30 FRUlT-BEARlNG POWERS 



close together, forming, as far as they extended on 

 the wall, an entire and compact mass of grapes, the 

 weight of which, if ripened, would have exceeded 

 sixty pounds. The middle of that month arrived, 

 and the berries had only reached the size of small 

 peas, Avhile those on other vines, not subjected to any 

 such trial, were full grown, and had commenced the 

 stoning process. On the first of August, no percepti- 

 ble increase of size in the berries had taken place, 

 and the vine began to show strong symptoms of ex- 

 haustion. About the middle of that month the foli- 

 age assumed a withering appearance, and on the first 

 of September the vegetation of the plant was almost 

 at a stand. The shoots ceased to grow, the fruit and 

 foliage were in a prostrate condition, and the vital 

 energies of the vine appeared quite unable to supply 

 the daily increasing demand for nourishment. 

 Throughout that month it continued in a pitiable 

 condition, and though a valuable plant, it was, never- 

 theless, suffered to take its course as well as all the 

 others, in order that the trial might be decisive. 

 About the first of October, the greater part of the 

 berries having grown as large as middling-sized peas, 

 those on the shoulders of some of the bunches began 

 to show symptoms of ripening, by becoming a little 

 transparent, and at the same time, the berries at the 

 extremities of the bunches began to shrivel. As the 

 month advanced, the ripening process proceeded 

 slowly, but the shrivelling increased rapidly. To- 

 wards the latter end of October the trial was over, 

 and the experiment complete: on many entire 

 bunches every berry had shrivelled, and in no bunch 

 had the process of maturation proceeded farther down 

 than the shoulders. The whole crop was gathered 

 about the first of November, and the ripened portions 

 being put together, weighed nine pounds and a half 

 Not one of these ripened berries, however, was more 

 than half the usual size, and, in point of flavor, not 

 to be compared to others of the same sort, ripened, at 

 least, six weeks previously. 



