Protection from Birds and Diseases ]89 



Niagara and Goethe were damaged very little. Grapes 

 planted in an orchard or near trees and hedges are 

 always damaged more by birds than those planted off to 

 themselves. The bags are put over the bunches of 

 grapes as soon as the fruit is set or when the grapes are 

 the size of small shot. 



Three -pound bags are used for the large -bunch 

 varieties, such as the Concord and Niagara, and two- 

 pound bags are used for the smaller -bunch varieties, like 

 the Delaware. The bag is slipped over the bunch of 

 grapes and the corners folded close about the stem and 

 pinned. Bagging is very simple and inexpensive, the 

 bags costing from sixty to seventy cents per thousand, 

 and the pins about ten cents per thousand. A man 

 or boy with a little experience can put on from fifteen to 

 eighteen hundred bags in a day, so the total cost of 

 bagging a thousand bunches of grapes would not exceed 

 one dollar and thirty cents. The grapes in bags ripen 

 more uniformly, and always present a much more showy 

 appearance than those not bagged. 



Bagging will always prevent the grapes from rotting 

 to some extent, but will not do away with the necessity 

 of spraying when the variety bagged is subject to rot to 

 a very great extent. 



Spraying. — " We have conducted experiments in spray- 

 ing various varieties of grapes to prevent the fruit and 

 leaves being destroyed by fungous diseases. The first 

 spraying was done just before the buds began to swell 

 in the spring and the second application was made a few 

 days before the vines began to bloom. The third appli- 

 cation was made as soon as the fruit was set, the grapes 



