GRAPES. 305 



large vineyard of Mr. Wilson, which is considered one of the 

 best conducted vineyards in the state of Iowa, but I learned 

 from those who had worked in his vineyard that he practiced 

 little or no summer pruning. 



Mr. Brackett: Does it depend upon the variety? Does a 

 man have to do more pruning in some varieties than in others? 

 I understand from Mr. Latham that he does not prune his Del- 

 awares as closely as he does his other varieties. In trimming 

 my own, I trimmed them all and left just one leaf to each lateral, 

 until they commenced growing so fast that I thought it was 

 not policy to take the time, and then I adopted our secretary's 

 method of using a sickle in cutting them after they reached 

 the upper wire. It has answered very well, although my vine- 

 yard was not a success this year on account of the mildew, I 

 suppose. 



Mr. Cutts: I know of several small vineyards where they 

 have summer pruned very heavily in past years, and the Dela- 

 wares never ripened at all. Some pruned very extensively and 

 left the fruit exposed and thfe fruit never ripened at all. 



Dr. Frisselle: I think the summer pruning is desirable, as 

 a rule, especially where the vines appear to the very rampant, 

 and where there is a great deal of foliage. On the other hand, 

 it is by no means wise to take the foliage from the vines too 

 much. If you do, you are sure to spoil your fruit — if you trim 

 off too many leaves your fruit will not ripen at all; if you 

 leave on a good supply of leaves, your fruit gets sweet. It is 

 the leaf that does the work; it is the leaf that elaborates the 

 sugar for the fruit, and without it you cannot ripen fruit. If 

 you will notice in vineyards where there has been some mil- 

 dew, and the foliage has been a good deal damaged, you will 

 see that though your fruit may be colored up pretty well, yet 

 the quality is very poor; it has been injured by the evapora- 

 tion of the sap by the leaf. The more rampant the growth, 

 the more you should prune, but I should be careful always to 

 leave plenty of foliage. 



In my vineyard, which is composed mostly of Delawares, I 

 allow the vines to grow to the top of the wire, and make a 

 good deal of a top over the wire, and this abundance of foliage, 

 like a little umbrella, almost protects the fruit below, and 

 when it rains the fruit is not wet. It also keeps off the* sun 

 and frost. Grapes do not need any sunshine on the fruit. 

 The best fruit is grown where the sun never shines on it; but 



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