WIXTER IX JURY 281 



PEAR (hardiness IN WOOD) 



1 2 



Flemish Beauty Angouleme 



Anjou Bartlett 



Sheldon Bosc 



Seckel Clairgeau 



Tyson KieflFer 



Longworth Clapp Favorite 

 Winter Nelis 

 Orel 



251. The grape. — With the grape as with other fruits 

 the chief factor affecting its harcUness is maturity. Glad- 

 win ^ shows that the length of the growing season has a de- 

 cided effect on the subsequent wintering of the vines. Not 

 only does a longer growing season permit greater maturity 

 of the canes and an increased thickness of the cell-walls of 

 the wood tissue, but it also permits the ripening of the fruit 

 which bears a correlation to the maturity of the canes. He 

 says, "Our observations during the years 1915-16 indicate 

 quite clearly that until an actual freeze occurs the vine ex- 

 tends its energies to maturation of its fmit at the expense of 

 wood maturity; and if the umnpe fmit be allowed to hang 

 throughout the fall, wood maturity is not nearly so complete 

 as when the fruit is picked some time previous to a freeze." 



It is also pointed out that the incipient floral parts within 

 the complex bud of the grape may be destroyed by low tem- 

 peratures and hence result in an "off year." This is often 

 erroneously accredited to a hea\^ crop the previous season 

 having robbed the buds of sufficient nutrient material to 

 pennit fruit-buds to form. 



The application of such fertilizing materials as nitrogen, 

 phosphorus, and potassimn had no appreciable effect on the 

 killing of grape vines. 



1 N. Y. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 433. 1917. 



