MY VINEYARD. 73 



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of room, still greater distances are desirable. A stake 

 must be placed at .each plant, and the vines kept tied as 

 they grow. The first and second seasons, it is better to 

 allow only one cane to each vine, and it is necessary to 

 keep it within moderate limits by pinching in the later- 

 als, and stopping the main cane at a foot or two beyond 

 the stake. 



' During the third and fourth years, each vine may pro- 

 duce two canes, which should be treated like those of the 

 previous years. In the fourth year, and occasionally in 

 the third, the vines will begin to fruit. This will enable 

 you to judge with some degree of accuracy as to the re- 

 sult of your labor, whether it is all lost, or whether you 

 have obtained a new variety of value. Of a thousand 

 plants, perhaps none will be like the parent ; probably 

 many will be inferior, but the vast majority will 

 doubtless have a sum total of qualities which make 

 them neither better nor worse, while a few may have 

 some, perhaps all of their qualities, superior to those of the 

 parent. These shoidd be saved for further trial, while 

 all others may be at once destroyed. It wUl take many 

 years to determine positively as to the quality and value 

 of a new variety. 



What is most needed just at the present, in a new variety, 

 is the combination of earliness with the qualities which 

 many of our best varieties already possess. Such a grape 

 could be grown farther North than any we now have, and 



