Appendix. 157 



foliage. Sometimes in July the bearing canes for next year should be 

 cut off at the ends, also all rank growth should be checked. All the 

 sprouts that appear on the stem below and on the older wood must be 

 kept away clean, except where a spur is wanted. I am sometimes told 

 by certain grape growers, "We don't take so much trouble to pinch and 

 trim our vines in summer, when they get too bushy; we take the sickle, 

 and trim them off, and we have just as good grapes." No doubt you 

 have. But how are your bearing canes for next year? When the 

 growth at the upper part of the vines is not checked in time the lower 

 shoots will not develop, and when you prune next winter you will find 

 very few good bearing canes below, and you have to go farther up, and 

 off, from the main stem; every year a little farther, till you get a long 

 w^ay off, and it will be necessary for you sometimes to cut all off, and lo- e- 

 a year's or two years' crop. I have seen Concord grape vines that were 

 overlapping each other to the second and third vine. If the grape vines 

 are pruned in summer the way I have explained, the grapes will always 

 be of the best quality, and get ripe in due time. I often notice in sum- 

 mer a big mistake made by some people who believe that the sun must 

 shine on the grapes to get them ripe. I was once called to a little 

 vineyard of about fifty Concord grape vines. The owner said his grapes 

 would not get ripe, and the berries were shriveling up. When I got 

 there I found that the leaves were very much thinned out, in order 

 that the sun might shine on the grapes to ripen them, as he was told 

 to do by some one who knew (?) all about grapes. But they never got 

 ripe. The value of the leaves and their design, is not well understood 

 by a great many people. I want to explain here a little about this. 

 What are shrubs, trees and all kinds of plants created for? Why do 

 they grow. The answer is, to bring forth fruit and seed for men and 

 beast and for the perpetuation of their kinds. It is their instinct to- 

 bear fruit. When we go in the garden or orchard we find everything 

 prepared for a start. There are millions of buds which were grown 

 there last summer and fall, waiting for spring weather. As soon as 

 warmer days come, the roots begin to force upward into the stem the 

 sap, in which is dissolved matter necessary for the growth of the plants. 

 This sap is pressed upward with great force and soon pushes out the 

 buds. A great event in nature is now about to take place — a big wed- 

 ding. Thousands and thousands of tiny cradles are forming in the buds, 

 which increase in size, and a beautiful decoration is formed about each 

 one. The trees and shrubs are in full bloom. But, why all these 

 attractive colors? It is to invite the guests to the wedding, where a 

 table has been spread for them with sweets. Here they come — bees, 

 butterflies and all kinds of insects, and all help themselves, and while 

 doing so, give essential aid in the fertilization of the flowei's. 



Then, the young leaves appear and start upon the business of sup- 

 plying the growing fruit and the whole plant with food. From the dis- 

 solved mineral matter which comes from the earth through the roots 

 in the sap and from the carbonic acid gas which the leaves take out of 



