HISTORY OF KNIFF1N TRAINING 



459 



William Kniffin, was a stone mason with a few 

 aci-t-s of land to which he devoted his attention 

 during the leisure seasons of his trade. Cornell 

 induced Kniffin to plant a few grapes. He 

 planted the Isabella, and succeeding beyond his 

 expectations, the plantation was increased into a 

 ivsjH'ctable vineyard, and Kniffin came to be re- 

 garded as a local authority npon grape culture. 



292. A mixed mode. 



Those were the pioneer days in commercial grape 

 growing in North America, and there were no 

 undisputed maxims of cultivation and training. 

 If any systi-m of close training and pruning was 

 -mpl<>yrd. it was probably the old horizontal arm 

 spur system, or something like it. One day a 

 large limb broke from an apple-tree and fell on 

 a grape-vine, tearing off some of the canes and 

 crushing the vine into a singular shape. The 

 vine was thought to be ruined, but it was left 



