Читать книгу Manual of American Grape-Growing - U. P. Hedrick - Страница 98

Virgil calls the period in the life of the vine between the setting and the first vintage, the "tender nonage," and tells us that at this time the vines need careful rearing; so they do, now as then, American grapes as well as the grapes of ancient Rome. Fortunately, any departure from normal well-being is easily told in the grape, for the color of the leaf is as accurate an index to the health and vigor of the vine as the color of the tongue or the beat of the pulse in man. A change of color from the luxuriant green of thrifty grape foliage, especially the yellow hue indicating that the leaf-green is not functioning properly, suggests that the vines are sick or need nursing in some detail of care. When all goes well, however, the amazing energy of Nature is nowhere better seen among plants than in the growth of the grape, so that much of the care is in the use of the knife; in fact, as we shall see, the grape almost lives by the knife the first two years out.