Training and 



GRAPE MANUAL. 



Prxming. 51 



SUBSEQUENT MANAGEMENT. 



We may now consider the vines as fully 

 established, able to bear a full crop, and, 

 when tied to the trellis in spring, to present 

 the appearance as shown in Fig. 76. 



Fig. 76. 



The operations are precisely the same as in 

 the third year, with this important difference, 

 however, that the plowing should be shallow ; 

 as soon as vines have become established, the 

 cultivator should be used for the destruction 

 of weeds and keeping the surface-soil mellow. 

 The hoe will be needed to kill the weeds 

 immediately around the plants, as before. 

 At the last plowing in the preceding fall the 

 furrow-slice should have been thrown to- 

 wards the vines, thus affording additional 

 protection to the roots — also facilitating the 

 laying down and covering of the canes, if 

 necessarj'. Top dressing of lime, ashes, 

 bonedust, &c., may, if needed, be best ap- 

 plied at the same time. In the following 

 spring, therefore, the first plowing should be 

 reversed, and the ground will be level. 



Plowing in the vineyard should never be so 

 deep as to injure the roots of the \ines. 



If you train your vines on the horizontal 

 system, the upright canes, which were pruned 

 back to two buds each, will now produce two 

 shoots each. If more than one shoot should 

 proceed from each of these tivo buds, or if 

 other shoots should start from small buds 

 near the arms, only the strongest one should 

 be allowed to grow, and all others rubbed 

 off. Instead of ten to twelve upright canes, 

 you will have twenty to twenty-four, and, 

 allowing three bunches to each, you may get 

 seventy bunches to ever}' vine the fourth j^ear 

 after planting. These canes are now to be 

 treated the same, as regards stopping, pinch- 

 ing laterals, etc., during each subsequent 

 year of their growth, 



There are many other modes and systems 

 of training, but the same general rules and 

 principles prevail in nearly all. 



There is one well-authenticated fact in the 

 fruiting of the grape, viz. : that the finest 



fruit, the best, earliest and largest crops are 

 produced upon the strongest shoots of the 

 previous years' growth. The only proper 

 system of pruning will therefore be that which 

 encourages and secures an abundance of such 

 shoots. By this general principle all new 

 systems, so called, should be proved, and be- 

 ginners in grape culture may be able to guard 

 against receiving false impressions with refer- 

 ence to any mode which may fall under their 

 observation ; and this caution is the more 

 necessary as young vines will bear good crops 

 for a few years, even under very indifferent 

 treatment. In all systems of training which 

 involve the retention of wood beyond five or 

 six years, as in the case of spur pruning, and 

 the methods with permanent horizontal 

 branches, it is absolutel}^ essential to remove 

 the older wood at certain periods, and replace 

 it with younger wood from near the base of 

 the plant. Fixed rules can hardly be given 

 for an operation which requires so much 

 thought and such close acquaintance with the 

 growth and bearing habits of the different 

 varieties. 



If you desire to train your vines for arbors 

 or on walls, set an extra strong young plant, 

 in rich, well-prepared soil ; leave but one 

 shoot to grow during the first summer, and if 

 necessary, even during the second, so that it 

 may get very strong. Cut back to three 

 eyes in fall, these will each throw out a strong 

 shoot, which should be tied to the arbor they 

 are designed to cover, and allowed to grow 

 unchecked. These three canes will be cut 

 back in the fall following, to three buds each, 

 which will give us three principal branches, 

 each producing canes the third or fourth sea- 

 son ; of each of these branches, cut next fall 

 one cane to two eyes, and the others to six or 

 more buds, according to the strength of the 

 vine, then gradually increase the number of 

 branches and cut back more severely those 

 which fruited. In this manner a vine can be 

 made in the course of time to cover a large 

 space, produce a large quantity of fruit, and 

 get very old. 



Those who desire further information and 

 directions on various modes of pruning and 

 training, or on the culture of grape vines in 

 glass houses, we refer to Chorlton's Grape- 

 Growers' Guide; Fuller's Grape Culturist ; 

 Hoare's Cultivation of the Grape-Vine on 

 Open Walls, and other books on grape 

 culture, especially to an article on Pruning 

 and Training the Grape-vine, by William 

 Saunders, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 

 Report, 1866 ; and to the latest '"Account of 

 the leading forms now in use of Training the 

 American Grapes," by Prof. L. H. Bailet. 

 (New York, 1893), a most valuable book. 



