l8a Vineyard Culture. 



mended, it is important that we should be able to ob- 

 tain, every year, a vigorous shoot, at the base of that 

 which has borne fruit the preceding summer [B, Fig. 

 61]. The best means of obtaining this result is to 

 bend the branch [A, Fig. 60], and cause it to take the 

 position of the dotted line B [Fig. 60]. It would even 

 be advisable to make the end of the shoot dip beneath 

 the wire, so as to make it exceed the degree of depression 

 indicated in Figure 60. The consequence then is, that 

 the sap being prevented from following its natural di- 

 rection* acts strongly at the base of the arm, and there 

 develops a vigorous shoot. It will therefore, be un- 

 derstood that this bending of the fructifying stem should 

 begin before the starting of vegetation, otherwise a por- 

 tion of the sap will already have spent its action in the 

 top of the shoot, and there would be less vigor at the 

 base. 



[Bending the bows, in the common mode of vineyard train- 

 ing, with stakes, is a very important affair, and an operation 

 of some delicacy, requiring great care in its performance. 

 The object of using the bow is set forth by the author, in the 

 preceding paragraph, where he speaks of bending the shoots 

 when fastening them to the wires of the trellis. 



But there is danger of performing this work too early in 

 the season ; the canes should be left until the sap has begun 

 to flow, and the buds have become excited ; otherwise, the 

 object of attempting to equalize will be rendered nugatory, 

 and the buds at the end will scarcely develop shoots, while 

 those at the top of the arch may become, as they are always 

 apt to do, the most vigorous, and even act as formidable rivals 

 of those we desire to produce for next year's wood, from the 

 spur. I prefer to wait until the buds are almost ready to 

 burst, before bending the bows ; but, in a large vineyard, it is 



