370 BUSH-FRUITS 



when perfectly dry, then cork the bottles tight, cover 

 the corks with sealing wax, and partially cover the 

 bottles with sand or earth in the cellar. 



DURATION OF PLANTATIONS 



In the older method of pruning to tree form, the 

 plants began to fail after six or eight years, and soon 

 became unprofitable, generally bearing their best fruit 

 about the fourth or fifth year from planting. In bush 

 training, they remain in vigorous conditions much 

 longer. Plantations twenty or twenty-five years old, 

 and still profitable, are not uncommon. Much depends 

 on the thoroughness with which the renewing process 

 is carried on. Liberal fertilizing and good culture will 

 also aid greatly. Generally it will be found more 

 profitable to discard them after ten or twelve years, 

 for replanting is not expensive, and the younger 

 plants will be more vigorous and bear finer fruit. 

 A slight difference in the quantity and quality of 

 crops will soon offset the cost of replanting. No 

 rule as to number of years can be valid, for of two 

 plantations of the same age, one may still be perfectly 

 satisfactory and the other wholly unprofitable, owing 

 to differences in treatment and conditions. In com- 

 mercial work, a safe rule will be to replant as soon 

 as the first trace of waning vigor can be detected. 

 It is not a question of how long they will continue 

 to bear well, but of which will prove the more pro- 

 fitable, the old planting, with its regular care, or a 

 new one, with the added expense of another plant- 



