STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 103 



sufBco, consisting of muck or well decomposed manure, bones or 

 bone dust, gypsum and superphosphate of lirae. 



Before planting the vines for open culture, it was determined to 

 set them about six feet apart and train and prune them according to 

 the single cane and spur system. Thus they are more easily man- 

 aged, — can readily be fastened to poles or narrow trellis, — can 

 more e'asily be laid down in autumn, and more vines or varieties 

 can be raised in a given space. 



In the place selected the earth is removed to the depth of 

 eighteen inches, the barren subsoil discarded, and the bottom of 

 the hole filled with stones, oyster shells and bones to the depth of 

 about six inches, so as to ensure a dry bottom. The compost is 

 thoroughly incorporated with the soil and garden loam, then vines 

 one or two years old, with well ripened, solid wood, with roots 

 clean and healthy, are planted in the Spring as soon as the soil is 

 friable, removing the old earth from the roots, when started in 

 pots, and spreading them out in all directions, diverging laterally 

 downward from the stem, and leaving the crown of the roots two 

 inches below the surface. The top of the vine is cut off so as to 

 leave three or four good buds. When these have pushed, the 

 most pi'omising shoot is trained upward in along rod and fastened 

 as it develops, to a pole or trellis, and the others are shortened 

 beyond the sixth or eighth leaf. At the axil of the side leaves a 

 small branch appears, from time to time, technically called a lateral, 

 which is pinched off at the end of the first leaf, except the two 

 upper, which are left until the next pruning, one of which may be 

 used in case of accident to the leader. At midsummer all the lower 

 laterals are removed. This treatment promotes the rapid growth 

 of the leading cane. The ground is carefully weeded, loosened 

 occasionally with a fork, so as not to disturb the roots, and 

 mulched in early summer with grass from the lawn, or other litter. 



The first of September the leader is stopped, leaving one or two 

 upper laterals, which subsequently are pinched off, and thuts the 

 growth is gradually arrested and ripening of wood promoted. In 

 the autumn a small quantity of old manure is spread upon the 

 ground As soon as the leaves have fallen or been destroyed by 

 frost, the remaining laterals and the top of the cane which is not 

 well matured, are removed, and the cane is bent over a log or 

 block of wood, so as not to strain the crown or crack the vine, — 

 placed in a shallow trench the first year, surrounded with leaves 

 and covered with a board and evergreen boughs to protect it from 

 the effects of alternate freezing and thawing. 



