Tlte Grape Culturist. 



Fi-oin Tilton's Journal of IlorticiUture and Floral Magazine. 



TEEATMENT OF THE AMEEICAX GRAPE-Yi:XE. 



BY EDWARD F. UNDERHILL, BROCTON, N.Y. 



The question of the proper method 

 of planting, training, and pruning the 

 native grape-vine of America, is one 

 of especial interest and importance to 

 a large class of our people who have 

 invested their means in vineyards. In 

 the text-books on grape-culture, in the 

 horticultural journals, and in the re- 

 marks of grape-growers at their meet- 

 ings for discussion, the subject is dis- 

 cussed, and the most diverse opinions 

 and views are expressed : and, unable 

 to arrive at a definite conclusion as to 

 the merits of the diflTeront theories 

 propounded, the practical grape-grow- 

 er is compelled to grope blindly in the 

 dark until a tedious and often costly 

 experience shall suggest to him the 

 proper coui'se he shall pursue in the 

 management of his vineyard. 



Before stating the results of person- 

 al observation on this subject, let me 

 briefly recur to the early history of 

 vineyard -culture in America. Our 

 first experiments were with the for- 

 eign vine, and these signally failed; 

 and it was only when the Isabella and 

 Catawba were discovered and dissem- 

 inated that our people believed we had 

 native grapes of sufficient merit to 

 justify their culture in vineyards. In 

 many localities, there was a desire to 

 try the experiment ; but the people 

 had only indefinite and crude ideas of 

 the manner in which vineyards should 

 be laid out and managed. Hence in- 

 formation was sought of those who 

 had been in the vine districts of Eu- 

 rope, and especially of the Germans 



and French who had taken up their 

 residence in America, and who could 

 state, with more or less intelligence 

 and particularity, the methods pursued 

 in cultivating the vine in Europe. 



Close planting is a marked peculiar- 

 ity of the vineyard-culture of Ger- 

 many, the vines being usually placed 

 three feet asunder in each direction ; 

 making nearl}' five thousand vines per 

 acre. In North-Eastern France the 

 distance is scarcely over a foot, and 

 nearly forty thousand vines are re- 

 quired to plant an acre. The reason 

 ascribed for pursuing this method is 

 tte thinness of the soil, and the consc" 

 quent necessity of circumscribing the 

 growth of both root and vine : and, in 

 the Champagne district, the latter is 

 never allowed to attain proportions 

 beyond those of a shrub tied to a 

 small stake. 



Having only the methods in vogue 

 in the vine-bearing districts of JS'orth- 

 ern Euroj^e as examj^les, our earliest 

 vineyards wore generally laid out and 

 managed in conformity therewith. 

 Mr. Longworth planted his first vine- 

 yard of Catawbas onl}^ three feet apart 

 in each direction ; and, though he sub- 

 sequently increased the distance to 

 four feet, I am informed that he re- 

 garded that as the extreme limit of 

 departure which should be made from 

 the European models. At North East^ 

 Penn., Mr, William Griffith planted a 

 large vine_yard with vines four feet by 

 six. At Westfield, N. Y., a German 

 has a vinej'ard planted three feet by 



