VINE. 



The earth should be stirred around the young 

 vines, two or three times during the season, to 

 promote their growth ; superfluous shoots must 

 be pulled off, leaving but one or two to grow, at 

 first, and but one eventually. 



In the spring, cut the young vine down to a 

 single eye, or bud; at fir^t, if two are left for 

 greater safety, take off one, afterwards; drive a 

 stake 6 or 7 feet long firmly to each plant. Locust 

 or cedar is preferred, but oak or black walnut. 

 charred at the end, driven into the earth, or 

 coated with coal tar, will, it is said, last nearly 

 as long. Keep the young vine tied neatly to the 



stake, with rye 

 suckers, and let 



or wheat straw pick off all 

 but one stalk or cane grow. 



The vineyard must be kept clean of weeds, and 

 the young vines hoed as before. 



The se.cn ml xpring after planting, cut down to 

 two or three eyes, or joints, and the third year 

 to four or five; suckering, tying up, and hoeing 

 the vinos as recommended above. 



Re-plant from the nursery, where the cut- 

 tings have failed to strike root in the vineyard. 



The third year, the vines will produce a few 

 grapes, sometimes enough to pay the expenses of 

 attending them. 



Train two canes to the stake this year, take off 



VINE. 



bearing, it can be replaced by a layer from the 

 adjoining vine, which is a much better mode 

 than planting a young vine. The layers may 

 be put down late in summer, but spring is pre- 

 ferred. 



Cultivate the yellow, and the osier willow, to 

 make ties for the spring pruning. They will 

 grow in any wet place. 



Summer Pruning consists in removing suck- 

 ers, and pinching off all lateral shoots, leaving 

 but two stalks or canes to be trained for bearing 

 wood the ensuing year, and pinching off the ends 

 of the bearing branches, about the time of blos- 

 soming, some two or three joints beyond, or 

 above the last blossom bunch ; pull no leaves off 

 the bearing branches, and but very few from 

 any other. As the vines grow, tie them neatly 

 to the stakes, with rye straw, (some use grass), 

 and when they reach the top, train them from 

 one stake to the other, until the fruit has nearly 

 matured ; the green ends may then be broken 

 off. If this is done too early, there is danger of 

 forcing out the fruit-bearing buds for the next 

 year, and of injuring the grapes in ripening. 



Mr. Longworth cautions American vine grow- 

 ers against a common European practice of 

 shortening the leading branches intended to pro- 



suckers, and keep well hoed. duce the next year's crop, heading in the short 



The vineyard having now commenced to bear, i branches and thinning out the leaves for the pur- 

 may be considered as./Wr/y mtabti v//cv/ ; and for pose of exposing the fruit to the sun and air to 

 the fourth and successive years, the following i promote its ripening. This method, though 

 treatment is generally adopted. i sometimes advantageous where there are cold 



Sprier Pruning. This is usually done from ' summers, he says will, in the hot American cli- 

 the middle of February to the first week in mate, where some shade is necessary, prove 

 March. Some prune in January, and Mr. Srhu- hiirhly injurious, if not entirely destructive to 

 man has recommended November and December, the grapes. No more lateral branches should be 

 as the proper time. 



No serious injury to the vines, by winter 



pruning, has yet been discovered. 



K 



i. 



taken from the main shoots intended for next 

 ear's fruit, then to give them the necessary 

 ength. A large crop is often occasioned by 



Pruning, the fourth year, requires good judg- ; leaving too much bearing wood. This should 

 ment. a> the standard stem, or stalk, has to be always be avoided; for even if the crop ripens 

 established. thoroughly, too much of the sap is taken by the 



Select the best shoot or cane of last year, and fruit, and too little left to produce good young 

 cut it down to 6 or 8 joints, and fasten it to the wood for the next season's crop, 

 adjoining stake in a horizontal position, or bend Culture. The vineyard must be kept perfectly 

 it over in the form of a hoop or bow, and tie it clean from weeds and grass, and should be hoed 

 to its own stake. The ties should be of willow, twice during the spring and summer. 

 This is the bearing wood. The other cane, cut The cultivator or the plough is less expensive, 

 down to a spur of two or three eyes, to make but the vines and roots are in danger of being 

 bearing: \\-ood for the next season. injured by that mode of culture; therefore 



the hoe is preferred by those who can afford 

 it. It has been recommended by some writers, 

 to cut off the roots of the vines near the surfnce, 

 of the ground, and 4 or 5 inches under, that the 

 roots, when the vines are young, may be well 

 established at a proper depth below. 



"By others, this plan is thought to be injurious. 



Mr. Schuman remarks in his treatise, " There 

 are various methods of training adopted. Some 

 tie the shoot up to the stake with two or three 

 ties at proportionate distances. 



" Thf> greater part of the German vine-plant- 

 ers make circular bows with three ties, and 

 another mode is to make half-circle bows. I 



recommend the latter as the best, and proceed to The" majority, however, prefer cutting "off the 



describe it. surface roots for the first three or four years. 



"Give the shoot the first tie on the stake 9 About every third year, put in manure, by 



inches from the ground, and the second 9 inches opening a trench the width of a spade, and four 



above it; then bow it over to the neighbour- or five inches deep. Above and near each row, 



ing stake in a horizontal position, and give it throw in two or three inches of well rotted ma- 



the third tie to that stake, at the top of the nure, and cover up with the earth, 



rme." Another plan adopted, is to run a furrow with 



In the succeeding, and all subsequent years, the plough, put in manure, and cover over, either 



cut away the old bearing wood, and form the new with the plough or hoe. 



bow, or" arch, from the "best branch of the new Others, again, scatter manure over the surface, 



wood of the last year, leaving a spur as before, and dig it in. 



to produce bearing wood for the coming year, An intelligent cultivator, J. A. Corneau. re- 



thus keeping the old stalk of the vine down to marks: "High manuring is generally admitted 



within 18 to 14 inches, from the ground. The to be injurious to the vinous quality of the grape ; 



vine is then always within reach and control. ; or, in other words, it accelerates a larger growth 



Should a vine be lost after the vineyard is in ' of wood, and a more attractive-looking fruit 



138 4z2 1097 



