AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 



349 



before replanting ; they will recover vigor much sooner than 

 if you leave the old growth upon them. 



The vine is a greedy feeder, and its absorbents act with 

 great rapidity, so that in vine regions over-manuring is found 

 to weaken the juice and spoil the character of the wine, and is 

 sometimes forbidden by law on this account. An inopportune 

 application of foul manure is also apt to taint the fruit. Good 

 compost, having in it a mixture of bones, charcoal, and animal 

 matter, applied at the planting of the vines, and annually dug 

 in around them, with summer top-dressings of leached or un- 

 leached ashes, guano, or bone-dust, and attention to keeping 

 them free from weeds, with occasional additions of fresh sur- 

 face earth, which may be half-rotted sod pared thick from a 

 loamy road side and chopped up, or any good surface loam, will 

 ordinarily insure healthy vines and heavy crops. 



Vines are arranged for cultivation upon arbors, trellises, or 

 stakes, and may be treated either upon the " spur" or " alter- 

 nating" system, though in general cultivators do not rigidly 

 adhere to either, but pursue a mixed course, according to in- 

 dividual fancy or knowledge, and the particular state of the 

 vines from year to year. Their training may either be up- 

 right or horizontal, but, if otherwise suitable, the latter is to 

 be preferred ; or any fancy winding, ornamental fashion may 

 be adopted with advantage. 



ARBOR. 



Fig. 217. 



The vine as it appears in the spring 

 before it starts, upon the spur sys- 

 tem. 



a. The permanent main canes, with 

 their spurs, and the buds from which 

 the fruit for the season is expected to 

 proceed. 



Whether for arbor or trellis culture, the vines may be set 

 from ten to twenty feet apart, at discretion. 



