42 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF VITICULTURE 



At the high school age it is often easy to develope in young people a 

 love for the study of the processes of plant life. The grape is a fine subject 

 to treat. The budding, the grafting, planting, staking, pruning, and shaping 

 of the vine are all things that awaken their interest and the pupils take a 

 pride in seeing the result of their own work develope before the four years 

 are out. With the ordinary fruit trees very little results would be obtained 

 in so short a time. Nor does it take a large piece of ground to carry on the 

 work. 



The system of pruning could be illustrated on a few vines and visits to 

 vineyards in the community could be made. This should be done both dur- 

 ing the pruning season in the winter and the ripening season in the fall. 

 The effects of pruning upon the vines could be shown and studies of the bear- 

 ing habit of the grape could be made. 



The varieties of grapes could be studied, their names, time of ripening, 

 appearance, quality and use. The subject of the ripening and gathering of 

 the grapes could be treated under the general head of the ripening and 

 marketing of all California fruits. The chemical changes could be empha- 

 sized and the effect of marketing too green or too ripe could be easily and 

 fully brought out. 



The use of saccharorneters in testing ripeness bears upon physics and 

 chemistry. In fact there is hardly an operation but what has some general 

 bearing that may be brought out as well as its special application to 

 viticulture. 



The transportation and conservation of the grapes is intimately related 

 to the subjects for all the ripe fruits, and the marketing problems of one are 

 also the marketing problems of all. 



The drying of raisins may be treated under the subject of dried fruits in 

 general. Some experiments as to the food value of raisins would be very 

 interesting and helpful. 



The wine making might or might not be introduced into the school. It is 

 a subject that would open up a vast field of technical knowledge and if 

 properly given should be interesting and instructive even to those who are 

 opposed to the use of alcoholic beverages. 



The mechanics and construction of a winery bring in the problems, which 

 are common to all our agricultural work, of mechanical efficiency and elimina- 

 tion of costs. It is a large field and there is no end to its study both for the 

 college man and the practical farmer. Anything further, or more detailed 

 and specialized in the study of viticulture should be taken up in the advanced 

 schools and departments of agriculture in the colleges. 



It would be hard to give a year's course of pure viticulture in high school, 

 but it could be included in the course of horticulture. The writer taught 

 agriculture for one year in the Armijo Union High School at Suisun-Pairfield. 

 One half year was given to horticulture and one half year to the study of 

 general farm conditions, emphasizing the animal industry. In this work the 

 study of the grape was emphasized very much. 



If the grape has been studied as indicated through the various courses 

 of general science, botany, physical geography, chemistry, physics and horti- 

 culture, there would hardly be a place in the high school curriculum for a 

 course in pure viticulture. But if such courses are not given, the whole sub- 



