OF THE VINE. 27 



overbear the vines, so that in a few years they would 

 exhaust their roots, and render them so weak, as 

 not to be recovered again in several years, and their 

 wine would be so bad, as to bring a disreputation on 

 the vineyard, to the great loss of the proprietor." 



Here, then, is a distinct recognition of the fact, 

 that the flavor of grapes, and the vital energies of 

 vines, are materially affected by overcropping, and 

 that, to restrain the lessees of vineyards in foreign 

 countries from practising so injurious a course of cul- 

 ture, the number of eyes to be left on each vine is ac- 

 tually limited, and even made the subject of special 

 contract. Now, if it be necessary to observe such a 

 rule in countries that are congenial to the growth of 

 the vine, and where, from its forming an important 

 branch of rural economy, it may be reasonably pre- 

 sumed, that the true nature of the plant is well under- 

 stood ; how much more so must it be in the latitude 

 of Great Britain, where, from the deficiency of solar 

 heat, and the variableness of the climate, a much 

 greater portion of the vital energy of the vine is put 

 in requisition to ripen the fruit? 



And yet, who has ever seen, in the English prac- 

 tice of pruning vines, any rule observed of the above- 

 mentioned nature ? In short, the common method of 

 pruning vines on open walls is the most random ope- 

 ration imaginable. 



In very warm summers, the juices of a vine plant 

 are more highly elaborated than usual, the sap being 

 inspissated, or thickened in a greater degree by the 

 increase of solar heat, in consequence of which, it is 

 rendered more productive of fruit-buds than leaf-l3uds. 

 Shoots that are considerably less in size than those 

 which bear fruit in ordinary summers, will, after being 

 ripened in such a summer, produce fine grapes in the 

 following season; it is next to impossible, therefore, 

 to prune a vme when all the shoots are thus well 

 ripened, so as not to bear a good crop of fruit in the 

 ensuing year. Indeed, a person blindfolded may 



