120 WEEKLY CALENDARIAL REGISTER. 



rng-shoots, which will now be of considerable length, 

 and if not nailed firmly to the wall, will be in danger of 

 being blown down, if a strong wind should arise. If 

 any of them be disposed to grow long-jointed, curve 

 them in the training, which, by compressing the sap 

 vessels, will immediately cause the sap to accumulate, 

 and produce short-jointed wood. 



Keep laterals, tendrils, and useless shoots of every 

 description, in constant check. 



The grapes will now be as large as small peas ; they 

 must, therefore, be thinned on the bunches without loss 

 of time. For this purpose provide a pair of sharp- 

 pointed scissors, that will cut well at the points ; and 

 at this first thinning, commence with the bunches that 

 are the most forward in growth, and reduce the number 

 of berries full one half, cutting out all the smallest, and 

 such as are too close together, so that they may be 

 equally distributed on the bunches. And in thinning 

 such sorts as set thickly, or that cluster, care must be 

 taken to reduce the number of berries in the vicinity of 

 the stalks to such an extent, as to admit a free passage 

 for the circulation of the air directly through the bunch- 

 es, and for the admission of the solar heat to all the 

 innermost berries. This will be found necessary to 

 insure an equal degree of maturity and flavour to all 

 the berries of a bunch. 



This thinning of the berries is one of the most neces- 

 sary and most beneficial operations in the whole cul- 

 ture of the vine. No grapes can be produced fit for the 

 table without it. It increases the size of the berries, 

 improves their flavour, hastens the period of their ripen- 

 ing, by preventing their clustering, enables a vine lo 

 mature a much greater weight of fruit, and counteracts, 

 in a considerable degree, those exhausting effects, 

 which the perfecting of it would otherwise produce on 

 the vital energies of the plant. It is a species of pruning, 



