108 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



the different kinds of grape in the matter of growth. The slow- 

 i^growing Delaware should scarcely be touched with a knife ; and 

 yet some slow-growing vines must be pruned in moderation in 

 order to get hardy and mature wood, or you run into mischief. 

 "Weak wood will grow scanty fruit, will not mature it properly, 

 the evil grows worse and worse, and you lose your vine at last. 

 These things all require observation, experience, skill, on the 

 part of the grower, and, as I say, they are so qualified by differ- 

 ent circumstances — hardiness of grape, vigor of growth, length 

 of season required to ripen its wood and mature its fruit ; in 

 one word, you have to adapt your method to each vine so abso- 

 lutely that no fixed rule can prevail. 



Now, then, if pruning the vine will affect its health, that is 

 an important subject to be considered. Let us look at that a 

 moment. The best Delaware grapes that were exhibited at our 

 cattle-show, in October, Avere brought by a plain farmer who 

 knew nothing about grapes, who had not pruned it at all, but 

 let it grow up into an adjacent tree. He said it had got out of 

 his hands, and so, instead of trying to restrain it, he took a 

 whole cartload of compost and tipped it up on the root. (The 

 Delaware must have high feed or you cannot do anything with 

 it.) That vine grew remarkably, bore a large crop for a Dela- 

 ware, (which does not grow a large crop,) and the finest and 

 largest bunches I have ever seen. 



Pruning must depend, to some extent, also, on how you train 

 yourjvine. If you train it on a pole you are limited to your six 

 feet ; or, say you have two stems, to your twelve feet. You are 

 immediately brought into this difficulty, that you must prune 

 closely, because you have not room for your branches to extend ; 

 your vineyard would be a swamp, and you could not get among 

 the vines ; you must continue to summer pinch, also, whicli is 

 the very thing you want to avoid, except the first pinching, 

 which is legitimate. When your branches are only one or two 

 feet long, and your blossom buds are set, you can pinch off the 

 end and the sap is sent back to the bunches, and the growing 

 leaves, then young and able to expand easily, will grow broad 

 and large. Now the end bud pushes again, and what do you 

 do ? You pinch it again. Your mischief begins then. You 

 must let it grow. For that reason I do not use the pole. You 

 must have extension. I think the pole will do for the Delaware, 



