224 AMERICAN GEAPE GROWING 



CHAPTER XLIV. 



FROSTS. 



Late spring frosts, when they come, are quite destruc- 

 tive, hut they are mostly confined to the low lands, an 

 elevation of a few feet often securing exemption. At 

 times, however, they occur even on the hillsides, striking 

 vineyards that have been untouched hy frost for years. 

 They come late in April, and sometimes as late as the 

 middle of May. Eaising a dense smoke in the vineyard 

 during the night is advocated hy some as a means of 

 protection, but it has few adherents. If a general 

 smudge is created in a large number of adjoining vine- 

 yards, so as to fill the pir with smoke, it may aid in 

 repelling frost, but small, isolated efforts in this direc- 

 tion are of little or no value. 



That frosty situations should be avoided for grape cul- 

 ture, is self-evident. It is very disheartening to see a 

 promising vineyard browned by frost in a night. Late 

 pruning is advocated by some as a remedy, and not 

 without reason, for the upper buds always start first, 

 while the lower ones remain dormant. But if the vine 

 is pruned so late every year as to cause profuse bleeding, 

 it is quite likely to cause more serious injury than is 

 occasioned by the partial loss of the crop once in four or 

 five years. I have found long pruning in winter much 

 preferable leaving spurs of three or four buds, and also 

 somewhat longer canes. Then if the frost strikes and 

 kills the shoots which have started from the upper buds, 

 the dormant lower ones will start into active growth, as 

 will also the secondary buds on each side of the frost- 

 bitten shoot, and produce a fair crop, though somewhat 

 later and of smaller bunches. Should no frost come, 

 the shoots which bear the fruit must be thinned out in 



