60 THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 



never receive any check. We will presume, by this time, the 

 grapes are stoned, and changing color. Again examine your 

 outside border ; if the heat has much declined, take part 

 away, adding more fresh in its place, working all well up to- 

 gether to cause a brisk heat, which should be kept up till 

 your grapes are nearly colored ; by keeping the roots in a 

 somewhat corresponding temperature with that to which the 

 top is exposed, shanking and shrivelling have been discarded, 

 and the effect produced noble specimens of grapes without a 

 shanked berry upon them, no matter whether a wet or dry 

 season. After the fruit has done swelhng, you may remove 

 the dung by degrees from the roots, and discontinue the hu- 

 midity of the house, keeping up a brisk heat with plenty of 

 air, so as to color the fruit more perfectly, after which time 

 you may lower the house by degrees, keeping it cool and dry. 



" If, by this time, your wood appears ripe, though the 

 leaves may not have changed color, you may disbud your 

 leading shoot, as mentioned for last pruning season, shortening 

 it so as the joint of two years* growth may reach fifteen or 

 sixteen feet ; likewise, as the fruit is cleared, you may prune 

 your spurs, cutting them into two eyes. Give your border a 

 top dressing, and in all other respects follow what was recom- 

 mended for the previous autumn." 



Chapter 5th. " As the season approaches to start your 

 yomig vines, with their wood the growth of two years, many 

 would object to letting them carry a heavy crop of fruit, but 

 content themselves with a light sprinkling, knowing it to be 

 so averse to the old-received practice of managing young 

 yines, and that prejudice having taken deep root for years in 

 only a moderate soil, is bad to eradicate. However, it has 

 been my intention in these pages to point out the errors, and 

 improve upon the practice, of by-gone times, and I have been 

 able to show by experience that every success will attend 

 grape-growers, if the foregoing instructions be implicitly fol- 

 lowed, and that they will have the pleasure of seeing, from 

 vines the gi-owth of two years, a noble crop of fruit, free from 



