GRAPES UNDER GLASS 199 



The grapery must be strung with wires running lengthwise 

 of the house at about fifteen inehes from the glass. Green- 

 house supply merchants furnish at a low price cast iron brackets 

 to be fastened to the rafters to hold these wires. As the growing 

 vines reach one wire after another, they are tied with raffia to 

 hold them in place. Usually, young vines will reach the peak 

 of the house by midsummer, and as soon as this goal is attained 

 must be pinched so that the cane may thicken up and store 

 food in the lateral buds for the coming season. When the 

 wood is well matured, the vine is cut back to half or one-third 

 its length, depending on the variety, laid on the ground and 

 covered for the winter. An item of no small importance in 

 winter care is to keep out mice, this pest being inordinately 

 fond of grape buds, and once the buds are destroyed the vines 

 are ruined for the coming season. 



The second year's work is largely a repetition of that of the 

 first. The vines are permitted to reach the peak of the house 

 and are again stopped by pinching. A considerable number 

 of laterals spring up on each side of the main vine, and these 

 must be thinned as they develop to stand at the distance apart 

 of the wires to which they are fastened. This is pre-supposing 

 that the gardener has chosen the spur method of pruning, the 

 method generally used in America and the one, all things 

 considered, which gives best results. The selection of the 

 laterals the second year, therefore, is a matter of much impor- 

 tance since spurs are to be developed from them. Care should 

 be taken to have these spurs regularly distributed over the 

 length of the vine. This second year, grapes must not be per- 

 mitted to develop on the terminal shoots, but a few clusters 

 may be taken from the laterals in w^hich case the laterals are 

 pinched two buds beyond the cluster, the pinching continuing 

 throughout the season if the laterals persist in breaking, as they 

 will do in most cases. At the end of the season, the terminal 

 is shortened at least one-half, and the laterals are pinched back 



