354 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Coarse basswood turning chips or sawdust make a good absorbant of moisture, 

 and they keep better packed in it than in any other way that I have tried ; but 

 I have abandoned this process, on account of the difficulty of freeing the grapes 

 from the dust that will adhere to them. I now prefer shallow boxes that will 

 hold one course of stems, with soft paper over and under them. Closing the 

 boxes tight, I pack them in the coolest place I can find, where they will not 

 freeze, and leave them there until wanted for use. Packed in butter crocks, 

 with paper between the courses, and buried in the ground, is a very good way 

 when you have no ice-box or cool cellar to put them in. The main point is to 

 keep them at a uniform cool temperature. When warm air passes over 

 any cool substance the moisture is condensed on it, and the cool substance is 

 said to sweat. For this reason no air should be admitted to a fruit house 

 unless it is cooler than the fruit. 



Varieties selected for keeping should have woody stems, and the grapes 

 should have thick and firm skins, to hold the moisture. Some grapes that are 

 otherwise good keepers drop from the stems so as to make them valueless for 

 table or market. My choice for keeping at the present time is the Wilder, 

 Agawam, Salem, and Clinton. 



They should be packed as soon as in good eating condition, before they are 

 dead ripe. 



Strong growing vines should have ample room for roots as well as branches. 



Experienced growers are now planting the more thrifty varieties sixteen feet 

 each way, and some as far as twenty feet, and think they gain by it. I have a 

 Clinton vine which has ample room, from which I picked last fall five hundred 

 pounds of fruit. 



Trim your vines in the fall as soon as your fruit is gathered, and lay the 

 vines on the ground during the winter, with some sticks or sods to hold them 

 down. 



Do not handle or trim the vines while they are frozen, as they are liable to 

 be broken and injured when in this condition. All trimming should be com- 

 pleted before the first of March. 



The objects to be gained by trimming are to reduce the crop of grapes to 

 the capacity of the vine, to concentrate the fruit in a few large bunches, rather 

 than a great many small ones, to get new wood for bearing canes, and keep it 

 in condition to be laid down in the winter or within the range of your trellis. 

 All fruit comes from the shoots that grow the same year as the fruit, and the 

 buds from the last year's growth of wood. Plant vines on good clay soil, that 

 is well drained, cultivate thoroughly during the early part of the season. 



Summer treatment consists in rubbing off all weak buds that start in the 

 spring, leaving only the strong shoots to bear the fruit and in keeping them 

 well tied to the trellis, otherwise the wind will break them down and destroy 

 your calculations. 



After the fruit is set, examine the vine and pinch off all the small and im- 

 perfect bunches, leaving but two bunches to the cane, and see that every 

 bunch hangs free and clear from any incumbrance. If the vine is young or 

 you want a few nice stems for any purpose, leave but one bunch on a cane. 



No other summer pruning will be required, unless the vine grows so thick as 

 to exclude the light and air from the fruit. In that case, remove some of the 

 branches and laterals to let in the light. 



Never take a leaf from a bearing cane. The fruit will not ripen perfectly if 

 the leaves are destroyed. The sugar in the fruit is gathered by the leaves. 



