THE GRAPE VINE. IO5 



KENOVATING EXHAUSTED VINES. 



Vines are not unfrequently injured "by cropping 

 them too heavily for a series of years. This is ap- 

 parent in the weakly character of their growth and 

 diminutive grapes. Where the border is considered 

 in a sufficiently good condition not to require renew- 

 ing, the best treatment for vines thus broken down 

 is either to forego a year's crop altogether, or to crop 

 them very lightly for a year or two. At the same 

 time, the surface of the border can be dealt with as 

 I have described at page 103, and the vines can be 

 otherwise fed. While undergoing this process, they 

 should be encouraged to make as much foliage as 

 space will allow. 



Exhaustion of vines from crowded training and 

 close stopping is sometimes met with in its worst 

 forms. As has already been referred to, the rods of 

 vines should never be trained closer than 3 feet, and 

 the fruit -bearing spurs not closer than 18 to 20 

 inches. I have seen, in conjunction with close train- 

 ing, the fruit-bearing wood pinched at the bunch, or 

 just one joint beyond it. This, with anything like 

 heavy cropping, is certain in a very few years to 

 cripple the vines. They are in fact smothered, and 

 worked hard into the bargain. To put fresh vigour 

 into such vines, cut the superfluous rods, out, to give 

 those left more room, and let the laterals grow two or 

 three joints beyond the bunch. 



The premature destruction of foliage is another 

 fertile source of injury, whether it takes place from 

 red-spider or scorching. The evil most commonly 

 arises from the ravages of spider. As the pulmonary 

 arteries of the body convey the blood to the lungs, 



