Treatment of the American Grape Vine. 



19 



successful bearing elsewhere, he could 

 only attribute his want of success with 

 this to the richness of the soil in which 

 it grew. Though the vine had a 

 spread of twelve feet on a high trellis, 

 the shoots made extravagant growth. 

 Thinking that this untoward tendency 

 of the vine in not fruiting might be 

 owing to its being restricted in the 

 space it required, he determined to try 

 the experiment of giving it a spread 

 of twenty-four feet on the trellis. The 

 result was like magic. The vine soon 

 covered the space given it; it was no 

 longer difficult to be kept under con- 

 trol ; and, the next season, it produc- 

 ed a crop of nearl}^ a hundred pounds 

 of excellent grapes, and has continued 

 in well-doing ever since. 



To still further try the merits of 

 the S3'stem, he this year took out al- 

 ternate vines from a certain spot in his 

 Isabella vineyard where but little fruit 

 had been produced of late, leaving 

 each vine twenty-four feet of trellis to 

 cover; and in this instance the vines 

 have become largely fruitful. In an- 

 other case, he allowed the vine to run 

 twelve feet upon one side of the stem, 

 but on the other side kept within a 

 space ot six feet on the trellis. Where 

 the additional space w^as given the vine, 

 there will be a yield of about forty 

 pounds of grapes : on the other side, 

 there will not be more than ten. 



I was shown still another illustration 

 of the working of this method of wide 

 planting and high training on a rich 

 soil. As previously stated, the McKay 

 vinej^ard has lately borne but little 

 fruit, by reason of the large amount 

 of fertilizing material put into the soil 

 at the time of planting. A.t the sug- 

 gestion of Mr. Pottle, the present 



owner of the property last spring re- 

 moved alternate vines from certain 

 rows, leaving the remaining vines 

 thirty-three feet apart in the rows. 

 Here the result was the same. Though 

 the trellis is not yet fullj' covered, the 

 vines will each yield from a hundred 

 to two hundred pounds of fine, showy 

 clusters of gi\apes ; while on the ad- 

 joining rows, where the vines are but 

 sixteen feet and a half apart, there 

 will not be over twenty pounds of in- 

 difterent fruit to each vine. 



If, from the facts I have here pre- 

 sented, there are any laws to be de- 

 duced, of practical significance in vine- 

 yard-culture, they are these : — 



1. The normal gi'owth of a grape- 

 vine is in proportion to the richness of 

 the soil in which it is j)lanted. 



2. When the root has so far increas- 

 ed in its size as to disturb the relative 

 proportion which should exist between 

 it and the vine, it will spend its ener- 

 gies in endeavoring to restore the 

 equilibrium by an increased growth of 

 vine, the efficiency of which will be 

 seriously impaired for bearing fruit. 



3. The distanco to be observed in 

 planting vines along the line of the 

 trellis must depend upon the richness 

 of the soil. 



To this system of wide planting and 

 high training (the result of which, as 

 presented, are beyond dispute) I have 

 heard but a single objection or criti- 

 cism. A gentleman of large exper- 

 ience as a grape-grower and wine- 

 maker in this country has asserted to 

 me that grapes grown on vines thus 

 treated ai-e inferior in quality tathose 

 which are grown on vines closely 

 planted; and that, for use in the man- 

 ufacture of wine, they are especially 



