THE TREE DOCTOR 111 



have seen beautiful pictures in catalogs and magazines, but 

 never saw anything equal the excellence of my crop of grapes 

 last fall." You should cut out about half of the weakest canes and 

 all old, dead wood, and cultivate the soil, allowing no weeds to 

 grow, and you will get grapes. They will grow in almost any 

 soil, except wet muck-land, or heavy, soggy clay. 



Probably the finest quality of grapes is grown in the "grape 

 region," stretching from Cleveland to Willoughby, O. While 



Photo 97 

 All the Fruit-bearing Canes Cut Off. 



this is mostly clay land it is underlaid by a shale rock. The sys- 

 tem of pruning followed by the grape-growers of the lake-front 

 region may be called "a balanced method." They remove, prob- 

 ably, from half to two-thirds of the last year's growth. The 

 remainder produces the fine crop shown in Photo 96, and still 

 leaves the plant with reserved power enough to force out the 

 new growth for the following year. 



If you have old vines, on which there is no bearing wood, 

 take a saw and cut them off close to the ground in December or 

 January, and paint the wounds. Remove all weeds from near 

 the old "crown." In the following season it will grow up a 



