GRAPES 335 



For home use and special purposes, grapes may be 

 bagged, to protect them from black -rot, frost, birds and 

 insects. The operation consists in enclosing the cluster 

 (when the grapes are half grown) in grocers' manilla 

 bags, allowing these bags to remain until the grapes are 

 fully ripe. Because of the greater and more uniform 

 warmth in the bags, the fruits in them are usually earlier, 

 larger and better. Figs. 221, 222, 223 show how the 

 bags are prepared and applied, the flaps being secured 

 with a pin. 



EUROPEAN GRAPES 



The cultivation of the European wine grape has reached 

 immense proportions in California, where there are single 

 vineyards of two to three thousand acres. 



Table and wine grapes are grown successfully in nearly 

 all parts of the state, but the raisin industry is confined 

 to the hot, dry valleys where the fruit can be cured. 

 The vine thrives upon a variety of soils, but for the 

 best results an abundance of plant -food should be 

 provided. The plants are propagated by layering, bud- 

 ding, grafting, and most commonly from cuttings, which 

 are inserted in the ground where the vine is to grow. 

 Most of the grapes are grown without trellises, and in 

 the case of the raisin grapes, the trunk is seldom more 

 than fifteen inches high, while wine grapes are but little 

 more than two feet. As generally pruned, the vine is 

 cut back the first year after planting, leaving but one 

 spur with two buds. Shoots are allowed to grow from 

 these, and in the following -winter the strongest one that 

 is upright should be cut off at the height the head is 

 desired, and all others removed. Upon the shoot that is 

 left all but two strong buds at the top should be rubbed 

 off. From these, arms are allowed to grow which are 

 cut back at the end of the year to three or four buds 

 each. From these buds the spurs are formed. The 



