This Experiment, I Believe,
Has Never Fail'd; For I Have Trimm'd The Natural Vine The French Way,
Which Has Been Attended, At Last, With The Same Fate.
Wherefore, it seems
most expedient, to leave the Vines more Branches here, than in Europe,
or let them run up Trees, as some do, in Lombardy, upon Elms.
The Mulberries and Chinkapin are tough, and trimm'd to what you please,
therefore fit Supporters of the Vines.
Gelding and plucking away the Leaves,
to hasten the ripening of this Fruit, may not be unnecessary,
yet we see the natural wild Grape generally ripens in the Shade.
Nature in this, and many others, may prove a sure Guide.
The Twisting of the Stems to make the Grapes ripe together,
loses no Juice, and may be beneficial, if done in Season.
A very ingenious French Gentleman, and another from Switzerland,
with whom I frequently converse, exclaim against that strict cutting of Vines,
the generally approved Method of France and Germany, and say,
that they were both out in their Judgment, till of late, Experience has
taught them otherwise. Moreover, the French in North Carolina assure me,
that if we should trim our Apple and other Fruit-Trees,
as they do in Europe, we should spoil them. As for Apples and Plums,
I have found by Experience, what they affirm to be true. The French,
from the Mannakin Town on the Freshes of James River in Virginia,
had, for the most part, removed themselves to Carolina, to live there,
before I came away; and the rest were following, as their Minister,
(Monsieur Philip de Rixbourg) told me, who was at Bath-Town,
when I was taking my leave of my Friends.
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