HARDY GRAPES. 43 



full freedom of development. If the growth should be satisfac- 

 tory, i. e. make a strong cane from five to six- sixteenths of an 

 inch in diameter, it will be safe to allow it to fruit for half its 

 length, and it should be cut back to that point at the fall pruning. 

 If less vigorous, the whole should be cut away as in previous 

 years. Nothing so injures a young vine as to allow it to cany a 

 crop of fruit beyond its capacity. It is like putting a three years 

 ■old colt to do the work of a fully developed horse, or a boy of 

 fifteen or sixteen years to perform a man's labor. I am confident 

 that more failures and discouragements arise out of this mistaken 

 policy than is generally believed. 



If the vines are planted six feet apart in the row, the subsequent 

 treatment is to fruit the one cane and grow a new one to replace it 

 ■the following year, cutting out the one that has borne fruit. If 

 the vines are twelve feet distant, they may be allowed to fruit two 

 arms of six feet each and produce two new canes to replace those 

 fruited. This will require a year or two more to reach full bearing. 

 At the less distance each vine may be allowed to carry as many 

 clusters of fruit as there are spurs growing from the arm, and at 

 the greater distance double this number. These fruiting spurs are 

 to be tied to the trellis if the best results are aimed at, or allowed 

 to swing free, as in the Kniffen system, if the cheap way is 

 preferred. 



This is what is known as the renewal system, the vine being, so 

 to say, renewed each year and thus kept perpetually young. As 

 the fruiting wood is cut away at the annual pruning, there is no 

 doubt that the particular roots which have supported it mostly die, 

 while the new, vigorous ones, corresponding to the new cane, 

 remain to carry the crop at the next fruitage ; thus in reality only 

 the trunk of the vine is permanent, whatever its age. This mode 

 of treatment insures large clusters, and if the fertility be ample 

 and the fruitage not too heavy, the berries will also be large with 

 a heavy bloom which is at once attractive in market and an 

 evidence of high quality. 



If the land is in good heart and no other crops are grown upon 

 it, no fertilization will be required previous to the third year, but 

 otherwise it should be supplied from the commencement. 



What is fertility ? Chemistry teaches us that all plants obtain 

 the elements which go to make up their structure either from the 

 soil or the atmosphere. The soil furnishes the ash ingredients and 



