428 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE 



rows that are eight feet apart, and the vines are six feet apart 

 in the row. The varieties grown here are the Delaware, Con- 

 cord, Catawba, Ives Seedling, Norton's Virginia, and Hartford 

 Prolific. The system of cultivation followed is the renewal. 

 That is, every year at any time when the weather will permit 

 after frost has set in, the old wood is completely cut off, and 

 there are left only from two to three canes of last year's wood 

 for hearing. This w^ork includes a vast amount of labor, iu 

 the clearing oS the old wood, and the selection and tying up of 

 the vines that are to be depended upon for next year's crop. 

 This trimming and preparation of the vines, which may be 

 done in the winter season at any time between December and 

 March, is all the trimming or pruning which the grapes 

 receive. There is no summer pruning ; all the foliage developed 

 by the shoots is left as needed to ripen the grapes. No leaves, 

 no ripe grapes. In tying up the canes, care js taken to bend 

 them at sharp angles, as low down as possible, as this check to 

 the flow of sap tends to promote the formation of fruit buds 

 After the grapes are gathered in the fall, the plow is run be- 

 tween the rows to throw up the soil against the vines, and 

 leave a dead furrow in the center, between each two rows of 

 vines. This stirs the soil, exposes it to the frosts of winter, pro- 

 tects the roots, and at the same time drains the surface water 

 from around the vines. In the Spring the plow is used to 

 throw these furrows back again, and the cultivator is used to 

 do the weeding, and keep the soil clean in the rows ; of course 

 only hand-hoeing can be used to keep the ground clean around 

 and between the vines and the rows. The vines are supported 

 by trellis of wire. For the first two years a stake will serve for 

 the support of the vine, but after that the trellis is found 

 necessary. The trellis is made of posts which support three 

 rows of No. 9 annealed wire. The first wire next the ground 

 is set about twenty-two inches up in the post, and the other 

 wires are sixteen inches apart, which makes the trellis just four 

 and a half feet in height. The cost of trellises for an acre will 

 range from $75 to $90. 



