198 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. '«• 



vastly superior to those dug up by the roadside or in the forests, as the latter 

 ■with their large coarse roots are impatient of removal, and even if not killed 

 by the change of location will remain in a quiescent state frequently for two 

 or three years. 



TRAINI^'G, PRUNING, THINNING, ETC, 



TRAINING VINES OVERHEAD. 



Mr. A. J. Caywood,' the well-known vine grower of New York, gives the fol- 

 lowing method of training the grape, with reasons therefor: 



"The trellis is made in the following manner: Pieces of boards six inches 

 or more wide and three to four feet long are nailed across the tops of all the 

 posts, representing a cross; three or four wires are drawn across the boards; if 

 three wires are used, boards three feet long are sufficient, with one wire drawn 

 in the center over the posts, and one at each end. Tiiese boards are nailed on 

 the posts five and a half or six feet from the ground, the vine is then taken up 

 to the wires without any branches, where it is divided into three or four arms, 

 one for each wire, and all should be started and grown in one direction. If 

 young shoots grow off the side and hang down, they are easily thrown over the 

 top. The posts may be set close by the vines or in the center between the vines, 

 which gives ample opportunity to work the vineyard both ways with a horse; 

 will save $10 per acre in hoeing under the wires on the old system. The birds 

 cannot injure the fruit without resting on their wings while doing so, as the thick 

 mass of foliage overhead prevents tliem from entering above. The clusters all 

 hanging in open air under the wires are perfect in shape, not being tangled 

 among the wood or bloom brushed off by the foliage, and thus suspended in a 

 free circulation of air and covered above from the dew are not so likely to rot, 

 and are perfectly screened from hail storms, the mass of foliage sometimes 

 being a foot thick. The fruit being shaded from the sun colors perfectly, 

 sweetens and ripens early. No grapes will ripen handsomely or perfectly in the 

 sun. On this system the vine produces its fruit on the extremities, where it is 

 always finer than that which is produced on arms nearer the roots; they are 

 neglected, the sap being determined to the end of the vine. If a narrow roof 

 of boards prevents grapes from rotting, six or ten inches of foliage over the 

 clusters will hold all tlie dew. It is claimed that it is dew, not rain, which rots 

 gra[ies. If vines are planted 10x10 feet (and experience has proved that more 

 can be netted from vines at this distance than when planted closer), with three 

 wires one foot apart, there would be seven feet left between the arbors for light 

 and air. If the ends of the vines, which might occasionally grow off this arbor, 

 should hang down and the operator be too caieless to throw them over the 

 ti'ellis, the clusters woukl be yet hanging in open air, and not tangled in the 

 vines, as they are under the present side system. If some should think that 



