1850. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



69 



I liirliriiltariil Hepartment, 



EDITED BT P. BARRT< 



all good garden soils with dry eub-soils. We have 

 not seen an exception. 



The management of the foreign grape in our 

 climate, eitlier out of doorg or in, requires consider- 

 able skill and experience to render success uniform 

 and complete ; but the treatment which our hardy 

 native sorts require, is so truly simple that every man 

 may, with a knowledge of a few loading principles 

 and mechanical operations, manage them with as 

 much success as he does a hill of corn or potatoes. 

 1st, The grape vine should not only be ))lantod in 

 a warm, dry, and rich soil, but it should have such 

 an exposure to the south or southeast, and its branches 

 be so trained and spread out, that every part may 

 enjoy fully the advantages of light and heat — both 

 indispensable to the maturation of the fruit and the 

 wood. Sol't, watery, unripe and unproductive shoots, 

 and sour, unripe fruit, are invariably the results of 

 a dark, northerly aspect, and allowing the branches 

 to ramble in thickets in their natural way. 



PRUWrMQ AND TRAINING OF HARDY GRAPE VINES 

 ON GAHDIiN WALLS, HOUSES, AND TRELLISES. 



At the request of several correspondents we take this 

 occasion to present a few brief hints on the pruning 

 and training of Hardy Grapes, and particularly on 

 garden walls and trellises. On this subject there is 

 a very general lack of information ; and this, added 

 to a very prevalent negligence, has heretofore greatly 

 dimiuifliud both the pleasure and profit which tlie 

 judicious culture of this fruit is sure to yield. There 

 is scarcely a garden of any pretension in this city, 

 and very few in the surrounding country, but includes 

 among their fruit trees at least one grape vine ; but 

 the training and pruning are so imperfect or so 

 entirely neglected, that they are in most cases both 

 unsightly and unproductive. In many instances very 

 tasteful arbors and trellises are erected ; but the 

 unskillful and careless manner in which the vines are 

 carried or allowed to run over over them, destroys 

 their effect. 



Fig. I. 

 Nearly all the complaints that reach us of the 

 vines not bearing, of fruit being small or not ripen- 

 ing well, are attributable to this bad pruning and 

 training more than to defects in the soil ; for our 

 native hardy grapes, such as the Isabella, flourish in 



Fia. 2. 



2d. During the growing season, the whole force 

 of the vine should be directed to the sustenance of 

 the fruit and the necessary shoots for training and 

 bearing the following year. This point is secured 

 by rubbing or pinching of?^ early in the season, (May) 

 all superfluous or misplaced shoots. It frequently, 

 happens, in vines left to themselves or badly treated, 

 that these superfluous and misplaced shoots, which 

 are or ought to be cut ofi^ at the next pruning, destroy 

 the regularity of growth in the vine by attracting an 

 undue amount of the sap to them and stinting the 

 allowance in contiguous parts. Thus vigorous shoots 

 starting from the base of the stem acquire an immense 

 developement at the expense of all the upper and 

 bearing portions. Connected with this is the short- 

 ening of the bearing shoots, (in August or Septem- 

 ber,) by nipping olT the e.Mremeties at two or three 

 eyes beyond the fruit. This checks the flow of the 

 sap towards the points, and turns it to the use of the 

 fruit and the shoots necessary for the extension of 

 the vine. These simple attentions constituto the 

 substance of what is called " Sununer Pruning," 

 and though generally overlooked, are of tho utmost 

 importance, as without them we cannot hope for 

 large, well ripened bunches of fruit, nor vigorous 

 mature shoots for the next season. Some people 

 have advised the removal of the leaves around the 

 bunches of fruit, towards autumn, to hasten their 

 ripening ; but this is a fatal error. Last season we 

 saw the ofl^cts of this on a vine trained on an arbor 

 in the outskirts of this city. A great portion of 

 the leaves had been carefully cut otT with scissors 

 by the lady proprietor, who followed some empirical 

 advice, and she had the misfortune to see her fruit all 

 shrivelled up instead of ripened. This was a natural 

 result. 



3d. The grape vine produces its fruits on shoots 



•i 



