140 GENERA*, AUTUMNAL 



this state, is to cut it down to a complete stump 

 By doing this the fruit will be only sacrificed for one 

 season, for the next year after this operation has 

 been performed, the vine will send forth an abun- 

 dant quantity of the finest description of bearing- 

 shoots, which, in the following year, will produce as 

 much fruit, with only a tenth part of the trouble in the 

 management of it, as could be obtained if the previ- 

 ous course of culture had been continued. There is 

 no other way, indeed, of renovating a vine than this, 

 for no method of pruning that can be adopted will 

 ever get rid of the old blank wood, and procure in its 

 stead a proper supply of bearing- wood within a rea- 

 sonable distance of the stem. Vines that are cut down- 

 in this manner will frequently produce in the follow- 

 ing summer very fine bearing-shoots upwards of forty 

 feet long. 



When it is deemed advisable, therefore, to renew 

 the branches of a vine by thus cutting it down, the 

 best time to perform the operation is the latter part of 

 the month of November. If the stem be short, cut it 

 off about five inches above the ground, but if it be long, 

 leave it of such a height as it is intended to train the fu- 

 ture bearing- wood to ; remembering, that whatever por- 

 tion of the naked stem be left, the shoots will, in gene- 

 ral, be emitted from the upper part of it. As soon as the 

 vine is cut off, sear the wound well with a hot iron, and 

 then seal the surface of it over with sealing wax, in order 

 to prevent the sap at its rising from bursting through. 



In the following spring a great number of bulbs will 

 push, near the top of the stump, and these being allow- 

 ed to swell sufficiently to show their relative strength, 

 as many of the strongest as are required should be se- 

 lected to remain, and all the rest rubbed off. The 

 shoots being carefully trained throughout the summer, 

 will present in the autumn an abundant choice for fu- 

 ture bearers. 



