Sex in Grapes 217 



Cultivation 



The grape responds to good cultivation, and it is im- 

 portant that the vines be given good cultivation during 

 the first years in the vineyard, and enabled to become well 

 established, after which time the land can be put into sod 

 if so desired. However, the best practice is to keep the 

 vineyard in cultivation for the early portion of the season 

 at least, after which time it can be sowed down to a cover 

 crop of some sort. 



One of the great advantages of keeping the vineyard in 

 cultivation is because this will bury many of the diseased 

 berries which fall from the branches and also many of the 

 leaves which contain the spores of the mildews and black 

 rot that sometimes causes such havoc in vineyards. If the 

 cultivation is continued during the summer it will also assist 

 in keeping the curculio in check. This is one of the in- 

 sects which cause the worms in the berries of the grape. 

 Whatever cultivation is given, it should extend under the 

 trellis, and work up all of the soil in the row. Some- 

 times it will necessitate a good thorough going ovei; 

 with a hand hoe to get this portion of the soil worked up 

 as thoroughly as it needs to be. 



Sex in Grapes 



Like the strawberry in some ways, there is a great 

 amount of difference in the different varieties of grapes as 

 to their ability of setting fruit when planted by themselves. 

 Nearly every one who has wandered through the woodland 

 is familiar with wild grape vines which bloom abundantly 

 each spring and fill the air with their delicious fragrance, 

 but which fail to set a single fruit for the fall harvest. This 

 is nearly always due to the fact that the vine produces 

 nothing but stamen-bearing flowers, and is totally devoid 

 of the ovary or fruit-producing portion, and hence unable 

 to set fruit. Other vines will be found which produce an 

 abundance of flowers, less conspicuous and fragrant than 

 the staminate flowers, but which may or may not set fruit, 

 depending on the proximity of other vines. If the flowers 



