148 
THE FLOEIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ J ULY, 
that without a certain amount of good leaves, good fruit cannot be produced. A 
Vine with weak sickly foliage cannot produce or bear much fruit, and a Vine 
whose foliage gets destroyed by red-spider, &c., is in exactly the same condition. 
As a general rule, one bunch on each spur would be considered a heavy crop : 
it is never advisable to leave more. If one-third of these bunches were taken 
off, the bunches being of moderate size, what is left would be termed a moderate 
crop; and so on. In thinning the bunches of such free-setting varieties as the 
Black Hamburgh, every second bunch on each spur should be cut off before the 
flowers open, and all others which it is desirable to remove as soon as the grapes 
are set. The thinning of the bunches as well as of the berries should take place 
as early as possible. It is a great waste of power to allow that to develop itself 
which is not required, and which it is known must be cut off. Therefore, as 
soon as the berries are fairly set, thin out—that is, cut off the supernumerary 
bunches at once, and commence the thinning of the berries. 
