296 MISSOURrSTATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



canes will bear two or three bunches of f^rapes, but I would 

 not leave more than one or two bunches; pinch off all poor ones, be- 

 cause if you leave all on, they are very apt to overbear the first season, 

 and it will affect them always afterward. Sometimes, they never come 

 out at all, such as Delaware, Elvira and others. 



PRUNING. 



The best time is when the young shoots are about 6 inches long , when 

 you can see all the small bunches, pinch with the tluunb and finger to just 

 be}'ond the last bunch, taking out the leader between thclast bunch and the 

 next leaf; we now go over all the shoots coming from the arms, and also 

 pinch them beyond the last bunch. Should any of the buds have pushed 

 out two shoots we pinch off the weakest, also take off all suckers that 

 started from the roots of the vine. We can then let our vines alone until 

 after bloom, only tying up the young canes to the wire or posts. By the 

 time the grapes have bloomed the shoots will have pushed from the axis 

 of the leaves on the bearing shoots. Now go over these again and pinch 

 each shoot back to one leaf, so that you can get a young, vigorous leaf 

 opposite to each bunch of grapes ; these serve as elevators of the sap 

 and also protection and shade to the fruit. Remember, our aim is not 

 to rob the plant of its foliage, but to make two leaves grow where there 

 was bat one before and at the place where they are of more benefit to the 

 fruit. Remember, too, the knife has nothing to do with summer prun- 

 ing — your thumb and finger should do all the work, if it is done early ; 

 and don't you commence cutting and slashing the leaves and vines off, 

 until afterward, when they commence to rot, because it won't help it ; the 

 disease is already there, and you might take away the leaves that are 

 good. When you look over the vines, look for bugs and insects and de- 

 stroy them. You must not plant in heavy wet soil, if you do, the most 

 healthy varieties will become diseased, but some of the diseases infecting 

 our American grape do not result from defects in the soil or want of culti- 

 vation. Their causes are, in fact, unknown, except that they are produced 

 by fungi plants, producing mildew, etc., the mildew (^pernonospera viticola) 

 a43pearing in frost like white spots on the under side of leaves, haiiy as 

 well as glabrous ones, beginning here in Missouri the first of June, fost- 

 ered by sultry, damp, wet weather, the leaves turn brown in spots and 

 are partially killed, destroying the fruit, the berries, shriveling from the 

 base, turning light brown without falling off, and this we call sometimes 

 brown rot ; the black rot [Phoma Uvicold) makes its appearance on the 

 nearly full-grown berries, exhibiting in the first stage small, discolored, 



