38 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



out evenly, cover three to four inches deep, and if the weather is dry mulch 

 with rotten manure. 



Time is money ; hence the easiest and best method of pruning and training 

 for the farmer is the arm and spur. Allow but one shoot to grow the first 

 season, pulling off the rest when the best one is secured to a stake. Keep the 

 laterals or side shoots pinched off to one leaf through the season. In the fall 

 cut this shoot down to the top of the lowest trellis bar, bend it down on the 

 ground carefully and cover with earth ; tie it up to the bar in the spring and 

 let the three upper shoots grow, treating those as the former one, by pinch- 

 ing off the laterals. In the fall cut the two outside shoots back to three feet 

 each, and the center one to the top of the middle trellis bar; bend the two 

 outside shoots carefully down to the top of the lower trellis bar, and fasten 

 them there by tying with string. 



"We have now two arms on the lower bar each two feet long. If they 

 have been handled carefully, each bud will produce a shoot two or three inches 

 apart. As this will be too close for the bearing canes, the under buds except 

 the end one, should be rubbed off after they start to grow, leaving the bearing 

 canes from six to eight inches apart. If any of the upper buds fail to grow, 

 the vacancy can be filled by a lower one. If three tiers of arms are wanted, 

 three shoots are grown from the upper buds of the central shoot that extends 

 to the top of the middle bar. These are to be treated as those were below, 

 and in the fall the outside ones cut back to two feet, and the center one cut off 

 at the upper bar. The canes on the lower arm are to be cut back to within 

 two buds of the arm, except the end ones, which are cut back to two feet and 

 laid down to complete the arm, and are to be treated as the first part was when 

 laid down. The next pruning season there will be spurs with two canes, and 

 to keep those spurs short the upper cane should be cut off below its base, and 

 two buds left on the lower one. The two arms on the lower bar are now in 

 what is called full bearing, having spurs producing two bearing canes each ; 

 and a continuation of the process above described will soon complete the arms 

 above. The trellis will then be full, the vine will be in full bearing, and noth- 

 ing is required but the simple annual pruning. 



There is nothing new about this system, but it has some advantages. There 

 is no danger from overbearing, and it can be cprickly pruned. We do not have 

 to stop and look to see which to cut away and which to leave. One tier of arms 

 fifty feet long can be pruned in half an hour with small shears. There are many 

 other systems of training, pruning, and caring for vines, and it is gratifying 

 to the writer to know that several gentlemen will be at the meeting who have 

 had more experience, and whose descriptive powers, with the aid of a black- 

 board, will leave those who hear them, and do not grow a supply of grapes, 

 without excuse. 



I ought to have stated before, if a vine makes two or three shoots the second 

 season seven or eight feet long, they can be cut back to four feet and laid 

 down for arms, thus filling the trellis in half the time. The trellis can be 

 extended indefinitely, and one or two tiers of arms grown instead of three. I 

 think either of the former preferable where there is plenty of room. 



To conclude, it is about as easy for a farmer to grow a supply of grapes as a 

 supply of corn, and far easier than a supply of plums. Let any farmer plant 

 twenty-five or fifty, two or three year old, hardy grape vines, give them the 

 same attention the first two years he does a row of corn after planting it and 

 he will have grapes in spite of any neglect afterward. He may train the trellis, 

 let them run over a rail fence, or plant four feet apart each way and tie two 



