38 THE GRAPE. 



a regular thaw in winter say a week or ten days of soft, 

 moist weather, when the frost is nearly or quite out of 

 the ground and then don't neglect your duty any longer. 



HOW TO PRUNE. 



This is the second question, and one that is answered 

 so variously by writers on grape growing, and is talked of 

 so oppositely by vignerons, that an answer in any way will 

 be said by some to be assuming ; but, having studied the 

 grape pretty thoroughly, and having read every treatise of 

 which we have ever heard, and practiced, or observed the 

 practise of each writer, we feel that what we say of * ' How 

 to Prune," if practised, will result in success to the pro- 

 prietor of the vine on which it is performed. 



Each variety almost, will, after the first two years, re- 

 quire a distinct system so that any general rule for grape 

 pruning of our vines would fall to the ground if attempted 

 to be practised. The grape grower must first learn the 

 habit and character of his variety, and then he can adapt 

 his pruning and training to a mode or system consonant 

 with its class. 



But, of " How to Prune," let us say, first, that summer 

 pruning that is, cutting away of foliage after the blossom 

 has opened is now counted, by the majority of vignerons, 

 as an error ; and the reason for the error is, that each leaf 

 and end of a shoot has a corresponding connection with 

 the spongioles or feeding ends of the roots, and once the 

 leaf or shoot connecting therewith is broken, the spongi- 

 ole rootlet, or feeding mouth, is affected is closed from 



