MANAGEMENT OF THE VINE. 129 



more nearly concurred with my views than those of any other 

 gentleman I had heard speak upon the subject. I do not 

 believe that this eternal pinching and nipping and cutting and 

 slashing is any benefit at all to our rampant-growing vines like 

 the Concord and the Hartford. I have tried some experiments 

 for the purpose of testing that matter. Two years ago I had a 

 row of Concords, each vine tied to a single post — no trellis, no 

 rails, no wires, but each vine was simply tied up to a single post. 

 They were equidistant, and so far apart that I could prune any 

 one in such a way as I pleased, and leave another. I intended 

 to try an experiment with that row, and I continued last year, 

 as I had done the year previously, to pinch every alternate vine 

 about the time the blow showed, leaving the others to take their 

 own course. They were late about starting. I remember that 

 it was not until about the Fourth of July that the grapes began 

 to show. It was late, but still they looked healthy, and started 

 fairly, with large clusters, as I thought. But the frequent rains 

 we had, followed by a scorching sun, affected the leaves badly. 

 They seemed to be water-soaked and tender, and the sun seemed 

 to scorch and crumple them up, and they began to drop off 

 pretty soon, and before the grapes were nearly grown some of 

 the foliage began to drop, so that my experiment was entirely 

 broken up. About the tenth of July I went to look at the vines, 

 and found they had begun to mildew in the bunch ; not every 

 vine nor every bunch, but a large share of them were mildewed ; 

 they looked mouldy, and they were so far gone, and so large a 

 proportion were affected, that I thought it would be useless to 

 attempt to check it. I found it did not spread any more, and it 

 is my impression that it was all done in a day or two — about the 

 time that Mr. Hyde described this morning, when we had those 

 sudden changes from dry to wet and from heat to cold ; three 

 or four in the course of twenty-four or thirty-six hours. It was 

 all done during that time. And it stopped almost as suddenly 

 as it came. It was pretty general, also. There were scarcely 

 any vines that escaped except those which we regard as worth- 

 less, like the Clinton, (which retained its foliage until it froze 

 up in October,) the Early Strawberry, (which is another of those 

 wild natives,) and one or two others, which I do not think of 

 propagating now ; but I have one or two vines of these varieties 

 upon the place, and keep them there, because they have been 

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