At the end of this season, we find our Concords or Herbemonts, with the old fruit-bearing cane, and a spur on each side, from which have grown two canes; one of which was stopped, like all other fruit-bearing branches, and which we now prune to a spur of two eyes; and another, which was stopped at about three feet, and on which the laterals were allowed to grow unchecked. We therefore have one of these canes, with its laterals, on each side of the vine. These laterals are now pruned precisely as the last season, each being cut back to from four to six eyes, and the old cane, which has borne fruit, is cut away altogether. With Norton's Virginia, Taylor, and some others, which will bear more readily on spurs from old wood, the old cane is retained, provided the shoots on it are sound and healthy, with well developed buds; the weak ones are cut away altogether, and the others cut back to two eyes each. One of the canes is pruned, as in the Concord, to be tied to one side of the trellis, the next spring. This closes our summer and fall pruning for the third year. Of the gathering of the fruit, as well for market as for wine, I shall speak in another chapter. TREATMENT OF THE VINE THE FOURTH SUMMER. We may now consider the vine as established, able to bear a full crop, and when tied to the trellis in spring, to present the appearance, as shown in Fig. 13. The operations to be performed are precisely the same as in its third year. [Illustration: FIG. 13.] In addition, I will here remark, that in wet seasons the soil of the vineyard should be stirred as little as possible, as it will bake and clog, and in dry seasons it should be deeply worked and stirred, as this loose surface-soil will retain moisture much better than a hard surface. Should the vines show a decrease in vigor, they may be manured with ashes or compost, or still better, with surface-soil from the woods. This will serve to replenish the soil which may have been washed off and is much more beneficial than stable manure. When the latter is applied, a small trench should be dug just above the vine, the manure laid in, and covered with soil. But an abundance of fresh soil, drawn up well around the vine, is certainly the best of all manures.