OF THE VINE. 35 



scale are such as every vine of the given girt of stem 

 can perfectly mature, but if these be exceeded, the 

 flavor will immediately begin to diminish, and the 

 vine may then be said to be overcropped. On the 

 other hand, although a less quantity of grapes may 

 be matured by a vine, than the proportion represented 

 in the scale, the flavor will not thereby be increased, 

 in which case the vine will be undercropped. This, 

 however, very seldom happens ; but to go beyond 

 the true bearing point, and to overcrop a vine when- 

 ever the quantity of fruit shown will admit of it, is 

 of almost universal occurrence, not only with vines 

 trained on open walls, but with those imder glass 

 also. It is impossible to place this injurious practice 

 in too prominent a point of view, for it is the prolific 

 parent of almost every evil that can befal a vine, and 

 it is really so general, that scarcely one vine in ten 

 thousand escapes it. 



Although, therefore, the proportionate quantities 

 mentioned in the scale are much less than vines are 

 frequently permitted to bear, they may be regarded as 

 a close approximation to the greatest weight of fruit 

 which can be borne, so as to be brought to the high- 

 est degree of maturation which the climate will 

 permit. There may be a little increase in the powers 

 of maturation of vines, when trained on very warm 

 aspects, but I have never found it prevail to any 

 extent, nor to be sufficiently uniform in its occur- 

 rence, to justify any variation in the proportions laid 

 down in the scale. Some sorts of vines, also, are 

 constitutionally disposed to shoio more fruit than 

 other sorts, but the capability to mature the fruit is 

 pretty nearly equal in all. It may be further re- 

 marked, that if a vine during any season be under- 

 cropped, the deficiency may be partly made good the 

 following year, by causing it to bear a considerable 

 portion of fruit more than its allotted quantity, as 

 stated in the scale. This results from the sap not 

 having been all expended in ripening the fruit; it has 

 in consequence accumulated, and the plant is thereby 



