BULLETIN 210. IMPERIAL VALLEY SETTLERS' CROP MANUAL. 207 



The preceding suggestions regarding improvements in planting, 

 pruning, training and irrigation have this in vew. The proper handing 

 of the grapes is no less important. A bunch of grapes which is perfect 

 in the vineyard may be easily ruined by careless gathering or hauling 

 before it reaches the packing shed. 



The grapes, in gathering, should be touched as little as possible 

 and handled only by the peduncle or main stem. They should be 

 placed carefully in wide shallow boxes in a single layer. In these 

 boxes they should remain for twelve to twenty-four hours to wilt 

 slightly and lose their rigidity before packing and, if possible, before 

 hauling. If they are warm when picked they will wilt more rapidly 

 and proper packing without injury to the berries will be facilitated. 

 Hauling to the packing house should be done very carefully, prefer- 

 ably in wagons provided with springs. The grapes should be pro- 

 tected from the dust and the direct rays of the sun, and the boxes 

 should be so stacked that there is no danger of crushing the grapes. 



Removal of Suckers. Many bunches are injured in gathering, 

 owing to the necessity of freeing them from suckers and water-sprouts 

 which have grown through the middle of the bunch. Some of the 

 grapes are pulled off, some broken and, worst of all, some of them are 

 slightly loosened around the pedicel or stalklet. Most of the broken 

 berries can be removed by the trimmers in the packing house, but 

 many of those simply loosened will escape their scrutiny and are a 

 fruitful cause of decay. 



By going over the vineyard soon after the grapes have set, inter- 

 fering shoots can be removed or freed from the bunches. The cost 

 of this should be abundantly returned by saving in labor of gather- 

 ing and trimming and especially in improvement in the shipping 

 qualities of the whole crop. In long shipments one spoiled bunch may 

 infect a whole crate. 



Thinning. htemy otherwise suitable grapes do not ship well on 

 account of the excessive compactness of the bunch. A compact bunch 

 is difficult to pack without injury and cannot be freed from imperfect 

 berries without spoiling good berries. 



This excessive compactness can be prevented by thinning before 

 the berries are one-third grown. Thinning, moreover, increases the 

 size of the berries, hastens ripening, promotes coloring, and lessens 

 some forms of sunburn. The practice is regularly followed with 

 success by many growers of Tokay, Black Morocco, and other grapes 

 in northern California. While apparently costly, the expense is often 

 more than counterbalanced by the saving in trimming of the ripe 

 grapes. The increase of quality thus becomes a net gain. 



