after having once started. If it should get too warm, open the house a little at noon, 

 but never let the house be open after four o'clock. If you only leave one bud on the 

 vine, you must take great care of it, as it will rub oft" very easy, and then your vine is 

 gone. Water with soap suds every Monday — one pailful to a root — and on Friday 

 with guano. Put two quarts of guano in a barrel of water, stir well, and apply at once. 



About the 20th of April the buds will begin to push. Let the temperature be 

 pretty high ; it will do no harm. I often find my house as warm as 100°, 110°, and 

 120°, Fahrenheit ; but 80° or 90°, with plenty of moisture, is the best. As the buds 

 begin to push out, raise them to a wire trellis about twelve inches from the glass. If 

 any of the other eyes push, rub them off". Give plenty of air in the middle of the day, 

 sprinkle frequently, and keep up a moist atmosphere. 



September 1st. Discontinue watering except with the suds. Pinch off" the shoot, 

 which by this time will be twelve or thirteen feet long. 



December 15th. Cut oft" the vine about six feet from the bottom, wash it with mild 

 soap suds, wrap with straw, and lay it down in front of the house. Sprinkle some 

 rat destroyer about, cover the border inside and out with ten or twelve inches of ma- 

 nure to keep the frost from the roots, and the work is done for the season, except to 

 examine the glass to see if it leaks, and open occasionally when the sun is too hot, and 

 to see that the mice do not trouble the vines. 



Second Year. — Open the house as the season advances, so as to air, and that the 

 buds may not burst too soon. About the first of April, if the season is favorable, 

 uncover the vines, and let them lie down until all the eyes have pushed an inch ; 

 raise them by degrees, that they may all swell alike ; then fix them to the vine trellis. 

 From the time the house is opened, sprinkle every day, except on damp, cold days, 

 the same as last year. 



May 1st. The eyes have now pushed a foot or more. They are now called spurs. 

 Many of them will show fruit. Pinch off" all the fruit except one_or two, which may 

 be retained to test the kind. Never let more than three clusters remain on the vine 

 the first year of fruiting, and never but one cluster on a spur. Discontinue the 

 syringing of the vine while the fruit is in blow, and keep the house more closed and 

 warm. As soon as the fruit is formed, pinch off" the end of each spur about an inch 

 above the first leaf beyond the cluster, and all the other spurs three or four eyes from 

 the vine. Do not allow the spurs to be closer together than eight inches ; rub off" all 

 that are nearer. As the eyes burst and push out, continue to pinch of the shoot, 

 always an inch above the next eye. This you will have to do six or eight times 

 durigg the season, to every spur, to keep them in check, or " at home," as it is called, 

 and that the light may strike the vines on the back wall, (which are not in fruit this 

 season — not doing as well as the front vines, that receive the full force of the light 

 and sun.) 



When the fruit has attained the size of a pea, go through the vines with a pair of 

 sharp pointed scissors, and thin out the fruit full one half, always taking the smallest 

 berries ; and from time to time go over the vines and thin out the fruit until it begins 

 to color, after which time it will be of no use. This will be about the 6th of August. 

 Up to this time you have watered regularly with the soap-suds and guano, and syr- 

 inged the vines from one to three times a day, as the weather has admitted. As soon 

 as the fruit begins to color, discontinue the watering, and keep a current of hot dry 

 air passing through the house, that the wood may get thoroughly ripened and pre- 

 pared to do its duty next season. And if the fruit should turn soft and feel cold, cut 

 it off . at once ; your vine is overcropped, and if snfi"ered to stay on, will destroy the 

 crop for another season and very much weaken the vine. 



About the 20lh of June, sprinkle two pounds of the flour of sulphur at mid-day, 

 when the house is hot and dry, that some of the dust may fall on the foliage. This 



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