270 THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE, 



at Eshton. I have this year, obtained eleven prizes for 

 grapes, at three shows, and, last year, seven prizes at two 

 shows. In fifteen years, I have received sixty-four prizes 



reduce the number of bunches to what I suppose, if well filled out, would 

 make this weight. It would be useless, if after the estimated weight had 

 ripened its seed, aiid it was ascertained that, from the vigor of the vine, the 

 bunches would swell and exceed the amount required, to cut off the excess 

 now. When the grapes have thus perfected their seed, and are swelling 

 off and changing color rapidly, and the bunches are larger than was ex- 

 pected, to lessen this excess of quantitj', if it can be done without injuring 

 the bunch, I thin out the berries still more, that all the nourishment may 

 be thrown into those remaining. The effect of this treatment will be to 

 keep the vine hi perfect health and vigor. If, under these circumstances, 

 the bunches and berries swell beyond my calculations, and the weight of 

 fruit produced exceed the rule, there is no harm done, for the vine, from its 

 strong condition, has produoi'fl this result. I have thirty pounds, and 

 perhaps more, on a few vines, at this moment ; the bunches which I 

 thought 'would weigh one pound exceeding this weight considerably ; but 

 some other vines have less than the allowance. Nor do I expect any loss 

 of crop next year, in consequence; for, had the vines not been in 

 superior condition, and able, without weakening them, to have done this, 

 the berries would not have swollen in the manner they have, and the 

 twenty-five pounds would have been the yield. If the vines had been 

 just coming into bearing, and six or ten pounds the required amount, I 

 should have been very careful to avoid an over crop. Strengthen your 

 vines during the first five or six years of their growth, after planting i;i 

 your border, by not allowing them to produce heavy crops, and keep them 

 ever after in this condition of strengih, by aiming for a moderate yield of 

 fruit. By so doing, your plants will be in the state to afford this nourish- 

 ment, and the bunches will enlarge to an extent that will surprise you ; 

 on the other hand, if they are over-cropped, they wiU (may they have been 

 ever so promising at tlie beginning of the summer,) remain with the berries 

 small and loose, and entirely surpassed in weight and every desirable qua- 

 lity, by the neighboring vine, whose bunches, in the earlier part of the 

 season, were cast quite into the shade by these. 



By the statements of gardeners, who have given accounts of the crops 

 they have produced on their vines, it would be supposed that fifty pounds 

 was an average yield. (I am of opinion, that the weight in these eases, 

 was estimated, not real.) Admitting this weight to be real, then the yield 

 from the seventy feet house, (the viaes planted as is customarv in England, 

 10* 



