CHAPTER XXI. 



Grapes. 



AS TO grapes, and the adaptability of various kinds to 

 the different sections of the country, it is certain 

 that the practice of close root-pruning is going to 

 make some radical changes. As remarked elsewhere, the 

 grape becomes permanently very surface-rooted when grown 

 from long-rooted vines, but roots exceedingly deep from a 

 close root-pruned one. The question is, How far is this go- 

 ing to influence the behavior of vines in given localities? As, 

 for instance, it did the old Herbemont on my former Hitch- 

 cock place. That vine, taken up when six years old, closely 

 root and top-pruned and replanted, has made an extraordi- 

 nary growth, and is bearing enormous crops every year. It 

 is entirely free from all disease, while the same variety, as 

 ordinarily planted and cultivated, rots in the neighborhood 

 nearly every year. The general opinion in South Texas has 

 been, that all the Labrusca and their hybrids are short-lived. 

 As all those grapes bear very heavily, and are nearly always 

 allowed to overbear, may it not be that this and long, 

 fibrous roots are at the bottom of the trouble, if it be true ? 

 Not caring to retain any of them after a fair test, and finding 

 them unsuited for distant shipment, owing to early shelling 

 of the berries, I always threw them out, having so many 

 experiments on hand. Thus I never kept any of the La- 

 brusca over four or five years. My tests of the American 

 varieties included over fifty of the latest and most prominent, 

 and out of the whole list, I would unhesitatingly select the 

 Lindley for South Texas, as the very best early light-red 

 grape, though it does not set its fruit well unless planted 

 near or alternated in rows with a staminate variety, such as 

 the Agawam or Salem. The two latter are by far the largest 

 and best dark-red grapes, while Wilder easily stands at the 



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