184 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



November 



iitigartr. 



Grapes and the Season. 



High temperature and dimfiiislml rain-fall 



necessary to the perfection of the grape. — 



Best marled grape. — 2he Concord, die. 



As our grape season is past ami we have 



about completctl our observations, the result 



may be of interest to the pviblic, in regard 



to the season, the quality of the fruit, and 



the varieties to plant. 



The season has been varied and extreme 

 both for moisture and dryness. From April 

 to September, inclusive, there had been no 

 more than an average amount of rain, it 

 being 3T.31 inches, but from the foliation of 

 of the grape, April 14th, until June IGth, it 

 had been extrem.-ly wet, being 10.34 inches 

 of rain, almost threatening the destruction 

 of our crop, and in a few cases the rot had 

 already commenced, but a timely change in 

 the weather checked its further progress. 



Notwithstanding this unfavorable com- 

 mencement, the latter part, the maturing 

 season, had been the most favorable since 

 1860, for from the seeding of the grape, 

 June 23d, until the maturity of the Concord, 

 August 6th, there was but 3.36 inches of 

 rain, being 3.48 inches less than any record 

 liere for the last nine years, and also less 

 than the record of any other grape region 

 east of Kansas, except two instances in 1867 

 at Cincinnati and at Kelley's Island, Ohio. 

 And for the .same period of 45 days the 

 mean temperature was 80.5 degrees, being 

 four degrees higher than the average, and 

 during the same time out of 1-35 regular 

 observations made, there were but six that 

 the skj' was entirely overcast with clouds 

 As we have before shown that a high tem- 

 perature with little rain and clear sky 

 during the maturing season was favorable 

 to the development of saccharine matter, 

 and would produce grapes of the best 

 qualit_y, so this season lias been remarkable 

 in that respect. Never before had the 

 Coiicord grape ripened so soon and been so 

 excellent. 



But while the season was favorable to the 

 maturity of the earl}' grapes, it was un- 

 favorable to the ripening of the Catawba, as 

 the latter part of August and all of Septem- 

 ber was extremely wet and cloudy, there 

 being 13.81 inches of rain from the 8th of 

 August to the end of September. Although 

 the mean temperature for that whole period 

 was 70 degrees, being above the average, J'et 

 it was not sufficient under the above condi- 

 tions of moisture and cloudiness to evenly 

 and thoroughl}' ripen the grapes, which is 

 an addilioual proof of what we have before 

 said that a high temperature and diminished 

 rain-fall was necessary for the perfection of 

 the grape, which the following illustrations 

 will fully demonstrate: 



la 1869 it required 133 days at a mean 

 temperature of 70.5 degrees, from foliation 

 to the maturing of the grapes, being equal 

 to 9,355 degrees of total heat, with a rain- 

 fall of 31.60 inches, while in 1870 it required 

 but 111 days, at a mean temperature of 73.6 

 degrees, being equal to 8,188 degrees of 

 heat, with a rain-fall of 13.60 inches, being 

 a difference of 31 days in time, and 1,167 

 degrees of heat, with 18 inches less rain, and 

 the quality and perfection of the grape was 

 in like proportion. 



Had we not suffered with the late April 

 frost and a severe hail storm, our crop would 

 have been much greater than any previous 

 year, but the frost badly injured the Concords 

 and a few lost all by the hail, so our crop 

 was reduced more than half, but our grape- 

 wood is strong and well ripened, (and those 

 disasters rare) so we hope the coming season 

 to make up the loss in part. 



The past v:'.ried season has more fully set- 

 tled than ever bef )re the value of the Con- 

 cord grai^e, and for the present it must be 

 the leading one. 



It is useless now to talk of any other for 

 profit or market, idthough we desire some- 

 thing better, yet we have no other to give 

 that will even favorably compare with it. 



