GENERAL AUTUMNAL PRUNING. 141 



DIRECTIONS FOR THE AUTUMNAL PRUNING. 



1st. Every nail must be drawn from the wall, and 

 every shred taken off the branches. This will give the 

 vine great relief, the shreds having throughout the 

 summer kept those parts of the branches which they 

 have encircled from the beneficial influence of the sun 

 and air. They, also, become the receptacles of numer- 

 ous insects, and if woollen shreds have been used, they 

 are very retentive of moisture, and, if suffered to re- 

 main, would chill the juices of the vine, and thereby 

 retard its vegetation in the spring. In unnailing the 

 branches, care must be taken not to draw all the nails 

 at once, as the former would be then left destitute of 

 their necessary support. Unnail a part at a time, 

 therefore, arid having pruned that part, re-nail it in a 

 temporary manner, before any other part of the vine be 

 pruned, and so proceed till the whole be pruned. 

 Observe, that every nail before it is drawn must be 

 driven farther into the wall, by a good blow or two on 

 its head with the hammer, in order to disengage it from 

 the mortar ; otherwise, in drawing it out, portions of 

 the mortar which adhere to it, will be drawn with it, and 

 the joints of the wall will be thereby defaced and injured. 



2nd. Ascertain the girt of the stem, and calculate 

 the quantity of fruit which the vine can mature in the 

 following year, agreeably to the scale given in page 

 35, and, assuming (for the sake of making the opera- 

 tion clear,) that the strength of the vine is equal to the 

 maturation of fifty pounds' wieght of fruit, the num- 

 ber of buds that it will be advisable to retain, to pro- 

 duce that quantity, will be from ninety to a hundred. 



