80 



GIRDLING THE GRAPE. 



GIRDLING THE GRAPE. In our northern sections, frosts come 

 so early that even the Concord often fails to ripen, and there is 

 need of some process by which even later varieties of high 

 quality may be ripened with certainty. Such a process is found 

 in what is known as gird- 

 ling or ringing. It con- 

 sists in taking a ring of 

 bark out of the growing 

 cane, just below the fruit 

 as shown in Fig. 63. The 

 girdling should be done 

 about four weeks in ad- 

 vance of the usual time of 

 ripening. The effect of 

 this is to cause a rapid in- 

 crease in the size of the 

 fruit and to hasten its ma- 

 turity from ten days to 

 two weeks. In a series of 

 experiments, made at the 

 Massachusetts Agricultur- 

 al College, it was found 

 that the quality of the 

 fruit was not injured by 

 the .girdling, nor could 

 any perceptible injury be 

 discovered to the vine. 

 The ring of bark mfty be 

 removed rapidly with the 

 knife, Fig. 64. The use of 

 strings or wires twisted tightly around the canes will probably 

 answer the same purpose as the removal of the ring of bark. 

 Only those canes that are to be cut away entirely at the end of 

 the season, should be girdled. The cane is girdled at A, Fig. 63, 



Fur. 64. 



and after fruiting is cut back to E, leaving two canes, C and D, for 

 the continuation of the treatment. The cane B is to be cut back 

 to one or two buds at the fall or winter pruning. 



INSECTS. The Grape is a fruit generally one of the least sub- 

 ject to injury from insects. Some seasons the Rose Bug, which 

 is too common to need description, plays havoc with the blossoms* 

 just as the fruit is setting, and in a few sections has done some 

 injury to the foliage. It is an insect that notning seems to des- 

 troy, but it may be paralyzed by the use of the pyrethrum 

 powder, applied just at night, when the bugs may be caught upon 



