118 WEEKLY CALENDAPvIAL REGISTER. 



errors that are committed, almost universally, in the 

 culture of the vine. There is a certain point of time, 

 when grapes attain their highest degree of maturity, 

 but that is not when they first appear io be ripe, but 

 a considerable period afterwards. There are so many 

 circumstances, however, that influence the ripening of 

 grapes, on open walls, that it is impossible to lay 

 down any rule for determining the precise period, 

 when they will have reached their extreme point of 

 maturity. The season, the soil, the culture, the sort 

 of grape, and, lastly, the aspect, modified as this is by 

 a variety of local circumstances, either accelerate or 

 retard the maturity of the fruit, as they combine 

 favorably or unfavorably. It is seldom, indeed, that 

 all the fruit of a vine becomes ripe at the same period 

 of time. And it is worthy of remark, also, that every 

 bunch of grapes ripens progressively, beginning first 

 at what is called " the shoulders," or that part next 

 to the footstalk, and proceeding downwards to the 

 extremity of the bunch. And so slowly is this pro- 

 cess carried on in backward seasons, and in unfavora- 

 ble aspects, that there is frequently from ten to fifteen 

 days' ditference in the time betwixt the ripening of 

 the shoulders, and that of the extremity of the same 

 bunch of fruit. And if a vine be overcropped to any 

 extent, its vital energies will be exhausted before the 

 process of maturation is completed, in which case, the 

 extremities of the bunches never ripen, but shrivel and 

 decay. Without, therefore, venturing to giA^e any 

 very specific directions with respect to the vintage^ it 

 may be laid down as a good general rule, applicable 

 in most cases, that after the period when all the ber- 

 ries of a bunch of grapes have first become apparently 

 ripe, the bunch ought to remain on the vine a month 

 longer, in order that, by the continued action of the 

 solar rays, the watery portion of tlie pulp may be 

 evaporated, and the sugary portion thereby relatively 

 increased. 



It is of great importance, also, in gathering the 

 fruit, that it be cut in dry weather, on the warmest 



