REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON GARDENS. 325 



winter tiimmiDg is very simple, and is done with one cut of 

 the pruning shaars, by removing the bearing cane from the old 

 riue at its junction with the new cane. 



This method of trimming is kept up for six or eight years ; then 

 we think the vine is strong enough to carry more fruit. But to do 

 this we must have more leaves, for it requires just so many 

 leaves to grow a pound of fruit ; what that number is I have never 

 been able to find out, but Nature knows, and she will have her 

 way; try to over- fruit the vine and she will assert her rights by 

 giving you poor fruit, for it must be remembered tliat the law of 

 Nature holds as true in the vegetable kingdom as in the animal, 

 and that her object in the growing of fruit is not to tickle the 

 palate, but to grow seeds, and thereby carry out one of the great 

 laws of Nature, that of reproduction. But man does not care for 

 this abundance of seeds ; he would have larger fruit, more pulp, 

 and better flavor. To do this we must work in harmony with 

 Nature, and while we find that she cannot be cheated in her 

 slightest wish, yet with careful tact and skillful management she 

 can be made to respond to your bidding, and instead of two or 

 three bushels of small, ill-flavored grapes, we shall have a few 

 pounds of large, choice grapes. This is accomplished by the 

 severe trimming that we have described, and by a system of 

 thinning the fruit. You must first determine how many pounds of 

 grapes you think your vine is capable of carrying, and then cut 

 down to that number, or what you think will make that amount 

 when ripe. This requires no little practice. I have thinned a 

 vineyard of two and one-half acres to carry ten tons ; Avhen they 

 were picked they overran five hundred pounds. I count up the 

 bunches on a vine, then tell by the size of the bunches how many 

 I wish to leave, and cut off the rest. In some cases I have 

 removed as many as forty bunches from one vine. To secure 

 more leaves we grow two arms instead of one, running them on 

 the same wires in opposite directions, and treating them the same 

 in every respect ; only we have two canes to grow in the summer, 

 and two to trim off in the fall. This is the method followed by us 

 at the present time, with the strong-growing native grapes. In 

 the case of the Delaware it is somewhat different ; here we intend 

 to grow four arms, two on the upper and two on the second wire, 

 three feet long. As the canes of the Delaware are shorter jointed 

 than those of the Concord, Wordeu, or in fact any of the Labrusca 



