GENERAL AUTUMNAL PRUNING. 127 



which they have encircled from the beneficial influ- 

 ence of the sun and air. They also become the re- 

 ceptacles of numerous insects, and if woolen shreds 

 have been used, they are very retentive of moisture, 

 and if suffered to remain, would chill the juices of the 

 vine, and thereby retard the vegetation in the spring. 

 In unnailing the branches, care must be taken not to 

 draw all the nails at once, as the former wonld then 

 be left destitute of their necessary support. Unnail a 

 part at a time, therefore, and having pruned that part, 

 renail it in a temporary manner, before any other 

 part of the vine be pruned, and so proceed till the 

 whole be pruned. Observe, that CA^ery nail before it 

 is drawn, must be driven farther into the wall, by a 

 good blow or two on its head with the hammer, in 

 order to disengage it from the mortar ; otherwise, in 

 drawing it out, portions of the mortar which adhere 

 to it will be drawn with it, and the joints of the wall 

 will be thereby defaced and injured. 



2d. Ascertain the girt of the stem, and calculate 

 the quantity of fruit which the vine can mature in the 

 following year, agreeably to the scale given in page 

 33, and, assuming (for the sake of making the opera- 

 tion clear) that the strength of the vine is equal to 

 the maturation of fifty pounds' weight of fruit, the 

 number of buds that it will be advisable to retain, to 

 produce that quantity, will be from ninety to a hun- 

 dred. Now, before selecting the shoots that are to 

 contain this number of buds, means must be taken to 

 provide for a proper supply of future bearing-wood. 

 For this purpose, choose some of the strongest current 

 year's shoots that are situated nearest to the stem of 

 the vine, and at appropriate distances from each other, 

 and cut each of these down to the two lowermost 

 buds. The number of shoots to be thus spurred, 

 must not be less than two, nor need they be more 

 than six. Having thus provided for the supply of fu- 

 ture bearing-wood, proceed in the next place to select 

 the shoots that are to be retained as fruit-bearers. In 

 doing this, remember that good bearing-wood is al- 



