Grape Growers' Associations — Training, Fruning, etc. 



public, theii' experience. Maii}^ a 

 man will give in answer to a question, 

 information that otherwise he could 

 not think of stating, because, per- 

 haps, the subject to him seemed of little 

 import, and^ Avhile he may have prac- 

 ticed a system — has never connected 

 it physiologically Avith the vine in its 

 3-esults. Bat I'll not weary you 

 with moi'e of this. It is only my 

 view, and probably others think dif- 

 ferentl}^, and so thinking, I hope, you 

 will trot them, and their thoughts, 

 out. 



The " Byington S^-stera " of prun- 

 ing and training, distances apart, etc., 

 as per Mr. Underhill's article, seemed 

 when I first read it in the Journal of 

 Horticulture, nothing now, and at the 

 recent meeting of the Xew York State 

 Society, the matter was fully brought 

 up, when Mr. Hoag, of Lockport, 

 stated the system of pruning one he 

 had pursued many years ago, and on 

 questioning, it was stated that Mr. 

 Byington's grapes had not this year 

 ripened as Avell as some others near 

 b}*, but pruned in a different way. 

 In connection Avith theory, this out- 

 ting away recklessly an amount of 

 branch and foliage just at a time Avhen 

 all is in the most active condition, 

 both root and top, must apparently 

 of necessity engender more or less of 

 disease at the root. 



Giving vines Avide expanse, i. c, 

 ]ilanting at 10x16 feet, or even greater 

 distance, for the purpose, as some 

 state, to preserve an equilibrium be- 

 tween root and top, onh' resolves it- 

 self into a question of time, for if left 

 unchecked, even at thirty feet apart, 

 the A-ines Avould in a feAv A'ears inter- 

 lock, and then, if pruned in, the equil- 



ibrium Avould be destroyed just as 

 radically as if the vines Avero only six 

 or eight feet apart. Your long time 

 advice to prune long, and fruit from 

 AA^ell developed buds, even if upon the 

 laterals, is unquestionably one of the 

 best; if the alternate or Aveak buds be 

 rubbed out as soon as they SAvell in 

 Spring, rubbing aAvay all the loAver 

 ones, it seems to me this superabund- 

 ance of foliage etc., is measurably dis- 

 posed of Avithout any injur}' to the 

 A'ine. 



It is not, perhaps, avcII understood 

 that the loAver buds on varieties that 

 naturally make any Adgorous and 

 strong groAvth early in the season, are 

 ahvays imperfect and do not possess 

 sufficient vigor in the inner germ to 

 secure good bunches of fruit. 



Root Pruning to me appears one of 

 the practices AA'hich we must come to 

 in all of our artificial culture of the 

 native vine. I am trying; it on a fcAv 

 vines, and Avant others to do so. I 

 dig a ti'ench eighteen inches deep and 

 Avith a sharp spado or knife cut off all 

 the large leading top roots at about 

 tAA'olvo to sixteen inches beloAv the 

 croAvn or top surface roots. But 

 enough for this time. 

 Yours, etc., 



F. E. Elliott. 



[Thanks, friend Elliott, for your 

 contribution and suggestions. We are 

 sorry to hear of that "doleful Avail,' 

 but cannot say that it surprises us. 

 AVe did not expect an_v better from 

 a society Avhioh excluded Avine from 

 its meetings, thus condemning their 

 own produce, and our old readers will 

 perhaps remember our comments on 

 that part of their discussions in 

 March Xo. of Vol. I. ^Ve regret that 



