308 State Horticultural Society. 



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concentrate forces by breaking off all shoots but the strongest one and 

 tie this up to a stake as soon as long enough to tie, and tie two or three 

 times during the season. Check laterals after they have made one leaf 

 by pinching end off just beyond this leaf. Prune this young vine any 

 time after the frost has cut the leaves up to the first of ne^t February. 

 At the lieight of eighteen inches, if the vine has made a growth as 

 thick as a lead pencil, cut it off at that point and any that have not 

 made as strong a growth cut back to three buds the same as when 

 ])lanted. Second year's pruning consists in removing all shoots except 

 one strong one near the top of the eighteen inch vine. Pinch no lat- 

 erals this year but keep the vine tied up to the stake during the season. 

 The third year we are ready for the trellis. Use good sound white 

 oak posts. End posts ought to be eight feet long and put in tlie ground 

 with a post hole digger in a slanting position so that the top of the 

 post will lean outward al)Out a foot from perpendicular, and if a clay 

 soil, will need no braces. In case braces are needed use ^o. 9 wire, 

 running down from top of post outward and anchored in the ground 

 with a rock. The other posts should be seven and one-half feet long 

 and put two feet in the ground twenty feet apart. Use ^o. 12 gal- 

 vanized wire. Place first wire three feet from ground, the other wire 

 near the top of post. These are all the wires necessary to grow grapes 

 by the Kniffen system, which is the best way to grow grapes. The 

 small stakes can now be used for firewood. The vines this year, which 

 is the third, should be cut long enough to reach the top wire providing 

 the vines are as large as a pencil at that height. Always bear in mind 

 to prune with reference to the strength of vine, leaving the most buds 

 to the strongest vine, and never allow a vine to overbear; an overloaded 

 vine does not produce good bearing wood that year for the next year's 

 fruiting. All laterals should be cut off close to main cane with tlie 

 exception of four, which are left near the wires for the purpose of 

 running a bearing arm in opposite directions on each wire and the>e 

 should be cut according to their strength, say one or two buds. The 

 ground shoots and nearly alwavs the shoots below the lower wire should 

 be broken off each year early in the season. I do no summer pruning 

 from this time on except to occasionally check a too rampant growth. 

 The fourth year your vine will be large enough to bear a full crop. 



