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well, provided the currant vines are cinctured at blossoming time 
or just after, between the base of the arm and the first spurs. This 
is done by running a knife on the stem twice round and cutting the 
bark and the inner bark, thus checking the return flow of the sap 
and causing better setting of the currants. The two cuts are made 
at an interval of one-sixteenth to one-eighth of an inch, and no ill 
effect results from this yearly treatment, which was first introduced 
to the notice of Australian growers by Mr. W. C. Grasby, who had 
seen it practised in Greece. Young vines cinctured too early may 
suffer a setback, and the operation should therefore be postponed 
until the plant is strong and is growing vigorously. 
Cost or STAKING AND TRELLISING. 
The cost of ttellising currant vines according to the above 
method, recommended by Mr. Thomas Hardy, if done in a sub- 
stantial manner, is in any case a heavy one, and to do it in any 
other way is false economy. The figures given below would vary 
somewhat with the cost of posts and of wire. 
For one acre of vines it will take:— 
£ 8. d. 
118 posts at 6d. each 219 0 
11 straining posts at ls. 011 0 
11 struts at 6d. 0 5 6 
123 crossheads at 10s. ‘per 100 012 3 
5iewt. of wire at 10s. 212 6 
30lbs. bolts at 3d. 07 6 
Labour erecting 3 1 6 
If two tiers, extra 410 6 
£1419 3 
This price would now be much higher on account of the ad- 
vance in the cost of wire, labour, ete. A cheaper style of trellis is 
now used in currant vineyards and consists of two wires only, a 
third wire being added on rich land and where the vines grow 
more luxuriantly. 
STAKING AND TRELLISING VINES. 
A great many vine-growers are deterred from staking or 
trellising their vineyards on account of the somewhat heavy ex- 
penditure of money it entails. Instead, therefore, of pruning such 
vines long, as require long pruning, they spur prune them, with the 
result that the crop the vineyard is capable of producing is materi- 
ally lessened. 
If a given area of vineyard can, at a comparatively small addi- 
tional expense, be made to yield a heavier crop, the returns 
will be equivalent to those of a larger area. For instance, 
if by spending an additional £8 to £10 per acre the net profits are 
increased by 30 per cent., the result is equivalent to increasing the 
