66 THE CULTURE OP THE GRAPE. 



is it advisable so to do ? My own plan is not to fruit them 

 till the third, and this, and the following years, suffering but 

 a moderate number of bunches to remain on the vine ; by tliis 

 plan, and by judicious thinning of the berries, the plant will 

 be gaining strength yearly, and, if capable of producing more 

 fruit than the limited crop you have left to mature, the 

 bunches and berries will swell accordingly, and the weight of 

 grapes obtained will be increased in proportion to the strength 

 of the vine, and the fruit of the colored kinds will be as black 

 as possible, and the flavor rich, vinous, and delicious, in strik- 

 ing contrast to that from a plant which has been taxed to its 

 utmost in its efforts to ripen an over-abundant crop. 



A plant of the Esperione variety of the grape, obtained 

 from Messrs. Hovey & Co. in the summer of 1843, grown 

 from a single eye that same spring, and planted out when 

 grown three or four inches only, made a remarkable growth ; 

 had it been allowed, and had there have been in the grapery 

 room to have permitted it to have grown, I do not doubt the 

 entire length of the cane would have been fifty feet ; it was 

 stopped at about thirteen feet early in August, and several 

 times cut back after this, during this month and September, 

 which caused the eyes on the upper part of the cane to break ; 

 these produced very large bunches of fruit-buds, which were 

 cut away in pruning ; a second crop of fruit-buds appeared on 

 new shoots, which Avere also cut away, and, when the foliage 

 was destroyed, the last of October, by frost, a third crop was 

 on the vines, which had been allowed to remain, and the ber- 

 ries of Avhich were of sufficient size to thin. 



In this case, we have an instance of a vine which, in seven 

 months from an eye, would have ripened fruit, had it have 

 been allowed. There was no artificial heating of the border, 

 and no uncommon care bestowed upon the preparation of it. 

 The soil used was, one half, loam from the garden, from the 

 spot where the border was made, which had been well ma- 

 nured for several years, the other half was coarse manure 

 from a barn-yard, where horses and oxen were kept ; all the 



