THE VINEYARD IN SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER. 333 



has a hard time to ripen its fruit it has a wonderful effect if only a 

 few bunches are taken off. 



There are a good many ways of taking the grapes off the. field. 

 Some use tubs and water pails instead of using market baskets. 

 For nice growing grapes its a good way they do in the east mostly 

 now, which is to have a small stand in the field that will hold a 

 few baskets. Pack them and fill them good and let them stand over 

 night and settle before putting on the cover. If you raise nice 

 grapes it will pay you to handle them the best way. 



Next in order is the marketing. One should find out the best 

 way and put them up in the package which sells the best in the 

 market, because the grapes might be all right but if put up in a shape 

 which the market don't take a fancy to, they won't sell as well, and 

 you don't receive as much for them. 



About the time you are through with your marketing it is time 

 to commence with your pruning and covering. Most years you 

 ought to be done with your pruning and covering in October. As 

 to pruning, there are about as many ways as there are heads. They 

 all get some grapes, as far as I have known, but with most of these 

 systems there are some faults, which they sooner or later run up 

 against, and which I can't explain in this paper. In this climate 

 we do the best by raising our grapes as near the vines as possible. 

 Now the way I would prune them I could not explain to make it 

 clear for a beginner in grape growing. I could probably make it 

 more plain if I had the vines here to show how it should be done, 

 but then the question would come up again as to how the vines 

 were trimmed before. I have trimmed vineyards which have been 

 neglected, and it is impossible in one year to get them into any 

 shape. It will take two or three years under any system to bring 

 them back into the right shape. The different kinds have to be 

 pruned different. Some with long vines and short spurs, others 

 with short vines and long spurs. 



The next in order is the covering. Some advise plowing them 

 under. Now, I think that's a good way for the nurseryman, be- 

 cause he can sell more vines. When I used to plow mine I lost a 

 good many vines every winter ; after I covered them by hand I had 

 no more trouble. It's all right to have a shallow furrow to lay them 

 in but not otherwise. If you are not experienced you will injure 

 your vines, because if you dig off the ends of the roots you uncover 

 them and expose the ends of the roots. The main thing to cover is 

 the ends of the roots and around the crown of the roots, making the 

 ground higher, and keep the frost from heaving them out. The 

 vines need only to be covered out of sight from the cold winds in 

 the fall and March, when there is little snow on the ground. 



Now if you have trimmed your vines and covered them as you 

 ought to from the cold blasts of winter, you will feel happy in the 

 spring when the sun shines out warm to see the small buds expand. 

 What gives a vinegrower more hope than to see a vine, after laying 

 dormant all winter, push out its buds vigorously in the spring? On 

 the other hand, what is more discouraging than to see them trying 

 to grow and finally give up in despair? 



