256 Vineyard Culture, 



causes the plant, under the influence of the next night's 

 cold, to freeze ; this shelter prevents it. 



[In many parts of the United States, it is necessary to bury 

 the vines every winter, and those who pursue this plan, ap- 

 pear to think it a simple matter, not very expensive. It is 

 known that a very slight amount of covering is all that is re- 

 quired to protect the vines from frost. Our author has hap- 

 pily hit the true idea, as we generally understand it, that suc- 

 cessive thawing and freezing is what so hurts plants that are 

 exposed to the rigors of winter. He accordingly recommends 

 a slight shelter, such as a stone or a little brush, which wards 

 off the sun's rays and prevents thawing. It is surprising how 

 slight an amount of shelter is required ; vines cut loose from 

 the stakes and lying upon the ground, rarely suffer, but where 

 there is a continuance of snow the protection is complete. 



With young vines, there is little difficulty in bending down 

 the canes and covering them with soil, but when the stock 

 has grown old and stiff, and is large, it is a stubborn subject to 

 deal with, and can not so readily be bent. It has been proposed 

 to obviate this difficulty by adopting one of the following 

 methods : either to plant the vine and train it, so that the 

 stock shall be inclined to one side, or to branch its arms at a 

 low point, very near the surface of the ground, and to train 

 them in an inclined manner, so that, in either case, they 

 may easily be brought to the surface, to receive their covering 

 of soil for a winter protection. 



The injurious effects of cold are sometimes quite severe — at 

 others, very slight. In some cases, the wood appears green 

 and perfect, while the buds are nearly all destroyed, so as to 

 ruin the crop for that season. 



Young vines — those recently planted — should always be cov- 

 ered with soil in the autumn of the first year's growth, particu- 

 larly in the clayey, heavy soils, else the action of the frost may 

 heave them out, and leave them on the surface, where the 



