alone is kept and dressed by tlie knife which has sprouted sub-eyes. 

 There is no need for hurry in clearing off the frozen wood, nor even 

 the buds partially caught; for it is no rare thing for the latter 

 sprouts to bear. If the Vine bleeds, length must be amply allowed 

 to all the wood and but little be removed, all which the year after 

 can be properly reduced. When the mould is deep, a plenty of run- 

 ners, or main-branches may be allowed, but not so if the soil be thin 

 and poor ; in any case it exhausts the stock if there are more than 

 four runners with three buds on each. In a poor soil, two branches 

 to the stump, with three buds or eyes on each, are enough. In a 

 wet loam, pruning must be cautiously given, if at all. In dry years 

 the Vine makes very little wood ; then tJie pruning may be thorough : 

 the Vine should be thinned out greatly and pruned short especially 

 if there has been a severe winter. 



Some varieties require to be left long, others to be dressed very 

 close ; but with all kinds alike, the operation should be performed 

 with sharp instruments, and that wood which is old and dry and will 

 delay the circulation of the sap, be cleaned out and cut very close to 

 the healthy stems. 



The vine-dresser when he prunes, ought always to have at his 

 side a sharp mattock to clear away the earth from the root of the 

 Vine so as to cut off as deeply as possible, all the suckers ; when 

 this is done without opening the ground, they sprout up again more 

 numerous than ever, and by abstracting sap from the fruit-buds 

 injure them considerably. Each one has a particular motive in his 

 manner of pruning ; one does it for the present crop ; another to 

 make his Vine look handsome ; a third for the crop two years ahead ; 

 a fourth who keeps the mam chance in view, takes care of the large, 

 vigorous stems, and heeds little whether the Vine is too high or ill 

 formed, only considering the crop; as the proverb say«, rather a 

 stock well filled than one well trained. The principal point is, to 

 know and seize the right time for pruning. To do it too soon ad- 

 vances vegetation and exposes the young buds to the nipping of the 

 cold, or even spring frosts ; if too late , it retards the development 

 of the buds, and perhaps destroys the fruit-buds by their becoming 

 drenched with the bleeding sap during the night ; or perhaps a late 

 frost happens, and finds the retarded sprouts so backward and ten- 

 der that it will entirely destroy them. 



In warm countries, some pruning should be performed after the 

 fall of the leaf; it gives the grape a greater chance for ripening and 

 becoming sugary ; but to prune in fall or begiiming of the winter, 

 in cold countries, is imprudent : it is proper to wait until the black 



