AND WINE MAKING. 115 



CHAPTER XXV. 



FROSTS WINTER PROTECTION. 



Our winters are rarely so severe as to injure or kill 

 the hardiest varieties, such as Concord and Goethe, al- 

 though the winters of 1863, 1872, 1874, and 1878, may 

 be cited as instances when even these and Norton's were in- 

 jured. They often, however, harm the Herbemont, Cun- 

 ningham, and Lenoir. These can be protected by bend- 

 ing the vines down in the fall, and covering them with 

 earth thrown on with the plow. To prepare them for 

 this, prune as soon as the wood is fully ripe, and after a 

 rain, when the canes bend easily, go through, and while 

 one man bends the canes down along the trellis, let the 

 other throw a few spadefuls of earth upon them, to keep 

 them down. Then follow with the plow, and they can 

 be easily covered. But do not take them up in spring 

 until danger of frost is over, for they will become more 

 tender by being under ground all winter, and even a 

 moderate frost will injure the buds. In taking up, run a 

 fork under them and lift them out. They should not be 

 covered too deep, a light protection is enough ; but to 

 merely bend them down without covering, as some advise, 

 is worse than leaving them on the trellis, as they are 

 more easily injured here, where we do not often have 

 snow to cover them. All hardy varieties should be cut 

 loose in fall, as when the wind can sway them about they 

 are not so apt to be injured. One of the surest preven- 

 tives of injury by frost is, however, to plant none but the 

 hardiest varieties. None of the cordifolia class, as far as 

 I know, have ever suffered, and here again the Elvira 

 stands pre-eminent, as not a bud was hurt, even during 

 the hard winters of 1872-'74 and, '78. 



