126 



The Grape Culturlst. 



It is useless on the eve of a new cen- 

 sus to speculate as to the number of 

 vines around Hermann, or the products 

 therefrom ; but vineyards cap every 

 hill. Where there was one acre five 

 years ago five now surround it, and 

 while the annual product at that time 

 was less than fifty thousand gallons, 

 that quantity was made by one firm the 

 past season ; and proportionately, con- 

 sidering the immense number of grape 

 roots that have been shipped from that 



place for several years past, what may 

 we consider will be the exhibit for the 

 State when the census statistics shall 

 have been collated. D. W. Tainter. 



Hkumaxn, Mo. 



[This very interesting article reached 

 us long after our own comments on the 

 same subject were written. It shows 

 plainly what the grape growers of the 

 country think of the measure proposed. 

 We endorse every line of it. — Ed.] 



For the Grape Culturist. 



TRAINING AND SUMMER PRUNING. 



Mr. Editor: I will say a word on 

 several communications in the Feb- 

 ruary number, page 45-48. I think 

 the experience of the vintners gen- 

 erall}', at all times and in all countries, 

 is agreed upon this, that in the open 

 vinej'ard the vines should be kept in 

 a sort of dwarfed state, more or less. 

 The canes and shoots should not reach 

 higher than the hand of the vintager 

 can conveniently reach without the 

 use of a ladder. Therefore, a trellis 

 of from 6i to 7 feet high I deem too 

 high b}' 1 or 2 feet. 



After manifold expei'iments I have 

 uniformly adopted seven feet as the 

 most proper distance of the rows, 

 while the distance in the row must be 

 conformed to the peculiar character 

 of the vine and the richness of the 

 ground. 



Like the editor, I am in favor of 

 rather long pruning and afterward 

 regulating the amount of fruit reason- 

 ably to be expected by thinning out, 

 but — like him — I insist upon this 



being done as soon after the vegeta- 

 tive life has been resuscitated as prac- 

 ticable. Mr. Hoag says (page 48) ; 

 "After tying up the canes in the 

 spring, and Avhen the new grow^th has 

 reached even 4 or 5 feet, we prune 

 again, cutting out what we deem 

 necessar}' to sufficient!}' balance the 

 vine; the ground is often literally cov- 

 ered with lopped brandies, etc." This 

 is precisely what I most hate to see 

 in a vineyard, a wholesale carnage 

 which can not but seriously distui-b 

 the whole system or natural order of 

 the plant. Indeed, the patient vine 

 will endure more abuse than most 

 other living beings, but smarts and 

 whines under the mistreatment Avhen 

 suddenly checked in its luxuriant de- 

 velopment, and only graduall}' recov- 

 ers from the infliction. Just the 3'oung 

 leaves and shoots are the vine's ele- 

 ments of life ; by removing them in 

 masses the whole plant must and will 

 sicken, till b}' new exertions the lost 

 foliage is restituted. Deeming sura- 



