GRAPE 



GRAPE 



1385 



be flattened fan-shape to facilitate cultivation, which 

 can take place only in one direction. This method of 

 pruning and training is shomi in Fig. 1735. 



Goblet-pruned vines are planted on the square system 

 from 7 to 12 feet apart, 8 feet apart being usual for 

 the northern coast counties and 9 or 10 feet for the 

 hotter regions. Muscat of Alexandria vines are usually 

 planted by 12 feet to 8 by 14 feet to facilitate drying 

 the raisins, and treUised vines are usually jilanted in 

 the same way. 



Some special practices and modifications of the usual 

 methods are found to be useful in the production of 

 table grapes for shipping. In general, the vines should 

 be raised a little higher and the arms given a some- 

 what wider spread. This is to keep the fruit from 

 contact with the soil and to spread out the bunches so 

 that they will develop, ripen and color evenly. The 

 removal of water-sprouts and sterile shoots, not needed 

 for new arms, before or soon after the grapes set is also 

 very useful. This tends to make the bunches and ber- 

 ries larger by concentrating the energies of the vine on 

 the bearing shoots. An equally important effect of this 

 practice is to facilitate the gathering of perfect bunches. 

 When neglected, the water-sprouts often grow through 

 the bunches. Such bunches cannot be gathered without 

 injury. Some of the grapes are pulled off, some broken 

 and, worst of all, some of them are slightly loosened 

 around the pedicel. Most of the broken berries can be 

 removed by the trimmers in the packing-house, but 

 maii.v of those simply loosened escape their scrutiny 

 and are a fruitful cause of decay. 



Many otherwise suitable grapes do not ship well on 

 account of the excessive compactness of the bunch. 

 A compact bunch is difficult to pack without injury 

 and cannot be freed from imperfect berries without 

 si)oiling good berries. 



This excessive compactness can be prevented by 

 thinning before the berries are one-third grown. Thin- 

 ning, moreover, increases the size of the berries, hastens 

 ripening, promotes coloring, and lessens some forms of 

 simburn. The practice has been employed with suc- 

 cess by growers of Tokay, Black Morocco, and other 



number of berries to be removed will depend upon how 

 compact the unthinned bunches usually become. In 

 general, it will vary from one-third to one-half of the 

 total number. The thinning is effected by cutting out 

 several of the side branchlets of the bunch. The 

 branchlets should be removed principally from the part 



1735. The long-pruning of vinifera vines. The vine is trained on 

 two horizontal wires. 



//, Fruit-canes growing out of the renewal spur.s r^ the pre- 

 vious year: r*, renewal spurs to supply fruit-canes for the follow- 

 ing year: r°, replacing spurs to supply wood for use when the 

 over-elongated arms are cut back. 



grapes in northern California. AATiile apparently costly, 

 the expense is often more than counterbalanced bj' the 

 saving in trimming of the ripe grapes. The increase of 

 quality thus becomes a net gain. 



The bunches are thinned at any time after the ber- 

 ries have set and before they have reached one-third 

 their mature size. No bunches are removed, but only 

 a cert;) in proportion of the berries of each bunch. The 



1736. Tokay grapes. 



of the bunch which has most tendency to compact- 

 ness, usually the upper part. The work can be done 

 verj' rapidly as no great care is necessary in preserving 

 the shape of the bunch. However irregular or one- 

 sided the bunch looks immediately after thinning, it 

 win round out and become regular before ripening. A 

 long, narrow-bladed knife or a pair of grape-trimming 

 scissors can be used conveniently for this work. 



Harresting and packing. 



The grapes should not be harvested until they con- 

 tain at least 17 to 19 per cent of sugar, varying with 

 the variety and the locality. Unripe grapes are dis- 

 tasteful to the consumer, spoil the market for later 

 and better grapes, and are more liable to deterioration 

 from wilting and decay. After every care has been 

 taken to produce good shipping grapes on the vines, 

 their proper handling is no less important. A bunch 

 of grapes which is perfect in the vineyard may easily 

 be ruined by careless gathering or hauling before it 

 reaches the packing-shed. 



The grapes, in gathering and packing, should be 

 touched as httle as possible and handled only by the 

 main stem. They should be placed carefully in wide, 

 shallow bo.xes in a single layer. Hauling to the packing- 

 house should be done very carefully, in wagons provided 

 with springs. The grapes should be protected from 

 the dust and the direct rays of the sun, and the boxes 

 should be so stacked that there is no danger of crushing 

 the grapes. Fig. 1736 shows two crates or bo.xes of 

 grapes. 



The most usual way of packing table grapes in Cali- 

 fornia is in square chip baskets holding about five 

 pounds and placed in fours in open-sided crates. Extra- 

 large bunches or "clusters" are sometimes packed in 

 oblong baskets of twice this size, of which two are placed 

 in a crate. Experiments have been made with various 

 "fillers" to protect the grapes during transit and to 

 increase the time during which they will remain in 

 good condition. The cork-dust or waste used in Spain 

 for the grapes of Almeria is unavailable. Various sub- 

 stitutes have been tried. Early att<'mpts to utilize 

 ordinary sawdust for this purpose proved unsuccessful 

 for the reason that the grapes failed to hold in good 

 condition and absorbed disagre(>able flavors from the 

 wood. Recently it has been tlcmonstrated that pure, 

 dry redwood sawdust, from which the chips and finest 

 particles have been removed by screening, is even 

 superior to ground cork for grape-jiacking. Redwood 



