HISTORY OF KNIFF1N TRAINING 



459 



William Kniffin, was a stone mason with a few 

 acres of land to which he devoted his attention 

 during the leisure seasons of his trade. Cornell 

 induced Kniffin to plant a few grapes. He 

 planted the Isabella, and succeeding beyond his 

 expectations, the plantation was increased into a 

 respectable vineyard, and Kniffin came to be re- 

 garded as a local authority upon grape culture. 



292. A mixed mode. 



Those were the pioneer days in commercial grape 

 growing in North America, and there were no 

 undisputed maxims of cultivation and training. 

 If any system of close training and pruning was 

 employed, it was probably the old horizontal arm 

 spur system, or something like it. One day a 

 large limb broke from an apple-tree and fell on 

 a grape-vine, tearing off some of the canes and 

 crushing the vine into a singular shape. The 

 vine was thought to be ruined, but it was left 



