84 THE HOME ACRE. 



gardener to prune his vines after the second year. 

 It is a brief task, but a great deal depends upon it. 

 In selecting a man for the work I should require 

 something more than exaggerated and personal 

 assurances. In every village there are terrible 

 butchers of vines and fruit-trees, who have some 

 crude system of their own. They are as ignorant 

 of the true science of the subject as a quack doc- 

 tor of medicine, and, like the dispenser of nostrums, 

 they claim to be infallible. Skilful pruning and 

 training is really a fine art, which cannot be learned 

 in a day or a year. It is like a surgical operation, 

 requiring but little time, yet representing much 

 acquired skill and experience. In almost every 

 locality there, are trustworthy, intelligent gardeners, 

 who will do this work for a small sum until the pro- 

 prietor has learned the art himself, if so inclined. 

 I should also employ the same man in spring to 

 tie up the vines and train them. 



If one is not ambitious to secure the best results 

 attainable, he can soon learn to perform both the 

 tasks well enough to obtain fairly good fruit in 

 abundance. It should be our constant aim not to 

 permit long, naked reaches of wood in one part 

 of the vine, and great smothering bunches of fruit 

 and foliage in another part. Of course the roots, 

 stem, and leading arms should be kept free from 

 useless shoots and sprouts; but having reached 



