218 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



so that the bud nearest the root will start first. There is no 

 danger but the end vines will start up if you can get a start 

 first near the root, and you can keep your vine even during the 

 season, but if you tie up your vines too early in the spring in a 

 very short time a piece of your vine is entirely bare. Tie the 

 end down level or below. 



Dr. Frisselle: I think your theory is a good one, but it does 

 not work always. Now I have noticed this in my vineyard, 

 especially with young vines; take a vine three years old, and 

 you are ready to give it its first pruning, and you have a cane 

 perhaps six feet long and as thick as your thumb, Now lay 

 this down on a horizontal wire, and you will notice that a great 

 many buds do not start at all. Now another point in regard to 

 the vines starting at the far end. If you turn the vine down on a 

 horizontal wire the best growth is at the base, because if the 

 bud is once started there it grows right up straight. There is 

 always a tendency to sprout close to the ground, and if not cut 

 out it takes away a large part of the growth -of the bud. 



GRAPES. 



BY GEO. R. ROBINSON, MINNEAPOLIS. 



Mr. President and Members of the Minnesota Horticultural Society. 



This is the first time I have had the pleasure of appearing before vou at 

 any of your meetings and at the invitation of your honored presiding of- 

 ficer I esteem it a pleasure to contribute my mite to the interest of your 

 meeting, by relating some slight experience of recent years in the cultiva- 

 tion of the grape and more especially some of the recently introduced var- 

 ieties. 



The cultivation of the grape has attracted the attention of mankind 

 from the earliest ages, and interest in its cultivation does not wane. In 

 Biblical history we learn that grapes so abounded in the Holy Land that 

 every family had a vineyard. 



Solomon, said to have been the wisest of his time, had extensive vinyards 

 which he leased to his tenants, song 8, verse 12. 



David in his 104th psalm says in speaking of the power, goodness and 

 works of God, "Hecauseth grass to grow for the cattle, and herbs for the 

 service of man; and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to 

 make his face shine and bread which strengthens man's heart." Our 

 Savior in several instances paid the fruit of the vine the highest compli- 

 ments, as at Cana of Galilee where he furnished wine to enliven a festive 

 occasion, and lastly he rendered the product of the vine the most distin- 

 guished honor of making it the permanent and lasting memorial of his 

 death and a symbol of man's redemption. In view of all this and of the 

 high estimate man has always bestowed upon the fruit of the vine in the 

 universality of its use, it is not surprising that a disciple of Blackstone 

 and Kent should desire once in a while to be found in good company, and 



