FARMERS^ REGISTER— CULTURE OF THE VINE. 



473 



ed for on the same principles; for young vines 

 pusii witli a much (>reuter luxuriance than old 

 ones;, and bear accordingly a more watery h'uit. 

 Tins, I believe, is the case generally vv'ilh all sorts 

 of ll-Liits, and it is frequently tound that when the 

 trees are planted into too fertile a soil, they bear 

 little or no ti'uit; the little they bear being very in- 

 ierior. This, at least, is the case with the peach. 



Whether it be owing to our soils and climaffe, or 

 to the nature of the vines which we cultivate most 

 successfully, or to both causes combined, certain it 

 is, that our vines grow larger here than in Europe. 

 We should, therefore, adapt ourselves to our cir- 

 cumstances, and prune and train them according- 

 ly. Young vines, about six to twelve years old, 

 are often seen to put tbrth shoots jn the course of 

 one summer, trom thirty to filty teet long. It is 

 impracticable to keep such vines within the height 

 of three or ibur teet altogether, as is the case in 

 most of the vineyards of France. The object 

 (hat nature seems to have in view is to form a 

 large tree, and if we cmjjloy all our art and skill 

 to defeat her, it appears to me that it n^ust be to 

 our disadvantage. During these years of great 

 growth, then the pruning ought to be «uch as to 

 moderate only this propensity of the vine to its en- 

 largement, but not to destroy it. 



At the first planting of a vine, it ought to be cut 

 down to one or two buds, so as to give it no more 

 to do than its impeded vigor will allow it to perform. 

 By this means, instead of having a number of 

 slender weakly shoots, we shall have one or two 

 strong ones, that will give us the prospect of a 

 luxuriant healthy ^dne. The second year, the 

 vine ought to be pruned short again, to about 

 three or lour buds, and suffer only one or two of 

 these to grow. This course may be followed, 

 gradually increasing the length ol the vine, until it 

 has attained to a considerable extension. The 

 longest and strongest shoots ought to be shortened 

 in projwrtion to their strength, and trained hori- 

 zontal!}', or nearly so, in such a manner as to fiil 

 up as evenly as possible, the space allotted for it. 

 suppressing entirely all the weaker ones, those 

 that are nusplaced, and cutting down to tour, to 

 eight or ten buds, the middle sized ones, and be 

 sure not to leave too many of them, that in the 

 summer the vine be not too bushy and conlused. 



I train mine to the height of about eight ft?et, 

 and then lead them horizontally overhead on a 

 coarse trellis Ibrmed of laths, eitlier split or saw- 

 ed. This trellis is supported by posts merely split, 

 as if intended tor a common worm-fence, or sawed 

 when a saw mill ia convenient. These should be 

 made of the most durable wood I can get, (here 

 Ave use light wood.) This frame or trellis forms 

 squares of about two feet and a half, and to it I tie 

 tlie vines with willow twigs. There is a consider- 

 able advantage in tying the vine on the under part, 

 instead of on the top, which is this: when in the 

 spring the shoots are growing luxuriantly, they are 

 easily broken off bj- the 'wind, if they are not suj)- 

 ported, and they are too tender to be bent down to 

 the trellis. The frame of the trellis is formed of 

 laths lour inches wide by one inch and a quarter 

 thick, placed edgewise. The vine being tied un- 

 der t hi?, the young shoots readily find a support 

 against the smaller laths nailed on the top of the 

 larger ones; or they may be gently inclined to- 

 wards them and fastened by some soil substance, 

 and very few are broken down by the wind. In 



Vol. 11—30. 



this manner of attaching the vine to the frame or 

 trellis, all the old wood, even tliat of the preceding 

 year's growth, is fastened underneath the laths, 

 and all, or nearly all the young growth, rests on 

 the top, ftistened down to any part of the trellis, 

 and the grapes hang down "between the laths, the 

 foliage being thereby above, protecting tlie fruit 

 trom the immediate action of the sun, and direct in- 

 fluence of intemperate weather. A full grown 

 vine well trained and spread in this manner, with 

 its fruit hanging down, and surmounted by the 

 green canopy of the leaves, is a very beautitul 

 sight. Another slight advantage of this manner 

 of training is, that the grajycs cannot be seen from 

 above, and that, therefore, the birds are much less 

 attracted by them. An old vine is to be pruned 

 according to the same principles, and in pursuance 

 of the same views, as the younger ones, viz: to 

 leave only as many bearing branches as are ne- 

 cessary to fill up the space, and less than this if 

 the space is great, and prune them shorter or long- 

 er according to their strength and the number of 

 them; figuring to one's self whilst ])runing, the ef- 

 fect of the future shoots, both in filling the sjjace, 

 and in being sufficiently distant from each other, 

 as not to be crowded and imj^ede the free circula- 

 tion of the air. It is, of course, better that there 

 should be some vacancies between the growing 

 shoots than that these should be too close. 



As the vine is growing, it is advantageous to 

 take off the inierleaves or side shoots, called by 

 some "robbers," and also the claspers, at least as 

 high as two or three buds above the f>uit; but, as 

 you thereby deprive the vine of its natural means 

 ol fastening itself to the frame for support, their 

 place (the claspers) should be supplied by tying 

 them in their suitable places, with some soft sub- 

 stance, such as bass-matting, bullrush, or even 

 corn shuck, softened in water. The claspers, if 

 left near the fruit, are apt to entwine round it and 

 injure it greatly. I call "interleaves,'''' those se- 

 condary ehoots that grow on the primary ones, at 

 every joint, and seem destined to protect the buds 

 that are intended for the following year's growth; 

 and it may be better to cut them off, leavhig about 

 half an inch of it, than break them off close to the 

 principal stem and the buds they protect. Be this, 

 as it may, if they are all left, some of them do 

 sometimes grov/ too large, shade the fruit too 

 much, and seem to nearly obliterate the bud v/hich 

 we think they feed and protect. The leaves ought 

 never to be pulled off, particularl}^ near the fruit, 

 except perhaps when it is nearly ripe; for they are 

 a provision of nature to procure food, sustenance 

 and protection to the buds destined for the follow- 

 ing year's growth; for if the leaxes are pulled off, 

 these buds would thereby be starved. If such 

 leaves are ever suppressed from necessity, thej'" 

 should be cut ofi'so as to leave the greatest part of 

 their footstalk or stem. Neither should the princi- 

 pal shoots be shortened, nor, at any rate, until late 

 in the season, and when the fruit is nearly ripe. 

 The shortening of them induces the interleaves to 

 grow much more than they would otherwise; and 

 if they are cut ofl' only a few buds above the fruit, 

 this operation usually f(>rces the growth of the 

 buds depended upon for the following year's fruit, 

 as well as its accompanying ap])endages of leaves, 

 &c. This operation, in several kinds of vines, 

 makes them produce a second crop of grapes 

 which may ripen tolerably late in the fall, biit sel- 



