STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 415 



All the sumuier pruning I did I would do about the first of June. 

 I would pinch off all the surplus vines but one or two each year. 

 I would not pinch the buds of the fruit laterals. It is sometimes 

 practiced, but I think it is to the detriment of the vines to pinch 

 after the third leaves. But I would not allow the wood vines to 

 make more than two or three shoots each year, pruning in Octo- 

 ber and November and laying flat on the ground and covering 

 with earth. Should cultivate with plow cultivator and hoe. 

 Al)Out the first of June each year I should cover the ground at 

 least three inches deep with horse manure. I can say that in 

 seven years we never failed to ripen our Concord grapes before 

 frost, when we had three or four inches of stable manure put on 

 before June. If it is cold and rainy I would wait until the mid- 

 dle of June. Just as soon as the rains have gone and the ground 

 begins to dry, cover it with three or four inches of stable manu.re, 

 and that ends the cultivation for that year, and the vines go into 

 winter quarters in good condition. The man who leaves a large 

 quantity of wood on his vines don't want any grapes next year. 

 If you want a successful vineyard don't let the vine fruit the 

 first year, and then again don't let it fruit to death the third 

 year. It is best to cut away not more than ten bunches the third 

 year. I think that if the ground is prepared as I say and the 

 vines cared for properly and then heavily manured with horse 

 manure in June there will be no trouble in producing large, well- 

 ripened (Concord grapes in Minnesota. The Delaware will prob- 

 ably after four or five years produce more grapes than any 

 other variety that has been tried, but I would not discard the 

 Concord. Moore's Early, I believe, is the coming grape for this 

 climate. But at present the vines are scarce, and we have hardly 

 tested it sufficiently to say to everybody, "Plant it." On sandy 

 land, using the horse manure and forcing them along, you can 

 get ripe Concords the first year. 



GENERAL DISCUSSION. " 



Mr. Foster said he would proceed just about the same as Mr. 

 Smith. 



Mr. Gilpatrick said he could not suggest anything different 

 from Mr. Smith's plan. 



Mr. Smith. When a man has not got anything else than clay 

 land I would not tell him to raise grapes. But of both kinds of 

 soil I would prefer sandy. With the experience that I have 



