CHAPTER X. 



METHODS OF HASTENING MATURITY. 



IT is well known that the same variety of grape will 

 ripen at different times in different localities, and 

 under varying circumstances. A protected southern 

 slope, or an angle of buildings looking southerly, with a 

 loose, warm soil adjoining, will make a difference of two, 

 three, or possibly of four weeks in the time of ripening, 

 over ordinary localities. It is the experience of French 

 cultivators, that vines trained near the ground mature 

 their fruit from one to two weeks earlier than when car- 

 ried higher up. It will be found, that, under the spiral 

 system, the grapes nearest the ground ripen first : yet, in 

 this case, the difference is not so marked as we might 



expect, since the ascending sap rushes past the lower 



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