OF NORTH CAROLINA. 187 



which has been attended at last, with the same 

 fate. Wherefore, it seems most expedient, to 

 leave the vines more branches here, than in Eu- 

 rope, or let them run up trees, as some do, in 

 Lombardy, upon elms. The mulberries and chin- 

 kapin are tough, and trimmed to what you please, 

 therefore fit supporters of the vines. Gelding and 

 plucking away the leaves, to hasten the ripening 

 of this fruit, may not be unnecessary, yet we see 

 the natural wild grape generally ripens in the 

 shade. Nature in this, and many others, may 

 prove a sure guide. The twisting of the stems to 

 make the grapes ripe together, loses no juice, and 

 may be beneficial, if done in season. A very in- 

 genious French gentlemen, and another from 

 Switzerland, with whom I frequently converse, 

 exclaim against that strict cutting of vines, the 

 generally approved methed of France and Germa- 

 ny, and say, that they were both out in their judg- 

 ment, till of late, experience has thaught them 

 otherwise. Moreover, the French in North Car- 

 olina assure me, that if we should trim our apple 

 and other fruit trees, as they do in Europe, we 

 should spoil them. As for apples and plums, I 

 have found by experience, what they affirm to be 

 true. The French, from the Mannakin town or 

 freshes of James river in Virginia, had, for the 

 most part, removed themselves to Carolina, to live 

 there, before I came away ; and the rest were fol- 

 lowing, as their minister, (Monsieur Philip de 

 Eixbourg) told me, who was at Bath town, when 



