46 



The Grape Culturist, 



have no remedy. He has the coui'age 

 to cut when cutting is attended with 

 no danger, even though scores and 

 scores of clusters of incipient fruit are 

 thereby made to come to nought. He 

 removes entire canes, then entire 

 shoots, until he is satisfied that he has 

 just sufficient left to fill the trellis 

 without crowding. Then from weak 

 shoots he removes a portion of the 

 clusters, that they may have no more 

 fruit than they will have leaves to 

 ripen. This completed, the canes, 

 and from time to time the shoots, are 

 brought up, and secured to the trellis 

 wires. No summer-pruning or pinch- 

 ing is resorted to, and Nature proceeds 

 with the work of maturing the fruit. 

 And, now, as to results. I refer 

 first to the Delaware vine, because it 

 has been regarded as the vine for close 

 planting and pruning. In Mr. Elling- 

 ton's vineyard, the vines were sixteen 

 feet apart in the rows ; and from each 

 stool, the trellis, six feet and a half 

 high, was covered with healthy shoots 

 and foliage. The first and second 

 wires were literally loaded with fruit : 

 and on the third and fourth wires 

 there was an abundance. Upon no 

 vine did I observe less than fort}^ 

 pounds of grapes, and upon many 

 there could not have been less than 

 eighty pounds. And, with this re- 

 markable crop, I saw, on the 24th of 

 August, many clusters which were 

 more than half colored, notwithstand- 

 ing the fact that the season has been 

 most unpropitious for ripening grapes. 

 The Isabellas, Catawbas, Concords, 

 and Ion as, treated in the same wa}-, 

 showed the same result; and with the 

 exception of the Catawbas, which 

 were slightly affected with the rot, 



they were free from disease ; while in 

 an adjoining vineyard of Isabellas, 

 planted on the same soil, but which 

 had been pruned in accordance with 

 the ordinary method, both leaf and 

 berry were badly stricken with mil- 

 dew. Nor is this an exceptional year 

 in Mr. Byington's experience ; for I 

 have been informed by most intelli- 

 gent and credible authority, that, for 

 several years, this same anomaly of 

 heavy crops and early ripening has 

 been characteristic of his vines. 



In what I have written, I do not 

 know that I have, in all its details, 

 correctly stated Mr. Byington'a 

 theory; but the facts set forth are 

 from personal observation. I will 

 only add, that if the fruit, this season, 

 shall, upon proper tests, prove to be 

 equal in quality to that ripened upon 

 vines which have been planted and 

 pruned in accordance with the meth- 

 ods usually pursued in vineyards, I 

 shall be satisfied that Mr. Byington 

 has added much, very much, to our 

 existing knowledge in reference to 

 the cultivation of the native vine in 

 vineyards. 



Brocton. X. Y., Aug. 30, 1869. 



p. S. — Since the foregoing article 

 was written, I have heard from Mr. 

 Byington the result of his vintage. 

 His Delaware vines, five years old, 

 and planted sixteen feet apart, yielded 

 an average of fifty pounds to the vine, 

 of as choice, s\\eet, and Avell-ripened 

 fruit as I ever tasted. His vines of 

 the same variety, which bore this year 

 for the first time, averaged over six- 

 teen pounds each. An acre of Isa- 

 bellas treated in the same manner has 

 yielded him five totis of delicious fruit ; 

 and this has been by no means an ex- 

 ceptional year. E. F. U. 



[We copy the above interesting 

 article from Tflton's Journal of Hor- 

 ticulture, not that we endorse it uncon- 

 ditionally, but because we find much 

 in it worthy of consideration ; and, 

 in many instances, a confirmation of 

 ideas long ago expressed by us, and 



