82 TRANSACTIONS OF THE TLLTNOIS 



fence made of cedar trees. To the adage of the great and illustrious 

 philosopher who said, " Young man, go West," I would add, "Plant 

 grapes and trees." 



DISCUSSION— PRUNING GRAPE-VINES. 



Dr. Humphrey — I would like to state a fact in reference to pruning-: 

 We speak in our instructions of leaving an arm here and an arm there, 

 cutting this and leaving that, and so on ; now all this is unmeaning to the 

 inexperienced vineyardist ; he does not know what you are talking about. 

 The thing to do is to take the man into the vineyard and show him how 

 the v/ork is done. I recollect once taking a man into the vineyard and 

 telling him to cut off this cane, to leave so many brailches, and as I talked 

 I proceeded to cut and trim after the approved style. The man said he 

 saw how it was ; he had learned more in five minutes than in all the hours 

 he had spent in reading books and listening to discussions on the subject. 

 Voice — How about summer pruning ? 



Mr. McWhorter — My practice is, after the vine has got to growing 

 vigorously, and the growth begins to get in the way of cultivation, to 

 arm one or more boys with a light, slim corn-knife, or keen butcher's 

 knife, and send them between the rows to clip the tips of the vines, so as 

 to check the longitudinal growth. This operation may be performed 

 three times during the summer, the object being to cause earlier ripening 

 of the fruit and of the wood. I think the vines stand the weather better 

 for this clipping, and consequent early ripening of the wood. 



Your Stenographer (Mr. Barler), while this little speech was being 

 said, kept up a terrible thinking : he would not allow boys with butcher- 

 knives in his vineyard. No, no ! If summer pruning must be done, let 

 it be done early in the season, when tender shoots are about three or four 

 inches long, and as soon as two bunches of grapes appear. This will 

 nrobably give a more compact bunch of grapes, but at the expense of the 

 health of the vine ; he does not do even this. No summer pruning is 

 done in his vineyard ; he plants wide enough apart so that cultivation is 

 not hindered, and trains on a two-wire trellis every time. But this might 

 as well have been unsaid. It is heretical doctrine and the orthodox will 

 not accept it. 



Dr. Warder (to Mr. McWhorter) — Where do you cut the heads off, 

 above or below the ears? [Laughter.] I would like to know what he 

 cuts them off at all for. Don't you do it. The summer pruning is done 

 before summer comes. My time for doing this work is just as the vines 

 begin to show fruit in the spring. You want no knife in this operation, 



