170 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE 



spring. We must grow one good cane before attempting to 

 grow two. 



We will suppose all our vines have made a good growth, 

 were planted eight feet apart for one tier of arms, each cane 

 cut back to five inches, the stocks bent down and covered with 

 earth like No. 1. The stocks are to be straightened up in the 

 spring, tied to the stakes, and only the two upper buds should 

 be allowed to grow. The two canes produced from these buds 

 will likely set three bunches of grapes each, but for the good 

 of the vine, better remove all but two. The canes are to be 

 treated in every respect like the one of the preceding season 

 until the leaves fall, when they are to be shortened to two or 

 four feet, as their strength may warrant, — we will say four 

 feet* The stocks should now be bent down and the canes 

 covered with a few inches of earth. 



Soon as the frost is out of the ground the following spring 

 make the trellis. This may be done by driving or setting 

 posts four inches square and four and a half feet long, eight 

 feet apart, with their tops three feet above the ground. To 

 these posts nail two bars or strips of wood three inches wide, 

 one at the top, the other near the bottom, with the under side 

 about twelve inches from the ground. Some advise horizontal 

 wires, but having tried both, I prefer the former, with small 

 perpendicular wires twisted round the upper and lower bars to 

 support the canes. 



The stock should now be fastened to the lower bar, the two 

 canes bent down in opposite directions and secured to its upper 

 edge. The buds on short-jointed varieties will be three or 

 four inches apart. All the lower ones may be rubbed off, 

 retaining the upper ones, twelve or fourteen in number, to 

 produce as many canes, each one bearing three bunches of 

 grapes. The upright canes should be kept loosely tied to the 

 wires, and their ends pinched off when they have made two or 

 three leaves beyond the last bunch of fruit, and the laterals 

 stopped as in young vines. We are now in the second year 



