520 Keport of the Department of Horticulture of the 



" It is doubtful if tliis is the best way. So many watersprouts are forced 

 out that the labor and care of thinning them are expensive. If they are not 

 thinned there is a large growth of wood, but the canes produced are short 

 and thin, and, therefore, unsuitable for grafting stock. If this method is 

 adopted from the beginning the vine is reduced to a prostrate stump, which 

 makes cultivation difficult, and as the vine becomes old it becomes full of 

 dead wood and difficult to prune. 



" A better method is to give the vine a trunk and head exactly as in 

 pruning ordinary vase-formed vines. A trunk from 1.5 to 18 inches high 

 and with five or six arms will make a vine much easier to cultivate and 

 prune and at least equally productive of good cuttings. In pruning, very 

 short spurs are left, consisting simply of the base bud. The cane should 

 be cut off through the first bud above the base bud. This will insure the 

 starting of tlie base bud and will avoid the danger of injury which occurs 

 when the cut is made too close to the bud which we desire to have grow. 



" With this method of pruning the arms will lengthen so slowly that 

 there will never be occasion to cut them back. During the spring and 

 early summer all unnecessary shoots should be removed in order to throw 

 all the vigor of the vine into those which remain. 



" A good, strong vine in rich soil should produce from 150 to 300 feet 

 of good grafting wood between one quarter and one half of an inch in 

 diameter, and a certain amount of smaller wood good for rooting. Expe- 

 rience only will tell how many shoots should be left to a vine. It will 

 depend on the age of the vine, the varietj' and the soil. If too few are left 

 there is apt to be too much thick wood unsuitable for grafting, especially 

 with certain varieties such as Rupestris St. George. If too many are left 

 there will be too many small cuttings. 



" Some varieties of stocks produce good grafting wood if the canes are 

 allowed to grow over the surface of the ground without support. This has 

 a tendency with some varieties to encourage the growth of laterals and to 

 make the canes short and stocky. 



'* To overcome this defect high poles are sometimes placed at each vine, 

 and the canes kept in an upright position by being tied to these poles. 

 The poles are sometimes 15 or 20 feet high. This method produces an 

 abundance of excellent grafting cuttings, but is expensive and troublesome. 

 A more practical method is to put a high stake — 10 feet high at the end 

 of each row and to stretch a wire at that height along the row. The shoots 

 are then trained up to this wire by means of strings renewed every year." 



Better care of vineyards needed for grafted grapes. — The use 

 of grafted vines in New York vineyards will make necessary much 

 better supplementary care in the culture of vineyards. This must 

 not be counted in the least against grafting, for better care should 

 be given this fruit in every grape-growing section of the State. In- 

 deed, it is feared that the vineyardists of New York are nowadays 

 our least caretaking horticulturists. Dead vines and somnolent 

 vineyards are all too common. In fact, if there were no differ- 

 ences in yield due to the grafting, it could be said well within 

 bounds, that since the cultivation of grapes as grafted plants en- 

 forces better care, grafting is well worth while. 



