248 



HORTICULTURAL MANUAL. 



the spur is not saved or at least enough are saved to keep 

 up a renewal of the spurs at least once in three years. 

 With this care we have made a Thomery row in the 

 garden very profitable and satisfactory for many years, 



FIG. 76. Thomery training. 



giving five or six varieties, ripening at different times on 

 the same garden row. 



237. Cultivation and Manuring. Whatever may be 

 said of continued culture of the orchard fruits, there can 

 be no difference of opinion as to the need of continued 

 culture of the grape. However excellent a variety may 

 be, the experienced grower will not believe that perfect 

 bunches and good dessert fruit can be picked from vine 

 rows in which weeds and grass have been permitted to 

 grow. The usual plan of vineyard culture is to use a 

 small turning plow in the spring, after the vines are tied 

 to the wires, turning the furrows toward the rows. As 

 the weeds start in the line of the rows they are taken out 

 with the hoe in connection with some of the earth thrown 

 inward by the plow, working on both sides of the row. 

 The after culture is with the cultivator and harrow, keep- 

 ing the top soil mellow and level. After midsummer the 

 culture should not be deeper than three inches, as deep 

 culture at this period interferes with the root-hairs needed 

 for fruit development. Experience and observation also 



