82 FRUIT GARDEN. 



the ground to give an annual supply of young bearing- 

 wood. 



American fence-rows would seem to offer a pecu- 

 liarly fine situation for the grape-culture, the posts and 

 rails oiFering such admirable means of support. To 

 what great profit might the immense amount of land 

 be put which is now taken up by fences and entirely 

 lost to culture, and this too without injury to the regu- 

 lar grain crops from . shading ? Intelligent farmers 

 would do well to adopt a course which would not only 

 supply their families with abundance of wholesome 

 fruit, but afford a source of regular profit. 



When vines are trained as standards, according to 

 the practice pursued in Northern France or Germany, 

 the main stalk or stem is not allowed to be over six or 

 eight inches high. From this, two or three shoots are 

 trained by being tied to a stake three or four feet high. 

 These shoots will produce two or three bunches each, 

 within a foot or eighteen inches of the ground, and they 

 will be succeeded annually by others springing from 

 the crown or top of the dwarf main stem. In Southern 

 Europe the base or main stem is often left higher, and 

 its side shoots secured to poles many feet high. 



PrUniyig. — This is done at two distinct periods ; what 

 is called Summer Pruning consists in pinching off the 

 shoots having no fruit, or such as > are not required for 

 the succeeding year. The fruit bearing shoots, as well 

 ^s those left for succeeding seasons, must also be 

 topped. 



The Winter Pruning consists in trimming off all the 

 wood that has borne, and shortening the new bearing 

 wood for next year, to three or four eyes in cold situa- 

 tions, and to six or eight in warmer exposures. 



