CHAPTER VII 



AMERICAN GRAPE TRAINING 

 GENERAL SKETCH 



Pruning and training the grape are perplexed 

 questions, even to those who have spent a life- 

 time in grape- growing. The perplexity arises from 

 several diverse sources, as the early effort to trans- 

 plant European methods, the fact that many 

 systems present almost equally good results for 

 particular purposes and varieties, and the failure 

 to comprehend the fundamental principles of the 

 operations. 



It is sufficient condemnation of European meth- 

 ods, when applied in eastern America, to say that 

 the American grapes are distinct species from the 

 European grapes, and that, consequently, they are 

 different in habit. This fact does not appear to 

 have been apprehended clearly by the early Ameri- 

 can grape -growers, even after the native varieties 

 had begun to gain prominence. American viti- 

 culture, aside from that upon the Pacific slope, 

 which is concerned with the European grape, is 

 an industry of very recent development. It was 

 little more than a century ago that the first Ameri- 

 can variety gained favor, and so late as 1823 that 



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