101 



'^bleeding it must be, the new growth soon appears. Between the time 

 when the last fruit is cut to the time of pruning a vine ought not to 

 need much water, all the needful growth by this time should be com- 

 pleted and the ripening of the cane during the fall will be more 

 thorough if the water supply is restricted. Should there be dryness 

 at the roots, a day or so before pruning give the Tine a good watering. 

 Never start a vine into growth with dry roots. After pruning and 

 when the new growth has begun the vine must on po account be al- 

 lowed to go short of water, periodical soakings of water — the warmer 

 the better should be regularly supplied. Too much is batter than too 

 little as if the drainage is good the soil will soon put itself right. 



So soon as the new growth shows where the fruit will be, disbudding 

 must have attention. By disbudding we mean the rubbing off with 

 the thumb and finger where two or more buds show close together ; 

 all except one — the one left being the one in the beat position and also 

 removing any buds which if left on would result in over-crowding. 

 The next sttp ispinching back to the third or fourh leaf all fruit bearing 

 canes and the tying in out of the way of the cluster any non-bearing 

 cane that it may be desirable to retain as a fruit bearer for the follow- 

 ing season. Most vines if at all free bearing will show more fruit 

 than they can properly mature. This raises the question as to how 

 many and what clusters should be allowed to remain. Some shoots 

 will show only one cluster — the majority will however be likely to 

 show two and now and again a cane may have three clusters. Here 

 is a case in which two are not better than one, and where three is 

 worse yet. Never leave more than one cluster on one oana and that 

 not always the one that promises to be the larger. Well finished me- 

 dium sized clusters are worth more than poorly finished larger ones. 

 Nothing is lost by restricting the crop but sometimes a great deal in 

 the way both of weight and quality is gained by it. The crop left on 

 should be distributed over the entire area of the vine as evenly as pos- 

 sible. 



After the fruit has set, no time must be lost in the thinning. Free 

 setters such as Fro ntignan, Foster Seedling, Q-ros Oolman, Royal 

 Ascot and others will be irreparably injured by delay. Muscat of 

 Alexandria, Bowood Muscat and Canon Hall Muscat are shy setters — 

 thinning in their case may be safely delayed a while longer until it is 

 seen what the set is. 



Ordinarily it is safe to say that from one third to one half of the 

 berries may safely be cut out but an experienced grower more anxious 

 lor quality than quantity would go yet further and take out fully two 

 thirds. In the case of long loose strag >-ling clusters the bottom berries 

 seldom are worth anything — they fail to develope and are slow to 

 ripen — it is best to remove them and so have a shorter but much bet- 

 ter looking cluster. Some varieties are heavily shouldered whilst 

 others are destitute of it. At the time of thinning these shoulders 

 should either be carefully tied up or else cut out — to allow them to 

 remain and press upon the body of the cluster will do mischief. 



From this time the after treatment sheuld aim at maintaining the 

 «Tine in vigorous health. Pinching back the sublateral growths on 



