IV THE GRAPE CCLTUBIST. 



mendation ; but all this has become history and no longer 

 worthy of serious consideration. 



My aim in writing this work was to make it an ele- 

 mentary text-book for the novice in grape culture, and 

 not a scientific treatise explaining the natural laws as I 

 understand them which govern the development and 

 fruiting of the vine, believing that when the vineyardist 

 comprehends these he may the more readily vary his 

 operations, and yet do no violence to the fundamental 

 principles of plant growth. To more fully carry out this 

 idea, the "arm and spur system" of pruning and train- 

 ing was selected for illustrations, and these are retained, 

 because it is the culmination and perfection of all sys- 

 tems, and has been attained through centuries of experi- 

 ence and numberless experiments in the Old World, and 

 especially in France, where grape culture has long been 

 regarded as one of the most important of her national 

 industries. 



It must be admitted, however, to fully carry out this 

 system of pruning and training, a much greater amount 

 of labor is required than in many others in vogue, but 

 this cannot be urged as a fault of the system, but only 

 an objection where labor is scarce and dear, and grapes 

 as cheap as they have been with us of late years. But if 

 the inexperienced vineyardist, and even those somewhat 

 advanced, will study the principles involved in following 

 this system to completion they will be all the better pre- 

 pared for adopting any of the more simple forms of train- 

 ing given in the succeeding chapters. 



The cultivation of our native grapes appears to have 

 had its inception with a few amateurs like Tench Coxe 

 of Philadelphia, and John Adlum of Washington, early 

 in the present century, and from these localities, instead 

 of extending southward, as might reasonably have been 

 expected, it spread northward, and as an industry grape 

 culture has reached its highest development on the banks 



