180 CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 



clusters, and they do not receive a proportionate share 

 of the strength of the vine ; which is, of course, a hin- 

 derance to their process of maturing. Aside from the 

 many other advantages resulting from keeping vines near 

 to the ground, there can be no question that this one of 

 hastening the maturity of the fruit is a very important 

 consideration. 



In the early part of the eighteenth century, a very 

 curious method of treating fruit, especially the vine, was 

 discovered and practised in France, the object of which 

 was not only to hasten the maturity, but also to develop 

 the size, of the fruit. In the year 1745, the French Agri- 

 cultural Society awarded the premium to M. Buchatt of 

 Mentz for the successful practice of this method. It 



consisted in the entire re- 

 moval of a ring of bark from 

 a fruiting-branch just below a 

 cluster of fruit, as seen in fig. 

 37. Though the experiments 

 were always successful, we 

 do not hear that the plan 

 was known to any extent in 

 England until the early part 

 Fig. 37. of the present century. In 



