130 THE RAISIN INDUSTRY. 



While few vineyardists take sufficient care and time to sucker their 

 vines, there can be no doubt that the operation is of the greatest impor- 

 tance, in order that as large and good a crop as possible may be secured. 

 It is not only best to remove all the non-fruit-bearing branches which 

 spring out from the root and the trunk, but also a little later on, after 

 the shoots have reached a foot or more, to cut any branch from the head 

 of the vine which does not produce fruit. In many instances, how- 

 ever, it is necessary to renew the head of the vine, and for that pur- 

 pose lower suckers may be allowed to grow. For a year or two these are 

 pruned regularly and made to bear, and the old sickly head is then 

 removed- 



VARIOUS VINEYARD TOOI. 



General Notes. It is not my intention to here describe the various 

 tools used in the vineyard so minutely that they can be made after the 

 description, but simply to enumerate and call attention to them in order 

 that as little repetition as necessary may be made. Every local black- 

 smith or mechanic invents, improves or patents vineyard tools of every 

 description, and almost every year sees new tools introduced and 

 older ones discarded. Still a few of these tools have become standard, 

 and modifications of them are not always improvements. 



The Sheep' s-f pot. This is a very useful tool in planting grape cut- 

 tings. It consists of a round rod of three-eighths-inch iron and about 

 three and one-half feet long, furnished with a cross handle at the upper 

 end. The lower end is very slightly flattened out and split to a depth 

 of one and one-half inches, the cleft thus formed being a little wider 

 at the point of the bar, while the interior angle of the cleft should be 

 rounded in order that the cutting may not be cut. The sheep' s-foot is 

 used in very soft ground only, where it can be pushed down readily. 

 In planting, the lower joint of the cutting is grasped by the cleft in 

 the rod, and both are pushed down together to the required depth. A 

 twist is then given the handle, so as to get the rod loose from the cut- 

 ting. The rod is then pulled up, and a tamp with the foot sets the 

 ground solid round the cutting. Care should be taken that the cutting 

 is not pulled up with the rod, as it will prove fatal to the cutting. 



The Planting Bar. This bar is used also in loose ground free from 

 rocks. It consists of a flat bar of iron two and one-half inches wide, 

 from three-eighths to one-half inch thick and three and one-half feet 

 long, and is furnished at the upper end with a handle. In using this 

 bar, it is first pushed in the ground, and a hole is made for the cutting. 

 The cutting is then pushed down into the hole, the bar inserted along- 

 side of it and pressed forward, in order toBll the hole and set the soil 

 solid around the cutting. 



The Dibble. This "tool is simply a hard piece of oak wood, with a 

 curved handle and pointed. It is a most useful instrument when the 

 vines are being pruned. By means of it the soil is scraped off from 

 around the trunk of the vine, to enable the pruner to cut off the 

 suckers as close to the trunk as possible. Every pruner should be 

 furnished with a dibble. 



