100 OPEN AIR GRAPE CULTURE. 



pinclied out and any frnit blossoms wliicli may 

 appear being removed. 



Tlie oj)erations of the second year will be readily 

 understood from tlie inspection of Fig. 14, wliicli 

 shows the young vine as it should appear at the close 

 of the first season. Here a is the wood of the old 

 cutting, with 5, the shoot which was cut back and 

 from which the young cane c d grew. As this 

 old wood is hard and cross-grained and cannot be 

 renewed, it will be well to add top dressing, suf- 

 ficient to cover it up to the line a b. The buds, c c, 

 are tliose which produce next year's shoots ; and the 

 buds at d d must be carefully removed. 



The ground should be kept clean and mellow 

 during the season, and by the first or middle of 

 September the further growth of the canes should 

 be stopped by pinching off tlie ends — the wood 

 being much more tlioroughly ripened when this is 

 done. 



It will be necessary, or at least advisable, to lay the 

 vines down this season also and protect, not only the 

 old stem, but at least four feet of the young shoots. 

 The stakes may be removed, and during the fall or 

 earl}^ spring the trellises may be erected, for which 

 full directions are given in Chapter IX. 



"Management during the Third Season. — Tiie tre*- 



