AND WINE MAKING. 261 



stops the growth of weeds. The vines do not materially 

 need a support the second summer, especially if they are 

 of varieties of stock resistant to phylloxera, to be grafted 

 next spring. They may be allcv/ed to trail on the ground, 

 and as cultivation is generally finished by the first of 

 August, they will not interfere much with it. 



The third summer we expect to train our vines and 

 give them the first start of a head or top. If the young 

 vine is a Yinifera, or other variety, which is to be a direct 

 producer, and has made a stocky growth of three feet, 

 it is pruned to one cane of eighteen inches or two feet, 

 as may suit the habits of the vine and the fancy of the 

 cultivator. A stake of red-wood should then be pro- 

 vided for support, the usual length is four feet, by an 

 inch and a half in diameter, though many prefer stakes 

 five and even six feet long. A four-foot stake will give 

 from two feet six inches to two feet nine inches above 

 ground, which is high enough for most varieties if the 

 head is formed at eighteen inches above the ground. 

 These stakes can either be purchased in bolts, at about 

 twelve dollars per cord, and split by the vintner, or they 

 can be had sawed, at seventeen dollars per thousand. 

 If long stakes are used, they should also be thicker, and 

 will cost more in proportion. In many vineyards they 

 dispense with stakes altogether, but I think this is very 

 slovenly culture, and not to be recommended. A vine, 

 if worth anything at all, is worth a stake ; it is more 

 convenient in cultivating, gives a support to the vine 

 which is very much needed, and will pay the additional 

 cost in less than two years by the increased yield and 

 better quality of the fruit. The stakes are pointed at 

 one end and driveii, by a mallet or sledge, on the south 

 west side of the vine, as our prevailing winds are from 

 that side, and by tieing to that side the vine is also 

 shaded from the afternoon sun. The tieing is done 

 either with willow twigs, of which every vintner should 



