52 THE AMERICAN VINE-DRESSER'S GUIDE. 

 OF PROPPING AND BINDING. 



THE best props are those made of split 

 oak ; they must be from five to six feet long, 

 and two to three inches in diameter, and 

 have a sharp point, care being taken to hold 

 in the fire, until charred, the whole of the 

 part that is to go into the ground. Props 

 may also be made of any other kind of wood, 

 or even of branches ; but they will not last 

 so long as those of oak. In some places the 

 vine is not propped ; but this only occurs 

 where there is difficulty in selling the prod- 

 ucts. In the latter case, the branches are 

 merely tied together, two feet from the trunk, 

 in such manner as to bear one another up. 



OF PROPPING LOW VINES. 



WITH an iron bar let a hole be made, 

 about one foot deep and three inches from 



