CULTIVATION OF THE VINE. 



431 



trcatnifjnt will be required than rubbing or 

 Kcraping off all loose and decayed bark from 

 tJio vinos, until the next spring. 



Skventh Year and SunsKcjnF.NX Treat- 

 ment. — Goinnience e;u-ly in the mouth of 

 March, and treat tho gi-ound thi-oughout the 

 Beasou a«» directed for the preceduig yeai". 



Eai'ly in Abiy, or as soon as the shoots nnm- 

 hored 1 and 1 have attained a snlHciontlon^th, 

 carcfidly fasten them to the wall or trelli.s, 

 and let them grow until the fir.st of Jidy. 

 Thm cut out the weakest of the three young 

 shoots, and treat the two remaining ones (in- 

 dicated by 1 and 4 in the aiuiexed iigure) in 



every respect as those numbered 2 and 3 

 were the year before. By the end of the 7tli 

 year, if the plant belongs to a vineyard, in 

 which the vines are grown at the distance of 

 six feet apart, it will have acquired a suffi- 

 cient number of leading shoots to bear fruit 

 in abundance. But if it be an isolated vine, 

 the hc-rizontal branches may be allowed to 

 extend themselves, and a pair of new shoots 

 added each year, as long as the fertility of the 

 soil and the nature of the situation may re- 

 quire it. During every subsequent year, the 

 treatment of the ground during spring and 

 summer should be the same as ia tJie two 

 seasons preceding. Early in September, the 

 tops of the young shoots should be pinched 

 off, in order that the sap may be assimilated 

 into buds ; and in October, or soon after har- 

 vesting the grapes, cut back the shoots of the 

 same year and leave but four eyes to each ; 

 as, by leaving too many, the vine becomes 

 exhausted and yields but little fruit, and is 

 soon destroyed by prematiu-e decay. The 

 shoots should be cut off in an oblique diiec- 

 tioa, opposite to, and about an inch and a half 

 above, the fourth eye from the old wood, in 

 such a manner as will shed the rain and allow 

 the buds to suffir-r no injury from the wet. In 

 the course of the month of May, the vines 

 should be examined and all tho shoots from 

 the old wood rubbed off"; and if an eye of 

 the last year's growth should be found to pro- 

 (803) 



duce twin shoots, the weakest of the two 

 must be removed, in order that the remauiing 

 one may the better thrive. In the course of 

 the season, the superfluous leaves and twigs 

 nmst often be thinned out; and about the 

 first of September, as in the preceding years 

 7>inch off the tops of the shoots, in order that 

 the sap may assimilate in the buds that are to 

 be resin-ved for the next year. If the vines 

 appear to be too exuberant, they may be 

 pruned at the roots, without injury, at any 

 season of the year. The most convenient pe- 

 riod, however, for performing this operation, 

 where the climate is mild, is in November, 

 when the roots should be exposed to the light 

 and air, by drawing away the earth, and let- 

 ting them remain till .spring ; but where the 

 wnuters are severe, and subject to continued 

 ice and frof^t, early in December they should 

 be re-covered with earth, mixed with well- 

 rotted manure, leaf-mould, husks and seeds 

 of grapes, or the clippings and leaves of vines. 

 If they remain exposed during winter, early 

 in March the earth should be restored, and 

 mixed with the manure or other substances, 

 as named above. This mode was called "ab- 

 laquoatio " by the Romans, and is still prac- 

 ticed with advantage in some parts of Italy 

 and Spain. 



Although spring and summer pnniing of 

 the vine may advantageou.sly be adopted in 

 all countries of the globe, yet iu places ex- 



