Other Operations. 193 



have developed themselves sufficiently to show their little 

 bunches of embryo fruit ; this will be when the largest have 

 grown five or six inches long. It is evident, that if delayed 

 longer, there must be a greater loss to the vine. 



" The vine-dresser removes the weaker shoots by rubbing 

 them off with his thumb. When there are twins he should 

 take away the weaker. Where the joints of the old wood are 

 short, if the buds all break, the branches will be too close ; in 

 this case alternate shoots must be removed ; or, even more 

 than this, so as to leave the first branches not nearer than six 

 inches in many vines ten inches would be still better. If 

 this work be well done, the after-labors of summer pruning 

 will be very much lightened. 



" This process of rubbing out is very useful for correcting 

 the evils of insufficient winter pruning, as the surplus buds 

 may be removed, and the amount of growth reduced to what 

 the plant is capable of sustaining to advantage. A vine which 

 may have been wholly neglected in the winter can still 

 be thoroughly pruned, for all the practical purposes of prun- 

 ing, by thus removing the surplus shoots rubbing them out 

 as they appear. 



" Some vine-dressers depend upon this plan of reducing their 

 crop, instead of severe winter pruning, which is the more di- 

 rect method usually adopted. Sometimes, indeed, it may be 

 advisable to trim the canes long, when there is apprehension 

 that a portion of the buds have been winter-killed. Now 

 if they still break regularly, the excess can thus be reduced to 

 the proper standard. In some vineyards the whole summer 

 pruning is done at once, by the systematic and severe removal 

 of a large portion of the shoots, by rubbing them out, so as to 

 thin the crop, which is afterward left to take care of itself. 



" Certain insects are busily at work at the time of this 

 rubbing out, doing a similar work by eating a portion of the 

 buds ; but we can not depend upon their judgment in the mat- 

 17 



