132 MANUAL OF AMERICAN GRAPE-GROWING 



also, are inconvenient in shape for tying. There are two or 

 three modifications of fan-training which may be described 

 as mongrel methods between this and the High Renewal and 

 Horizontal Arm methods, none of which, however, is now in 

 general favor. 



II. Shoots drooping 



Quite by accident, William Kniffin, a stone mason living 

 at Clintondale, New York, in the Hudson River grape region, 

 discovered that grapes of large size and handsome appearance 

 could be grown on vines in which the canes were trained hori- 

 zontally with the shoots drooping. He put his discovery in 

 practice and from it liave come the several methods of training 

 grapes which bear his name. Kniffin's discovery was made 

 about 1850 and the merits of his methods spread so rapidly 

 over eastern America that by the end of the century the various 

 Kniffin methods were more generally used than any others. 

 Grape-growers now agree that strong-growing vines like Con- 

 cord, Niagara and Clinton are best trained to one or another 

 of the Kniffin methods. There are several modifications of 

 Kniffin's method, three of which are now in common use, the 

 most popular being the Single-stem, Four-cane Kniffin. 



The trellis for the three methods carries two wires, the lower 

 placed at the height of three to three and a half feet and the 

 upper from two to two and a half feet above it. To permit 

 this height of wires, the posts nuist be from eight to eight and 

 a half feet in length, and must be firmly set with the end posts 

 well braced. 



Single-stem, Four-cane Kniffin. 



As practiced at the New York Agricultural Experiment 

 Station, the vines are trained as follows : 



One trunk is carried to the top wire the third year after 

 planting, or if the growth is not long enough at this time, it 



