoots progress from the fourth to the sixth 

 joint, they will show the incipient bunches, and perhaps, according to 

 the kind of grape grown, three or four bunches upon each shoot. 

 These when fairly formed, so as to discriminate which is likely to make 

 the most compact and handsome bunch, must be reduced to one bunch, 

 and those retained may be allowed to grow on until the fruit is set, 

 when another selection may be made, retaining, according to the 

 strength of the vine., the bunches necessary to produce a fair crop. As 

 the young shoots and bunches progress and the leaves develop them- 

 selves, it will be necessary to stop them, so as to concentrate the force 

 of the vine in the young bunch. The general rule is to stop up two 

 joints beyond the bunch ; but if there is sufficient room between the 

 main branches to allow the laterals to form themselves, stopping at the 

 third joint will be near enough. With a broad development of foliage, 

 which stopping at the third leaf enjoins, the stopping of the secondary 

 lateral shoots may be performed regularly at the first leaf. Let it, how- 

 ever, be always recollected that the stopping of the vine, or in fact of any 

 tree, should never be performed in a rough and wholesale manner. It is 

 better to remove a few shoots twice or thrice a week than to allow 

 them to grow for a fortnight or three weeks, and then, as some 

 do, cut them out by the barrow-load. Such treatment, though not 

 unusual, is most injurious to the plant, as it necessitates a com- 

 plete check to the system, and checks to the growing plant are always 

 injurious. 



All the time until the flowers begin to open upon the young bunches 

 continue to dew the vines over morning and evening with tepid water, 

 and sprinkle the border and the floor of the house many times during 

 the day. Some think it necessary to maintain a dry atmosphere during 

 the time the vines are in bloom, fancying the fruit sets better in con- 

 sequence. We have never found any decided advantage from so doing, 

 and hence, though we cease to syringe the foliage from the time the bloom 

 begins to open, we continue the sprinkling of the entire surface of the 

 house until such time as the ripening process sets in and the berries 

 begin to change colour. Then moisture is gradually withdrawn from 

 the atmosphere, so that during the final maturation of the crop the 

 house contains little more moisture than what is in the natural atmo- 

 sphere. This complete ripening and high finish of colour depends 

 upon a free circulation of air, night and day, from the time the 

 berries begin to change until they are fully matured ; and therefore, 

 if the weather should be dull or damp at the time, it is better to in- 

 crease the fire heat to maintain the temperature than to decrease the 

 circulation of air. 



In thinning the grapes, especially for the summer crop, we do not 

 advocate the extreme measure of thinning for large berries only. On 

 the contrary, we consider a handsome bunch, sufficiently compact to 

 retain its form when placed upon the dessert dish, to be the standard 

 of good grape-growing; so that loose bunches, however large the 

 berries, have no charm for us. Therefore in thinning be guided by 



