Page:A Treatise on the Culture of the Vine and, and the Art of Making Wine.pdf/135

 Thus, to charge a plant as heavily as it will bear and to charge it to death, are synonimous expressions.

An old vine requires the same care and attention, as when it was still in its infancy; it requires to be pruned close, and the old wood frequently renewed; this makes shoots which spring from the bottom of the stock, of great value, although at first sterile. Not only age, but the numerous accidents to which the vine is subject, make this measure necessary. When a vine is so injured by frost, that an after budding cannot be reckoned on, the old and new wood is cut close to the stock. A vine should also be pruned above, when its yellow and sickly appearance indicates that worms hate attacked its roots. If, on the contrary, in the year preceding, the abortion of the flower has disappointed the hopes of fruit, and the sap has been employed in forming shoots of unmeasured length, there is nothing risked, in leaving a larger quantity of bearing wood, and charging it amply with fruit; as, if a little exhausted, it can be pruned proportionally shorter in the following year. In dry seasons, the vine makes little wood, and should be pruned short, as also, if the winter has been severe. If the wood and the fruit buds have been in part frozen, they should not be hastily removed, there is till room