320 
length of five or six inches the weak and apparently barren 
shoots are broken off with the fingers; two weeks later the 
tendrils are pinched off and the suckers are removed entirely 
from the older vines, but are merely pinched back on the 
young vines, as their complete removal might cause too rapid 
growth of the vine. When the grapes have grown to the 
size of peas they are thinned with scissors, from one-fourth 
to one-third of the grapes of each bunch being removed. 
Thinning increases and equalizes the size of the grapes 
that are left and hastens their ripening. At Thomery 
the grapes are usually thinned between July 10 and August 
10. In the second tying, which is made necessary by the 
growth of the shoots that were too short to be tied in the 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
August, 1909 
moved with scissors, and the trimmed bunches are laid care- 
fully on trays covered with straw or ferns and carried on 
barrows to the packing and storage rooms. 
In the dry method of preservation, which was used ex- 
clusively until the middle of last century, the grapes are 
simply laid in small trays of osier lined with straw compactly 
arranged in the storehouse. The method is simple and cheap, 
but the grapes become withered and wrinkled if long kept. 
Larpenteur conceived the idea of immersing the ends of 
fruited branches in water, and found that in this way 
grapes could be kept for two months. Charmeux and Val- 
leaux improved the process, to which an experience of half 
a century has given the following form. 
Bagging grapes to protect them from insects 
spring, some of the leaves which touch the wall are removed 
in order to give light and heat to the grapes, and many more 
leaves are removed during the first half of September. 
Fungous diseases are combated by spraying the vines with 
mixed solutions of copper sulphate and lime (Bordeaux 
mixture). The ripening clusters are enclosed in bags of 
horsehair or paper to protect them from bees, wasps and 
flies, and the vines are covered with nets to exclude birds: 
The grapes are gathered about the middle of October, on 
fair but slightly cloudy days, if possible. 
The finest clusters are cut with some of the wood attached, 
for the purpose of keeping them fresh. The clusters of the 
second grade are also kept until winter, but by the dry 
method, which does not require the wood to be cut with them. 
The remaining grapes are immediately shipped to Paris, 
packed in baskets containing about thirteen pounds each. 
As the clusters are gathered the imperfect grapes are re- 
The storage rooms, which are preferably situated on the 
first floor of the building, are fitted with shelves which have 
holes for the reception of bottles containing about a gill ot 
water. ‘The storehouses of the largest establishments often 
contain forty thousand bottles. A piece of charcoal is put in 
each bottle to keep the water sweet, and the end of the vine 
stem is then inserted. The doors and windows of the room 
are kept closed. Darkness is an important factor, as it pre- 
vents fermentation inside the grapes. The temperature is 
kept as uniform as possible, and little above the freezing- 
point, 36 or 37 degrees Fahrenheit. The air of the room 
must be very dry, as dampness produces mold and decay. 
By this method, which requires constant care, the grape- 
growers of Thomery keep fresh every winter from two hun- 
dred and seventy-five thousand to three hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars’ worth of golden chasselas and other fine 
table grapes. 
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