12 



EXPERIMENTS IN HORTICULTURE. 



dation of a vineyard -whicli will endure for at 

 least one generation, 



I planted one hundred vines in this manner 

 several. years ago, and I am satisfied that I 

 cannot improve upon the mode. The dis- 

 tance is ample, as it gives forty-eight feet sur- 

 face for the roots of each vine, and nearly the 

 same space of trellis for the fruit. The wire, 

 being galvanised, will not rust ; it makes no 

 shade, and affords a convenient support for 

 the tendrils to cling to. The rows, running 

 north and south, give a fair proportion of sun 

 to each side. The bottom of the posts are 

 made of locust, for the sake of durability, and 

 the tops of pine, for the sake of convenience 

 in attaching the wires, and are painted to pre- 

 serve them and improve the appearance. A 

 considerable saving of expense can be made 

 by fainting the wire white, which can be 

 done very rapidly by taking a coil and spread- 

 ing it over a paling, or stick thrust through 

 it, and applying the paint with an ordinary 

 brush. The paint Avill preserve the wire 

 many years. 



Having thus planted my vineyard, I first 

 proceed to train from each vine two horizon- 

 tal arms along the lowest wire. At the next 

 autumnal pruning these arms are shortened 

 to four feet in length, and are always thus 

 kept between two posts. After tliis I train 

 from each arm four upright shoots gradually, 

 from year to year, until they reach the top- 

 most wire, — cutting in to one or two eyes the 

 alternate shoots in alternate years. No rule 

 can be laid down on this subject, as to the 

 precise degrees of progression from year to 

 year, as it depends much upon the vigor of 

 each vine. The common error is to leave too 

 much wood. It is an easy matter to cover 

 one hundred square feet with a vine five years 

 old ; but it is perfectly certain that if properly 

 confined to one quarter that space, it will 

 produce a much more valuable crop of grapes. 

 I have no doubt that a vigorous Catawba vine 



can be profitably confined to forty square feet 

 of trellis for thirty years or more. 



In regard to pruning, which is the great 

 art in the cultivation of this fruit, I have re- 

 cently modified my views, and am gradually 

 changing my practice. I find that the old 

 notion, that spring pruning would cause vinos 

 to bleed to death, is entirely incorrect. I 

 have pruned freely during the mouth of May 

 of this year, as well as formerly, without the 

 slightest Injury. The advantage gained, is 

 that you can prune after your fruit buds open, 

 and show how many bunches of grapes they can 

 produce. You can then cut down to the pro- 

 per number of bunches for the strength of your 

 vine, which is the true principle of pruning. 



My general practice for the last five years 

 has been to prune in November, and lay down 

 the vines and partly cover them with earth or 

 litter. This last precaution is taken to pre- 

 vent the winter from pruning them a second 

 time. For I had, on one or two occasions, 

 lost nearly all the fruit buds between the 

 knife and the frost. 



The importance of severe pruning to insure 

 first rate fruit, cannot be too strongly urged. 

 A vine, even of the hardiest sort, if left to 

 itself, will soon become worthless. An ex- 

 periment was tried by a near neighbor, at my 

 suggestion, a few years ago, upon a young 

 Isabella vine of great beauty and vigor. It 

 was trained upon an arbor, and in June 

 showed two hundred bunches of fruit. The 

 grapes continued to grow and look as well as 

 mine, until the middle of July, when they 

 began to fail. The result, in short, was that 

 not a single bunch of grapes ripened, and for 

 a year or two after the vine showed but small 

 signs of life ; and after a lapse of about seven 

 years, and having been headed down to re- 

 cruit its energies, it has not yet recovered 

 from the shock. The only safe rule that I 

 can adopt, is to direct my gardener to prune 

 very closely in the fall, and then follow him 



