514 



Report of the Horticulturist of the 



The following table is taken from a letter from Mr. Taber, 

 which gives the season of ripening of the fruit on the ringed and 

 unringed vines of the different varieties for 1896: 



Began picking. 



Maturity 



advanced 



by ringing. 



Concord, ringed September 4. . 



Concord, unringed September 21. . 



Delaware, ringed August 24. . 



Delaware, unringed September 2. . 



Empire State, ringed August 25. . 



Empire State, unringed September 15. . 



Moore's Early, ringed About same time 



Moore's Early, unringed About same time 



Niagara, ringed August 27. 



Niagara, unringed September 10. 



Worden, ringed About same time 



Worden, unringed About same time 



Days. 

 17 

 17 

 9 

 9 

 21 

 21 

 00 

 00 

 14 

 14 

 00 

 00 



~No difference was noticed during the season between the vines 

 that were ringed beyond the fifth bud and those that were ringed 

 beyond the renewal bud. 



In 1897 it was the intention to ring the same vines and in the 

 same manner. The result is best given by an extract from a letter 

 from Mr. Taber under the date of November 3, 1897: 



The same vines were girdled as last year excepting the two vines of Niagaras, 

 one of which was dead and the other died soon after leafing out; these 

 vines you will remember were girdled back* to the renewal bud. This is evi- 

 dently more than the vine can stand. 



The effects this year were not as pronounced as last year. The fruit on 

 girdled vines commenced coloring earlier than the others, but when it was 

 fit to cut there were bunches on ungirdled vines that were just as near ripe. 

 One kind only, the Empire State, was improved in size and hastened some- 

 what in ripening, but changed more in size than in time of ripening. 



EXPERIMENTS AT LODI. 



The experiments at Poughkeepsie were duplicated in the vine- 

 yard of E. Smith and Sons, Lodi, 1ST. Y. Mr. Smith trains his 

 vines on the renewal system and as there are several shoots allowed 



