GRAPE CULTURE. 17 



a single vine iu his greenhouse, but did not think bleeding 

 injurious. 



Charles M. Hovey thought that it injured the vine, not by 

 exhaustion, but by keeping the young terminal buds moist and 

 in a condition unfavorable to free growth. 



Dr. G. F. Waters knew a large, wild grape vine in Maine, three 

 inches in diameter, from which a branch an inch in diameter was 

 cut off early in spring, three or four feet from the main stem. 

 The vine bled profusely and never leaved out. 



Mr. Hovey thought that this old vine might not have had latent 

 buds enough to start. He did not think that bleeding retarded 

 the budding out of the vine. He had never noticed much differ- 

 ence in the starting of growing vines after being headed down, 

 whether it was done early or late. 



Robert Watt differed from Messrs. Wilder and Hovey. He 

 would prune vines in November or December — pruned later they 

 "would be injured b}' bleeding, and if not pruned until March the}' 

 would not bui'st an eye. They bled more from the canes of the 

 previous year than from older wood, more when pruned long 

 than when spurred, and more in wet weather than in dry. He 

 had lost vines as the result of bleeding ; they died down to the 

 last 3'ear's wood. 



Mr. Hovey had had under his observation from two to four 

 thousand foreign vines every year, for many years, which had 

 been headed down in the spring to two or three eyes, and he had 

 never, to his knowledge, lost any vines from this cause. 



Mr. Watt said that he never cut a vine when he planted it, but 

 set it out at full length, rubbed out all the eyes not wanted, and 

 cut off in June or July. 



Josiah W. Talbot said that he pruned Concord and other native 

 grapes when convenient, and had never lost a vine from bleeding. 



James Cruickshanks said that wherever there is late pruning 

 there will be bleeding, aiid asked if this did not weaken the vine. 



Hervey Davis had pruned at all times and found no injury. He 

 had not noticed any weakening of the vine. 



Mr Hovey said that though vines might not be injured by loss 

 of sap when pruned late, yet early pruning was altogether best. 

 The sap of trees is in motion all the time, as is shown by the fact 

 that the buds of maple and poplar trees swell gradually through 

 the winter. If the vine is pruned early the sap accumulates in 



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