20 



Tlie Grape Cidturlst. 



defective in not possessing the neces- 

 sary saccharine properties. As this 

 is purely a question of fact, it can only 

 be determined by a practical test; and 

 arrangements have been made by the 

 New York State and Lake Shore 

 Grape-Growers' Association to have 

 the musts of grapes grown under these 

 different conditions tested this fall by 

 the must scale. 



But, besides the wide planting and 

 high training peculiar to the vineyards 

 of Naples Valley, a resident grape- 

 grower, Mr. A. J. Byington, has for 

 many years practiced a system of 

 pruning peculiar to himself, which, in 

 connection with wide planting, has 

 been attended with the most marked 

 success. As the system is the result 

 of intelligent study and observation, I 

 will endeavor to state the theor}' upon 

 which Mr. Bj-inglon proceeds. 



During the season of growth, Na- 

 ture has pushed out from each bud left 

 on the vine at pruning a shoot, from 

 which laterals and even sub-laterals 

 have in their turn been produced, with 

 leaves, tendrils, fruit, and buds. Dui*- 

 ing the autumn, the green wood ripens, 

 and forms canes : the leaves fall on 

 the approach of winter, and there re- 

 mains on the trellis a tangled mass of 

 wood. The vine above and the root 

 below ground are supposed to have at- 

 tained an approximate, if not such an 

 exact equilibrium as Nature would 

 dictate. But, if the vine is to give us 

 its best results, only a small propor- 

 tion of buds on the wood of the cur- 

 rent season must be allowed to pro- 

 duce fruit the next ; and hence, time 

 out of mind, the practice of pruning 

 or cutting away more or less of the 

 ripened Avood has been resorted to. 



This has been done either in the au- 

 tumn, winter, or spring; and either 

 period has been regarded as appro- 

 priate, though, in the spring, it has 

 been held to be important not to post- 

 pone the operation until the season 

 becomes so far advanced as to cause 

 the vines to bleed after pruning. But, 

 whatever done, the practice has been 

 to cut away the wood to from two to 

 four canes if long pruning is practiced, 

 or to spurs if spur-pruning is the sys- 

 tem adopted. The result of the oper- 

 ation is, that the normal balance be- 

 tween root and vine has not merely 

 been disturbed, but has been almost 

 destroyed ; and when dormant vegeta- 

 ble life awakens in the spring, and a 

 large unpruned root sends forth its 

 sap, it finds but few buds where there 

 should be many ; and, .it once. Nature 

 sets herself to work to restore the 

 balance. The shoots grow rank, and 

 from these laterals push out, and the 

 vine is difficult to control. With an 

 abnormal growth, the shoots are nec- 

 essarily weak, and the weakness of the 

 shoot is imparted to leaf and fruit- 

 cluster ; and if, during inflorescence, 

 there be rains, imperfect fertilization 

 is much more likely to occur, followed 

 by blasting of the fruit, or sloughing 

 of the berries when farther advanced. 

 And this system, pursued 3'ear after 

 3'ear, so far disturbs the course of Na- 

 ture as to leave the vine a ready prey 

 to disease. 



If, then, pruning is essential to vine- 

 culture, and yet pi'uning as ordinarily 

 practiced is deti-imental, if not ulti- 

 mately destructive, to the vine, it fol- 

 lows that the prevailing systems are 

 inherently vicious, and that some oth- 

 er method of pruning must be prac- 

 ticed to meet the requirements of 

 grape-culture ; and this brings me to 

 the system of planting, training, and 

 pruning adopted by Mr. Bj'ington. 

 (Tb he cotit hived ) 



