342 AMERICAN GRAPE CULTURE. 



made, in allowing the disposition to become es- 

 tablished, and then a good deal of time and labor 

 .must be wasted in trying to correct it. It is an 

 accepted rule, that it is best to break bad habits 

 in childhood, since it is then easiest done. If, 

 when weeding with the hoe, the soil be drawn 

 from around the stock a few inches deep, it can 

 readily be seen whether such roots have formed 

 or are about forming, and it is a very easy matter 

 to remove them. It takes but a moment, and 

 is a very much better plan than to leave them 

 till they get large and in the way. By persever- 

 ing, for a while, in removing the roots as they 

 appear, the disposition to make them will be 

 overcome, and will be assisted by the increasing 

 age of the plant. The object, then, should be 

 to keep the stock free from roots for a few inches 

 beneath the surface ; thorough cultivation, in- 

 deed, up to the stock of the plant, would almost 

 regulate this matter of itself. 



Let the novice remember that the primary 

 roots must not be cut and dragged to the sur- 

 face, and we will proceed to describe two kinds 

 of plowing, the application of which he will now 

 readily understand. As plowing can not well 

 be done till the vines are pruned, this should be 

 done soon after the fall of the leaf. Of the two 



