98 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 



it is clear that if you do not give it extension you cannot have 

 the foliage to elaborate that crude sap into true sap. What 

 happens ? Why, this crude, unripened sap surcharges the 

 grape, (and it is precisely for the purpose of getting large grapes 

 that this pinching is practised.) When this crude sap has once 

 got to the grape, the circulation of the sap in the vine and all 

 its natural processes are impeded for want of foliage, and the 

 berry is engorged with unripe sap. There is only one alterna- 

 tive. If nature cannot evaporate the unripe sap from the sur- 

 face of the grape, if the sun cannot ripen it, it is surcharged 

 with unripe juice, which, when the finer functions of the grape 

 come into play, changes the tissue, rots it, and the grape perishes 

 and falls. 



Let me illustrate in tlie light of experience — not my own 

 simply, but that of others. In the spring of 1861 I planted a 

 vine against the west end of my cottage, which I wanted to 

 cover up rapidly. I did not prune it because I wanted the 

 shade. That vine measured, at the end of last August, eight 

 inches and a quarter in circumference six inches from the 

 ground. It covered a trellis 25 by 15 feet. The ends had to 

 be pinched to keep them from extending too far. That vine has 

 given me, for two or three years, two bushels of ripe grapes — 

 about 120 pounds — a very large crop. During these few brief 

 years it has grown to that size, and I have had these crops. It 

 did not, this year, have any defect of berry, not even mildew, 

 which perhaps was due to the vicinity of the house. I do not 

 think that would save you wholly from mildew, but it would 

 save the grapes from rotting. Other vines were affected to some 

 extent, but without exception, my largest and finest vines, 

 bearing one hundred pounds or more, escaped. 



Mr. Breck, the worthy ex-president of our Massachusetts Hor- 

 ticultural Society, and a grape- grower of many years' experience, 

 has a Concord vine which he planted near an apple tree for the 

 purpose of allowing it to have its own way and extend as far as 

 it pleased. It has now covered the tree ; it escaped mildew, 

 even this year, and all disease, and gave him one hundred and 

 seventy-five pounds of grapes, which ripened perfectly. 



There is another illustration given by Dr. Schroeder. His 

 vineyard of Catawbas, after bearing sound and healthy fruit for 

 two or three years, was affected by the rot. He layered from 



