198 Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



Grapes: Development of Methods on Large Areas. 



(Used at tlie first Fredonia School.) 



introduction. 



Modern methods in vineyard management are an outgrowth or 

 development. Consider, for exam])le, pruning and training. We 

 began with stakes ; first one stake per vine, then two stakes per vine, 

 then post and wire trellis. At first, we used posts six and one-half 

 feet and two wires, then posts seven and eight feet and three wires, 

 and now in some instances posts nine and ten feet and four wires. 

 Distances of planting are also an outgrowth. In an early day, Con- 

 cord vineyards were in some few cases put as close as six feet each 

 way. Thousands of acres have been set eiglit feet by eight, and 

 later, thousands of acres more at the now commonly received dis- 

 tance of nine feet between the rows. The development in varieties 

 is equally marked. For many years Catawba and Isabella were the 

 standard, then came Clinton and Delaware, then the Concord and 

 its well-known seedlings ; then Brighton, Niagara, Diamond, Moyer, 

 Yergennes, Jessica, and last some new early varieties not yet fully 

 disseminated but from which much is expected. IMethods of culti- 

 vation are a development. The first cultivation was in small garden 

 plantings, tilled by hand or the one-horse cultivator, and in a slow, 

 lal)orious and comparatively costly way. 



The grape industry has outgrown the garden period and has be- 

 come a farm crop. Methods of cultivation which are well enough 

 for a quarter acre, are too slow and costly for twenty-five acres. 

 Yineyardists have been obliged to widen tlie rows, put on two 

 horses, use the gang plows and the latest improved spriiig tooth 

 harrows and horse hoes. We have introduced this line of thougiit, 

 which is perfectly familiar to all of you, and which might be ex- 

 tended to many other branches of the industry, for the purpose of 

 calling your attention, in this introductory part of to-day's study, to 

 some of the causes which have led to this rapid develoiDment. 



As we study the philosophy of vineyard management, we are im- 

 pressed with the interdependence and modifying influence of one 

 branch or condition upon others. To illustrate : the species and 

 varieties we can profitably grow are determined by our climate. 

 Attempts to raise varieties grown exclusively in Europe and Cali- 



