1876.] 



AND EOBTIGULTURIST. 



49 



GRAPES— TRAINING AND MILDEW. 



BY " MYSTIC," MEDFORD, MASS. 



In the summer of 1874, a large portion of the 

 leaves on some of my grape vines (out-doors), 

 were badly mildewed and dropped off. The mil- 

 dew followed cold, damp nights. My vines are 

 mostly trained on the southerly side of a tight 

 board fence, with southeast and southwest expos- 

 ures to the sun. Those with the southeast ex. 

 posure, were very much the most aftected by 

 the mildew. Those parts of the vines on, or 

 near the gi'ound were not perceptibly affected — 

 the heat of the ground (sandy loam), keeping 

 warm the lower stratum of the atmosphere and 

 counteracting the deleterious effects of the cold 

 night air. 



How near the ground, and why upon the 

 ground, were the vines ? The vines are planted 

 midway between the posts of the fence (nine 

 feet apart), cut back yearly close to the gi'ound, 

 and allowed to take their own course in growing 

 (except pinching off the weaker shoots), until 

 four years old, then narrow strips of boards are 

 nailed horizontally from post to post, a foot 

 from the gi-ound, and laths are nailed verti- 

 cally to the strips and the top rail of the fence, 

 and the vines are tied to them. This brings 

 the vine six inches from the fence, which 

 leaves a space for the circulation of the air. I 

 first tied the vines to vertical wires instead of 

 laths, but found they slipped down under the 

 weight of the leaves and fruit. The strongest 

 ehoot is selected, trained perpendicularly and cut 

 off even with the top of the fence. Four arms on 

 each side are trained horizontally and cut off at 

 the posts — the arms being one foot apart, and the 

 lower one a foot from the ground. Short fruit 

 spurs (which should be renewed), are left at the 

 joints of the arms. If the shoot selected for the 

 upright stock has not the requisite number of 

 branches for arms, I train up shoots from the 

 ground to supply the number wanted ; and then 

 cut off all the others, and also cut off, from time 

 to time (oftener the better), the runners and 

 superfluous shoots, unless I leave some vigorous 

 ones to layer for new plants the next year. The 

 new wood on the spurs is kept pinched back to 

 about four leaves of the fruit — more fruit on the 

 spur requiring more leaves. In handling the 

 vines, care should be taken not to break off the 

 buds of the arms ; for a new bud (except at the 

 end), seldom starts without more skillful treat- 

 ment than is commonly applied. From vines, of 



varieties suitable to the climate, trained within 

 the above-named limits, large, well-ripened fruit 

 is generally obtained, if too many bunches are 

 not allowed to gi'ow. 



Those arms of the vines (Concords as well as 

 others) on which the leaves were badly mildewed 

 and dropped off early in the season, were mostly 

 winter-killed; while all the lower arms but one 

 survived. Th3 main stocks of two Concords were 

 killed down to the lower arms ; but none of the 

 vines left on the ground were killed. Tlie leaves 

 on the lower arms, and on the vines lying, on 

 the gi-ound, had not been injured by the mildew. 

 A vigorous Eumelan, four years old (which lost 

 nearly every leaf by mildew), received such a 

 shock that what wood was not killed made 

 scarcely any growth in 1875. Remedy — cut back 

 to the gi-ound and try a new gi'owth. The par- 

 tially killed Concords made a good growth — furn- 

 ishing plenty of new wood to supply the place of 

 that winter-killed. 



My vines are mostly Concord, eight years old — 

 the best variety yet for out-door cultivation in 

 this region. Let no one who is limited to a few 

 vines, be deluded into trying other highly praised 

 or very promising varieties (often brought into 

 market for a speculative purpose), but stick to 

 the tried and reliable Concord for the present. 



This experience of mine tends to show that 

 vines trained on, or near, the gi-ound, are not 

 perceptibly affected by the mildew, and that vines 

 badly mildewed are liable to be winter-killed. As 

 the lower arms of the vines were protected by the 

 snow, a part of the winter, it might be reasonably 

 maintained that this prevented their being killed. 

 But of the arms unprotected by snow, only those 

 were winter-killed that had been badly mildewed; 

 and a healthy Concord vine is believed to be hardy 

 enough to withstand, unprotected, the coldest 

 winter in this region. The winter-killing may 

 have been the joint effect of mildew and the 

 severity of the winter — the winter of 1874-5 being 

 a very cold and trying one for vines and fi-uit 

 trees. 



[We have much pleasure in publishing this 

 excellent practical communication. The point 

 in regard to the comparative tenderness of wood 

 in cases where the leaves fall early from mildew, 

 or any cause, accords with numerous observations 

 recorded in our columns in regard to raspberries 

 and blackberries, and even the grape ; and then 

 as regards protection, it is also known that 

 though a raspberry cane that prematurely loses 

 its leaves is killed by severe frost— it yet is per- 



