THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 227 



never been over-cropped, and the temperature of the 

 house, with the thinning of the berries, and summer 

 pruning of the shoots, have been properly attended to, 

 crops of fine grapes can be had from vines pruned in 

 any of the methods described. The plan recommended 

 and adopted by myself, is considered the most simple, 

 and the one taxing the vine the least of any to ripen ad- 

 ditional wood; it is easily kept within narrow limits, 

 giving ample room for the light to be admitted. 



In the. best vineyards, where the richest wines are 

 made, they limit the crop a plant may bear to a small 

 number of bunches, usually from eight to twenty-five in 

 number, and in weight to from ten to twenty pounds ; in 

 some parts of France, where they plant the vines very 

 close, to a much smaller quantity. 



At Xeres in Spain, the sherry wine district, two or 

 three mother branches are trained up with one spur on 

 each to fruit, and the vines are planted five feet apart 

 each way. The crop is limited to eight or nine bunches, 

 weighing about fourteen or sixteen pounds. 



At other vineyards in Spain, where poor wines are 

 made, the vine is allowed to bear twenty-five or thirty 

 pounds. 



In the vicinity of Malaga, where the Muscat of Alex- 

 andria grape is grown for the purpose of making raisins, 

 they prune close to the old wood every autumn, and the 

 plant is kept close to the surface of the soil, which is a 

 rotten slate ; the shoots are not tied up, but hang, or iie 

 upon the earth. The fruit also lies on the ground, and if 

 it were not so gravelly, it would rot ; the average yield, 

 per vine, here, is from seven to fifteen pounds ; this grape 



