THE OA.NADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



15 



instead of its being wasted in the 

 production of useless laterals. This 

 will greatly enlarge and strengthen the 

 leaves, and give more chance for light 

 and air among them. 



Some varieties keep on growing 

 until quite late without ripening their 

 wood. This can be remedied by stop- 

 ping the shoots when they have grown 

 far enough. Unripe wood accompanies 

 unripe roots, and neither are desirable. 

 The above, if faithfully carrried out, is 

 the perfection of summer pruning, and 

 is really nothing but the prevention of 

 useless growth. The removal of any 

 considerable amount of foliage in the 

 growing season is weakening to the 

 vine. 



PRUNING AND TRAINING 



Constitute the important part of grape 

 culture, and without them there can be 

 no permanent success. A vine on trees, 

 with plenty of room, will flourish with 

 little or no pruning ; and a young vine 

 on a trellis will endure bad pruning for 

 a time ; but a poor method, or a good 

 method poorly carried out, will ulti- 

 mately result in failure. We prune to 

 enable the vine to mature the greatest 

 amount of fruit, with a satisfactory 

 amount of wood for the following year. 

 To do this intelligently, one must know 

 something of the habits of the vine, the 

 treatment to which it has been subject- 

 ed, and the fertility of the soil in which 

 it grows. There is enough in the sub- 

 ject for an entire essay, and I can do no 

 more here than to give a few sugges- 

 tions. 



Before a vine can produce fruit, it 

 must have bearing wood; i. e., well 

 matui-ed canes of the previous year's 

 growth ; and as the sap tends towartls 

 the extremities, especially the top, this 

 bearing wood must be left on a level as 

 far as possible. Otherwise, the sap will 

 flow past the lower buds and force the 

 top ones into a rampant growth. For 



this reason it is entirely useless to at- 

 tempt to cover any considerable amount 

 of vertioal space with a single vine, and 

 expect it to bear above and below at the 

 same time. With a majority of people 

 it requires but a few years to get all the 

 bearing wood to the top of the trellis. 

 Where a cane of even two or three feet 

 is left to bear, it must be bent to impede 

 the flow of sap, in order that all the buds 

 may start alike. If this be properly 

 attended to, each bud will get its full 

 share, the growth will be uniform, and 

 but little summer pruning will be 

 needed. 



The proper amount of wood to leave 

 for bearing depends on the age and 

 strength of the vine, the fertility of the 

 soil and the trellis accommodations, and 

 can be best learned by experience. If 

 allowed to over-bear, the wood and fruit 

 will fail to ripen and the vine will be 

 weakened, if not permanently injured. 

 If pruned too close, a vigorous growth 

 will follow, but little fruit will be pro- 

 duced, and, unless well summer-pruned, 

 the usefulness of the vine will be injui-ed 

 for the following year, and the evil tends 

 to perpetuate itself. The bearing wood 

 should be evenly distributed over the 

 vine and about the same amount on 

 each arm. 



DISEASES. 



The grape, like all other fruits, is sub- 

 ject to disease, especially if its vitality 

 be lowered by any means. Mildew and 

 rot are most to be feared. 



Mildew is caused mainly by too much 

 moisture in the soil, and is augmented 

 by a lack of air and sunshine on the 

 foliage. Rapid and perfect drainage 

 is the remedy. 



The rot is caused by the spores of a 

 fungus, which, though invisible to the 

 naked eye, are carried by the wind and 

 deposited on the fruit, where they ger- 

 minate and gi'ow, causing the rot. 

 These rotten grapes lie on the ground all 



