ANOTHER SYSTEM OF GRAPE-GROWING. 307 



just as soon as the leaves have dropped, say the last of No- 

 vember ; I do not leave this work until spring. I have never 

 varied from that rule. If trimmed in the spring, the vines 

 will bleed, and if it does not hurt them, I do not care to 

 have them bleed. My posts stand up six and a half feet. I 

 cut the vines off at the top of the posts, and then I do not 

 care if they bend over a little. I have, perhaps, from the 

 bottom to the top, from six to seven and a half or eight feet. 

 I cut back every single year to the second eye. Well, you 

 say, " By and by these spurs get long." Well, I know they 

 do. The increased strength will take them a little further 

 each year. I have one year passed by my crop. I cut them 

 right off smooth, up to the old parent-stem, and made them 

 push a dormant eye. Then I began as I did before. I have 

 vines that are self-supporting, stand right up by themselves, 

 without any posts, two and a half or three inches through. 

 There they stand. I never lay them doAvn, do not do any- 

 thing to them, except prune them, thin the fruit, and keep 

 the weeds down. You ask. Do they bear well? Generally ; 

 this year not so much as last year. It is hard work to get 

 the men to thin them. I cannot get my men to thin them as 

 they should be thinned. It is just so with my pear-trees. I 

 have sometimes told them to pick off every pear they could 

 find on some trees, and still they left enough. I mean to 

 grow about ten pounds of grapes to a large, strong vine, as 

 big as my arm. I have grown twenty pounds, and carried 

 them through. They did not ripen as well as I would like to 

 have them, or as Dr. Fisher ripens his, but they were as ripe 

 as they get them in the market. I have to grow mine in 

 that way. I was told by my friend Strong that I should 

 break down by that system, but I have not yet. Mr. Elliot, 

 of Cleveland, Ohio, who is accustomed to see vineyards, 

 came to my place, and he said " Hyde, I hardly ever saw 

 such a crop. I think I hardly ever saw it equalled." I have 

 never seen it equalled. That was about five years after 

 planting, but, as I say, my vines will average about ten 

 pounds. I have no difficulty in carrying from eight to ten 

 pounds of grapes, if my land is in good condition. I do not 

 use any coarse, unfermented manures. I use ashes, and 

 some phosphates, and stable-manures two or three years old, 



