CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 169 



The closing sentence may be taken as the rule for all 

 checking of the growth of the grape. In all climates 

 where there is considerable humidity, if the branches 

 have an upward support, there is a strong tendency to 

 excessive growth, to the almost total failure of fruit. But 

 in the dry climate of California and of Spain there is no 

 such excessive growth, and consequently the grape is 

 allowed to grow with no checking. In Northern France, 

 and in our Northern States, the practice* has been to check 

 constantly throughout the season. This is absolutely ne- 

 cessary where the shoots have an upright position. Even 

 when checked, the rush of sap is strongly upwards ; and 

 laterals and sub-laterals are continually being developed. 



Nature accomplishes the desired en 1 in another way : 

 she reverses the position of the branches. When the fruit 

 weighs down the branches, the flow of sap becomes so 

 slow, that there is very little inclination to growth, and the 

 fruit obtains a full amount of nourishment. Can we not 

 imitate Nature, and so diminish this necessity of checking 

 growth ? We will proceed, however, with the checking 

 upon the upright trellis ; and the same directions will, to 

 some extent, apply to the horizontal trellis, though the 

 necessity will be far less. The first checking will occur 

 before the clusters are in blossom. It will be well to 



