FROZEN GRAPE VINES 149 



"If one has a small grove, I would advise digging a 

 trench fully ten inches deep, grading the distance from 

 trunk according to size of tree, and cutting off all roots. 

 Some trees treated in this way, a year after the freeze, 

 show a marked improvement in the way of growth the sec- 

 ond summer just passed. As soon as the sprouts from the 

 ground get large enough, insert your buds and get them 

 started as soon as possible. If you wait until the next 

 spring the buds will make too rank a growth. * * * 



"Regarding the number of buds that is best to let grow, 

 there is a great diversity of opinion, and it will take years 

 to decide positively what is really best. In all my younger 

 trees, where the stump will probably heal over, I have 

 adopted the rule to let only one grow, as we much prefer to 

 have a single trunk only. In the case of old trees killed 

 to the ground, I cannot but think that it will be a temporary 

 make -shift at the best, to get a few oranges while the 

 newly -set tree is growing, so that it really makes small 

 difference whether two or half-a-dozen are grown. Never 

 have we had such an opportunity to change our varieties." 



How to treat grape vines which are frozen 

 after growth has begun is also a perennial ques- 

 tion. Much will depend on the severity of the 

 freeze, and on the amount of growth which had 

 taken place. The following extract* is believed 

 to explain the best method of procedure : " In 

 proceeding to treat frozen vines, it must be 

 borne in mind that the injured parts are of no 

 further use to the plants, and they are very apt 

 to weaken the plant by causing it to lose much 

 of its moisture. The rational procedure, there- 



*" Principles of Fruit-Growing," p. 329. 



