3S FRUIT.BEARING POWERS OF THE VINE. 



The manner in which it is intended that this scale 

 should be practically applied, is to measure the stem of 

 a vine at the autumnal pruning, and to retain no more 

 good well-ripened fruit-buds than is supposed necessa- 

 ry to produce the given weight of fruit that corres- 

 ponds to its girt. And if there should be any excess 

 above that quantity in the ensuing summer, the crop 

 must be reduced to the given weight, by cutting off a 

 sufficient number of bunches, as soon as the blossom- 

 ing is over and the fruit set, as the weight of it when 

 ripened may then be easily estimated. 



With respect to the number of buds that are neces- 

 sary to be left at the autumnal pruning to produce any 

 given weight of fruit, I have found it to be a good 

 general rule, and applicable to all those sorts of grapes 

 usually cultivated on open walls, to consider every 

 bud (rejecting the two bottom ones on each shoot) as 

 equal to the production of half a pound weight of 

 fruit ; that is, if the stem of a vine measure five 

 inches in girt, its capability is equal to the maturation 

 of twenty-five pounds' weight of grapes, and, therefore, 

 the number of buds to remain after pruning will be 

 fifty. This proportion would, in general, be too great, 

 even in the shyest-bearing sorts ; but as accidents fre- 

 quently happen to the bunches during their early 

 growth, and as there will, in general, be some buds 

 that will not burst, provision must be made against 

 these casualties, by reserving a greater number of 

 buds than would otherwise be required. The propor- 

 tionate number, therefore, above-mentioned, I have 

 found to answer well, and to be sufficient to meet all 

 contingencies. 



It is necessary to observe, that all the experiments 

 on which the scale is founded were made on vines 

 growing in 50 46' north latitude. 



