128 THE GRAPE CULTUKI8T. 



oping like a mantle the towering oak, or covering the low 

 alder by the water side, its clusters of fruit hanging in the 

 shade beneath ; and from it we learn several fundamental 

 principles. 1st. That while the leaves require a full ex- 

 posure to the sun, the fruit ripens fully without it. 2d. 

 That while the vine grows upright it produces its most 

 vigorous growth of wood, but its fruit-producing powers 

 are not fully developed until it takes a horizontal position. 

 3d. That fruit is produced most abundantly upon the up- 

 permost branches, and that it makes no difference whether 

 these upper branches are on the tops of lofty trees or on 

 the humble shrub. This proves conclusively that it is not, 

 as some cultivators contend, the height that is necessary 

 for the vine to bear weh 1 ; for the fruit that is fifty feet 

 from the earth is no better than when it is at five, other 

 circumstances being equal. It only shows that the sap 

 naturally presses to the top and forces out fruit-bearing 

 branches at that point. I do not mean that the upper buds 

 upon a one-year-old cane will produce fruit, for this they 

 will seldom do, as they are not generally fruit buds ; but 

 if the cane is cut back to a well-developed bud, and re- 

 mains perpendicular, or nearly so, then the upper bud is 

 far more certain to produce fruit than those below it. Or 

 if the young canes are bent (either by art or by their own 

 weight, as we see them in their wild state) so as to check 

 the flow of sap, and place the fully developed buds in a 

 higher position than those at the end, then they will push 

 out and produce bearing canes. Therefore the vine is said 

 to bear its fruit at the top, as a rule, but it does not strictly 

 refer to the uppermost buds. 4th. The fruit is produced 

 upon the young growing canes, and opposite to the first 

 few leaves that are formed ; usually the first to third leaves 

 formed will have a bunch of fruit opposite ; sometimes they 

 will extend to five bunches. When the shoot has produced 

 its fifth leaf without showing signs of fruit, then none need 

 be expected, for it is very seldom that fruit is produced 



