LIMIT TO GRAPE-BEARING. 293 



cane that grows six feet for the crop the next year. The 

 vine bears no more when it is one hundred and seventy-five 

 years old than it did when it was five years old. I do not 

 know that it will live to be one hundred and seventy-five 

 years old — I never have tried it — but as far as I have tried it 

 that is the result. You will see that it is easy to transform 

 any old vine with this system in one season, and without los- 

 ing a crop. If you have an old vine that does not do any- 

 thing, cut it down except one cane that grew last year, and 

 then grow a shoot in the opposite direction for the next year, 

 and you have the whole system at once. The difiiculty is, 

 that everybody wants to get too much for his money. A 

 vine is only capable of doing a certain amount. Now, the 

 result is like this : I had a pretty severe experience two years 

 ago ; I allowed my vines to bear a good deal more than I 

 have indicated — nearly double. What was the result? The 

 clusters, of course, had as many berries on them, because 

 they were made the year before ; it did not make any difier- 

 ence about that ; but the berries were smaller, they were 

 lighter color, they never became black ; they did not have 

 much bloom, and I did not succeed in growing a single strong 

 cane for the year after. Those grapes got caught by the 

 frost, and they were nearly all thrown away. The wood was 

 very poor for the next year, and I did not get a full crop 

 then ; I tried to get a big thing, and did not get anything. 

 Now, I know better, and I do not attempt to get more than 

 about six pounds of grapes from a vine. I can get six pounds 

 every year, and it does not make much difierence what the 

 season is. This past season has been a very poor one. I do 

 not know what our grape-growers will say generally, but I 

 think it has been poor for this reason : that the average tem- 

 perature from May to October has been about two degrees 

 lower than in the average of years. That is enough to make 

 a great deal of difference in the grape-crop, which wants a 

 large aggregate amount of heat with hi a certain time to bring 

 it to maturity. Some seasons we could get a larger crop 

 than in others, if we knew in advance what they were to be ; 

 but, taking it through, it is not safe, in my judgment, to at- 

 tempt to get more than six pounds to a vine. It is easy to 

 see the difierence in the quality of the grapes. The grapes 



