Bleeding Vines.

Will pruning grape vines when they bleed injure them?

It has been demonstrated not to be of any measurable injury.

Vines and Scant Moisture.

Would it be well to sucker vines and take also some bearing canes off, or in a dry year will they mature properly as in other years if the ground is in good condition?

Vines usually bear drouth-stress better than bearing fruit trees.  On soils of good depth and retentiveness, they are likely to give good crops in a dry year with thorough cultivation; still, lightening the burden of the vines is rational.  Suckering and cutting away second-crop efforts should be done.  Whether you need to reduce the first crop can be told better by the looks of the vines later in the season.

Sulphuring for Mildew.

For two years I have not sulphured my vineyard and had no mildew.  My vines seem as healthy and thrifty as any of the neighbors’ that were duly sulphured.  Have I lost anything by not sulphuring?

Certainly not.  In sections where mildew is practically sure to come, sulphur should be used regularly as a preventive without waiting for the appearance of the disease.  There are, however, many locations, especially in the interior valley, where the occurrence of mildew is rare in sufficient volume to do appreciable harm, and then sulphuring should depend upon the weather, which favors mildew or otherwise.  But be always on the watch and have everything ready to sulphur immediately; also learn to recognize the conditions under which appearances of mildew become a menace.

Grape Sugar in Canned Grapes.

How can I prevent the formation of grape sugar in canned grapes?

Take care that the syrup is of the same density as the juice of the grape when the fruit and the juice are placed together in the can.  The density of the syrup and the juice are, of course, to be obtained by the use of the spindle, the same arrangement employed for determining when the percentage of sugar in the grape juice is right for raisin-making or for wine-making.  Whatever the density of the juice, make the syrup the same by the use of the right amount of sugar.

Part II.  Vegetable Growing

California Grown Seed.

Which are the best garden seeds to use, those raised in Ohio and the East or those raised in Washington and Oregon or those raised in this State?

It has been definitely shown by experience and experiment that is does not matter much where the seed comes from, providing it is well grown and good of its kind.  There is no such advantage in changing seed from one locality to another as is commonly supposed.  Besides, it is now very difficult to tell positively where seed is grown, because California wholesale seeds are retailed in all the States you mention, and the contents of many small packets of seeds distributed in California went first of all from California to the Eastern retailers, who advertise and sell them everywhere.