248 Account of a Method of Managing Vines, %c. 



I only allowed one shoot to proceed from each plant in 

 the first year ; rubbing off all the others before they had 

 completely burst into leaf, the uppermost being the one I 

 retained. In the course of the summer I watered them with 

 soft pond water, as I found they wanted it, and frequently 

 with drainings from the farm yard, and with soap suds, when 

 I could procure any. 



During the first summer, the Vines made quite as much 

 progress as I could have expected, and their different de- 

 grees of vigour were nearly in proportion to the state of their 

 roots when planted. When the leaves had fallen in the end 

 of the year, I cut them down to the second or third eye, 

 when they had this appearance. 



MM 



In the beginning of the succeeding February I excited them 

 gradually into action by a little fire heat, and when the buds 

 were ready to burst, 1 rubbed all off but the two finest on 

 each plant ; the strongest of these, I intended to furnish 

 bearing wood for the lower half of the roof in the following 

 year. The most feeble of the two was cut down to the se- 

 cond or third eye, at the end of the season, and at the same 

 time the strongest shoot was reduced to eight feet, being the 

 length of the lower half of the rafter. Whilst they were 

 growing during the second summer I kept the shoots regu- 

 larly trained* upwards, divesting them of tendrils and late- 



* The house is furnished with wires a quarter of an inch in diameter laid in 

 horizontally under the rafters, at ten inches from the glass, and at ten inches 

 r.part, the shoots being tied to these wires are carried upwards in a perfectly 

 straight direction. 



