384 On a manner of training the Vine upon open Walls * 



a practice of planting their Vines far apart, their growth 

 was so luxuriant that they were under the necessity of 

 leaving a distance of two feet between each cordon, and 

 even that was found insufficient as they shot beyond it, and 

 could only be kept within bounds by repeatedly cutting in 

 the young wood, though in an advanced state ; but since 

 they have adopted the practice of close planting, and by a 

 judicious selection, have procured varieties which grow more 

 kindly, pinching alone is found sufficient to keep the plants 

 in order. 



As soon as the young shoots of the Vine have grown to a 

 sufficient length, they are attached to the treillage, the stronger 

 ones first, but loosely, until they have acquired sufficient 

 elasticity. 



Care of the Fruit. 



Some time after the first tying in of the young wood, the 

 bunches of fruit should be looked over, and the extremities 

 of such as are very long cut off, for they generally ripen late, 

 and imperfectly. Not more than two bunches are permitted 

 to remain on a shoot ; where a third appears, the upper one 

 is taken off; should the plant be weak, even the second is 

 displaced. Close bunches also, such as the Frontignans, should 

 have their berries thinned out. The time for these operations 

 is when the berries are about the size of peppercorns : this 

 work should be accompanied by searching the bunches for the 

 Larva, or Caterpillar of a Sphynx, or species of Moth, which 

 chooses these close clusters as a retreat, and there envelope 

 themselves in a silky web, which retains the moisture in rainy 

 seasons and rots the bunches. 



Disleafing the Vines, to give colour to the Grapes, and 



