84 FRUIT GARDEN. 



would not only supply their families with abundance of 

 wholesome fruit, but afford a source of regular profit. 



When vines are trained as standards, according to the 

 practice pursued in Northern France or Germany, the main 

 stalk or stem is not allowed to be over six or eight inches 

 high. From this, two or three shoots are trained by being 

 tied to a stake three or four feet high. These shoots will 

 produce two or three bunches each, within a foot or eigh- 

 teen inches of the ground, and they will be succeeded an- 

 nually by others springing from the crown or top of the 

 dwarf main stem. In Southern Europe the base or main 

 stem is often left higher, and its side shoots secured to 

 poles many feet high. 



Pruning. — This is done at two distinct periods ; what 

 is called Summer Pruning consists in pinching off the 

 shoots having no fruit, or such as are not required for the 

 succeeding year. The fruit bearing shoots, as well as those 

 left for succeeding seasons, must also be topped. 



The Winter Pruning consists in trimming off all the 

 wood that has borne, and shortening the new bearing wood 

 for next year, to three or four eyes in cold situations, and 

 to six or eight in warmer exposures. 



Soil. — In almost any good deep and dry soil, the grape- 

 vine will thrive. Where the soil is shallow, very dry and 

 gravelly, the produce will be less in quantity, but of better 

 flavor than that raised on rich and deep ground. 



Manures for Grape-Vines. — Dr. Liebig refers to in- 

 stances where vines have been maintained in a productive 

 condition for twenty to thirty years, by simply returning 

 to them their leaves and trimmings, the last being cut into 

 small pieces and dug into the soil by means of a spade or 

 hoe. Some manures favor the growth of wood and foliage 

 rather than fruit. High manuring will generally have this 



