Grape Culture. 



171 



and tells us we must train our vines fan 

 shape. If we prune too long, says Mr. 

 Husmann, we oveilax its energies. 

 How much is too long, Mr. Husmann ? 

 If we prune too short we shall have 

 worse things to befall us. How much 

 is too short, Mr. Husmann ? In short, 

 according to Mr. Husmann, we must 

 prune judgmatically — that's the whole 

 up-shot of it. * * * * 



But should any one wish to know 

 my practice, I will say, I have not fol- 

 lowed any special system of pruning, 

 but I require vines that are three years 

 planted to produce a growth nearly the 

 size of the little finger. In the spring 

 or fall all the knitting needle and spind- 

 ling shoots are cut away, and the 

 thrifty and robust cut back to five or 

 six eyes, and I find good results from 

 this, and but little trouble. 



A. E. Trabue. 



[As friend Trabue quotes us in the 

 above, we will look at his essay a little 

 closer, only slightly review it, and as 

 we do so, we find, or we think we find, 

 that he, like the rest of us, does not 

 yet know everything. He is quite right 

 when he opposes trenching with the 

 spade; but he is not right, in our 

 humble opinion, when he speaks slight- 

 ingly of the " Dutchman," as he is 

 pleased to call him, which means, we 

 suppose, a German. The Germans 

 may have many preconceived notions, 

 they may follow, as a general thing, 

 too much the practice of their fathers 

 in the " Vaterland," but we venture to 

 assert here, that American grape grow- 

 ing would never have been what it is 

 t®-day without the patient toil, perse- 

 verance and skill of the same ''Dutch- 

 men," of which friend Trabue thinks so 



little. For perseverance and steady 

 industry, for the small, unceasing labor 

 which the culture of the grape requires, 

 give us the German laborer ; we would 

 rather risk to have them cultivate our 

 vineyards than the majority of Ameri- 

 cans. There are, of course, exceptions 

 to this rule ; many of our German la- 

 borers do not think enough when the}' 

 work, but we can safely assert that 

 there are as intelligent grape growers 

 to be found amoug them as can be 

 found among Americans, far or near. 

 It is not at all necessary, we think, to 

 raise or argue the question of national- 

 ity ; we think there are good grape 

 growers to be found in all nations, or 

 at least the stuff" for them ; but so far 

 the majority of the thorough-going, 

 practical and successful ones have been 

 furnished by that same "Dutch nation,'* 

 or German, of which our friend seems 

 to think so little. 



Our friend's ideas about preparing 

 ground are very good. In 1861 we 

 were the first to follow that practice 

 near Hermann, an<l we should not be 

 surprised if friend Trabue got the idea 

 from a "Dutchman's" book. The 

 vineyard thus prepared is yet one of 

 the most flourishing about Hermann, 

 although many predicted at that time 

 that " it would never do." 



His general ideas about planting are 

 also good, but not quite explicit enough. 

 How deep do you plant your roots, 

 friend Trabue? According to our ex- 

 perience the lowest tier of roots should 

 be about eight Inches below the sur- 

 face, in ordinary soil ; in warm south- 

 ern hillsides about a foot. The reasons 

 for the difference in depth will be ap- 

 to everv one. But we unisl 



parent 



every 



