FRUIT-GROWERS’ REPORT. 
429 
comes; then with covered leaves or litter — the latter is 
best—or wound with straw, and then covered with dry litter. 
Some cover by digging in and laying in the border; but this 
sometimes destroys the roots. 
Put a handful of air-slaked lime in a circle about the base of 
the cane, when field mice are troublesome. 
Rats sometimes girdle the vine in the winter, in the litter. I 
am poisoning them by using a vermin killer which I obtained 
at the drug stores. It destroys mice also. 
Management the Second Year .—As soon as the first of April 
of the second year, the vines must be looked over. Care should 
be taken that the vines do not grow—that the house does not 
get too warm. It must be kept cool, and the vines kept back 
as long as possible, The coarse manure or litter should be 
taken out between the first and fifteenth of April. The vines 
should be slung up loosely—not tied up in their permanent 
position—but suspended loio by tying up the middle of the vine. 
It is important the buds at the root or base of the vine should 
burst first, and if they arc growing in the form of an arch, and 
yet kept as far from the glass as possible, and off the ground, 
the desired result will be secured. 
After the buds have grown two or three inches, rub oft' a 
few of the weakest buds. The remaining buds will, or should, 
blossom two or three leaves from the main cane. These spurs 
are allowed to make four or five leaves, then pinched in as directed 
in the first year’s management. 
When the branches begin to show, after they have set, leave 
only one and the best on each spur. Thin that one, taking off 
about one-fifth of the berries with a pair of scissors, selecting 
the poorer ones, and distributing the thinning so as to preserve 
the symmetry of the bunch. 
If it is desired to cut out any vine on account of thick planting, 
it may be allowed to fruit much heavier than as above directed, 
exhausting its energies in producing a crop the second year. 
But the above directions apply to permanent vines. Care should 
taken not to allow a vine to fruit as heavily as above described, 
