GRAPE TRELLISES. 121 



than the usual custom to place them), the young shoot 

 must be at least twelve to fifteen inches long before the 

 strength of the vine will admit of its being tied to the hor- 

 izontal wire ; besides, when tied, the strings will allow the 

 shoot to slip lengthwise of the wire, and often it will crowd 

 or become entangled with its neighbors. To tie the vine 

 very tight to the wire would cause it to become girdled 

 as it expanded in growth. 



The above are but a few of the difficulties which I have 

 had to overcome in using the common grape trellis with 

 horizontal wires or bars, and to avoid these difficulties I 

 have adopted upon my own grounds a trellis with horizon- 

 tal bars and perpendicular wires, shown in the preceding 

 illustration. It is built in the following manner : select 

 posts of good, hard, durable wood, of from four to six 

 inches in diameter and six and a half feet long ; set them 

 in the ground two and a half feet deep, and in a line with 

 the vines, and eight feet apart that is, if the vines are 

 that distance apart ; a post should be placed between each 

 two vinef at equal distance from each. When the posts 

 are set, nail on strips two and a half to three inches wide 

 and one inch thick, one strip or bar being placed one foot 

 from the ground, and the other at the top of the posts. 

 Then take No. 16 galvanized iron wire and put it on per- 

 pendicularly, twisting it around the lower and upper bar, 

 each wire being placed just where the upright bearing 

 shoots are to grow. It is well not to put on the wires 

 until the vines are ready for training, and then lay down 

 the arms by the side of the lower bar, and make a mark on 

 it where each wire is to be put, before fastening the arm 

 then remove the arms to one side while putting on the 

 wire. If a wire should not be in the exact place where it 

 is wanted, it can be easily moved to the right or left, pro- 

 vided it is only twisted around the bars. The distance 

 between these upright wires will differ according to the 

 variety of vine, as the distance between the buds varies 



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