XA- BEARING POWERS OF THE VINE. 



CHAPTER III. 



ON THE CAPABILITY AND EXTENT OF THE FRUIT- 

 BEARING POWERS OF THE VINE. 



THERE is not a single point of culture in the whole 

 routine of the management of a vine, the knowledge 

 of which is of so much importance as that which ena- 

 bles the cultivator to ascertain with precision the great- 

 est quantity of fruit he can annually extract from it, 

 without checking its growth, or injuring its vital pow- 

 ers. The operation of pruning, if it be not guided by 

 this, is an operation performed perfectly at random, 

 and every inch of bearing. wood either cut out or re- 

 tained, under such circumstances, is done in utter 

 ignorance of the consequences, whether they will 

 ultimately prove injurious or beneficial to the health 

 and fertility of the plant. And yet, necessary as is 

 this knowledge, and without the guidance of which, in 

 pruning, neither good flavoured grapes, nor good crops, 

 can with certainty be annually obtained, all the rules 

 hitherto laid down for the pruning of vines have been 

 promulgated, unaccompanied with the slightest instruc- 

 tion to lead the pruner to a knowledge of this most 

 valuable point of culture. 



Sucb> however, is the importance of proportioning 

 the quantity of fruit to be matured, to the capability 

 of the plant, that in Miller's Gardener's Dictionary, 

 it is stated, in reference to the cultivation of the vine 

 in foreign countries, *' that when gentlemen abroad let 



