420 AMERICAN GRAPE TRAINING 



pounds for three runs. The cost of No. 12 wire 

 per acre, for three runs, therefore, is about fifteen 

 dollars. 



The wire is secured to the intermediate posts by 

 staples driven in firmly, so that the wire will not 

 pull through readily of its own weight, but still 

 loosely enough to allow of the tightening of the 

 wires. In other words, the head of the staple 

 should not quite touch the wire. Grape staples 

 are of three lengths, about an inch, inch and a- 

 quarter, and an inch and a-half respectively. The 

 shortest length is little used. The medium length 

 is used for hard -wood posts and the longest for 

 soft posts, like chestnut and cedar. These staples 

 cost five cents per pound, usually, and a pound of 

 the medium length contains from ninety to one 

 hundred of the No. 10 wire size. An acre, for 

 three wires, will therefore require, for this size, 

 about nine or ten pounds of staples. In windy 

 regions, the wires should be placed on the wind- 

 ward side of the posts, and on hillsides it should 

 be on the up-hill side. 



There are several devices on the market for 

 stretching the wires on a trellis, such as the 

 "come-alongs" used by linemen and fence build- 

 ers. The one commonly used in the Chautauqua 

 district of New York is shown in Fig. 266. The 

 hook is secured to the post, and the wire is held 

 in the clamp or jaws at the opposite end. The 

 operator pulls the rope, and when the wire is 



