GRAPES 51 



fencing five and one half feet long, and of these pieces of board 

 he puts two together so they resemble a letter A, the top be- 

 ing nearer together than the bottom, the bottom being about 

 two and one-half feet apart, and two pieces of board are nailed 

 across those upright pieces; then he makes a hole through the 

 cross piece near the top, within a foot of the top, and through 

 that hole he inserts the end of a post, the post about five feet 

 long, setting the other end on the ground at about four and 

 one-half feet distance from the line in which he sets this fence 

 board letter A, which he sets on the north side of each vine, 

 the vine itself being at the foot of this letter A. The post be- 

 ing set this way, the whole support forms a tripod. To sup- 

 port the vines he nails a few light sticks across the top, as long 

 as he wants his vines to run, and spreads them out, and the 

 vine grows something after the fashion where they are trained 

 on a trellis. His summer pruning is made with the sickle or a 

 sharp knife. He raises very good Concords; he had no other. 



The great merit is the ease with which he disposes of 

 them in the fall. When he has gathered his grapes in the fall, 

 he prunes the vine and lays it down, drawing it to one side; 

 then he takes the post and the whole support out of the way, lays 

 his grape vine down towards the north, in the direction it has 

 been inclined, picks up the trimmings, lays them over the 

 grape vine, and then takes his A support and lays it over all; 

 when he has done this he has taken care of his grapes 

 for the winter. The leaves and brush catch the snow and hold 

 it and his letter A and the post lying over the vine prevent the 

 snow blowing away; and he told me he did nothing else but 

 that. The thing I did not like about it was that if he wanted 

 to keep his vineyard free of weeds, w^hich it did not appear in 

 the fall that he did, he would find three posts besides his vine 

 to catch his hoe and cultivator every time; I thought that was 

 the reason some of the weeds had got the better of him. He 

 said, however, it did not interfere with the growth of his 

 grapes. 



Dr. Frisselle: How large is this gentleman's vineyard? 



Mr. Jennison: Perhaps fifty vines, perhaps more. 



Dr. Frisselle: Would you think that was a cheaper way 

 than using posts and wire? 



Mr. Jennison: I never made a calculation. If any one had 

 the material and had nothing to do in the winter, it might be, 

 I thought I would try it a year ago, but several things inter- 

 fered. 