The Ives is equal in vigor, health, and pro- 

 ductiveness, and superior for very early and 

 late market, and also we presume for wine ; 

 but when the Concord is in season its supe- 

 rior quality, size, and beauty, would make 

 it useless to attempt to sell the Ives in market 

 b3' its side. 



The Hartford having no quality equal to 

 Ives is superceded by it. 



The Telegraph, a hardy, health}', produc- 

 tive, early grape, and the Martha, a white 

 grape, both promise well. The above are 

 all of the Labrusca class of grapes we can 

 now recommend. 



Norton and Cynthiema exclusivel}' for wine 

 are all the Virginica class of grapes we know 

 worthy of cultivation. 



Of the^®<W'«Zi's and Cordifolia class we 

 know of none; the first being tender and 

 fickle and uncertain, the latter being too 

 small in bunch and berry, and being too 

 thin in foliage to resist the grape gall, thrips 

 and other leaf eating insects. 



For lat ■ grapes OoetU, a large pink grape, 

 and Pennola, a fine compact black grape, are 

 the only two we know which promise 

 well. All the other numerous varieties that 

 we have tried except a few of Rogers' are 

 only adapted to the amature and speculator. 



Of hybrids of our improved varieties with 

 the foreign grape Vinifera discard. The 

 violation of such a simple rule.say nothing of 

 an incontrovertible physiological law, could 

 not but prove disastrous. 



J. S. AsT. Ed.] 



All long grass, leaves, and other rubbish, 

 should be removed from around the trunks 

 of the trees to protect from mice. 



For the Western Pomologist. 

 General Management of the Grape - New 

 Mode of Training. 



Ed. Pomologist. — So much has been and 

 is yet being said and written on the mode of 

 propagating, planting, training, and general 

 management of the grape, that it may seem 

 a work of supererrogation, if not presump- 

 tion, in one of humble pretensions to much 

 knowledge on the subject, and but a small 

 modicum of experience, to venture a sug- 

 gestion. Still, as we all have our vanity, 

 and like to make a little exhibition of it, I 

 must be excused fiu' encumbering j'our more 

 valuable space with a mode of training grape 

 vines, which I am about to try, and which, 

 it strikes me, will prove a good, as well as 

 economical way of managing them. I do 

 not know that the same plan lias been tried 

 heretofore, but that it has, I have not read or 

 heard of it. 



I am now growing a square of some one 

 hundred vines in my vineyard, which will be 

 ready for trainiiig next spring. They are 

 set in rows of twelve feet distance, and five 

 feet in the row, running n(Uth and south. I 

 design to .set in stout locast posts, twelve or 

 fourteen feet nigh, at proper distances, be- 

 tween and in the center of each row. On 

 the top of these I shall nail a three or four 

 inch oak board, extending the length of the 

 row. I shall then prune the vines down to 

 two eyes, and plant an ordinarj' bean pole of 

 the proper length to each vine, resting it on 

 the ridge board as above, and making it 

 fast with a withe, or other suitable fiisten- 

 ing, to secure it to its place. When this 

 trellis is completed, you will perceive, it 

 will present the appearance of a skeleton 

 green house. To these poles I shall tie up 

 the vines. I will cut down to two eyes 

 the coming spring, and train the current 

 growth of next summer from these two eyes 

 — one to the right and the other to the left 

 At the expiration of the season, I shall cut- 

 down one of the canes to one e3'e, and let 

 as much wood stand on the other as its vig- 

 our will ju.stify for bearing. 



The one cut down to one eye will Ijl 

 trained to the opposite pole or stake, and 

 allowed to grow, picking out the side shoots 

 until it reaches the ridge pole, when its 

 further pruning or dis-buddingwill be aban- 

 doned, and it will onlj- be kept from strag- 

 gling b.v tieing it at intervals to the ridge 

 pole. The bearing cane opposite to it will 

 be allowed to grow without pruning, until 

 its fruit is set and of the size of a large 

 pea, when the bearing shoots will be cut 

 ofl" to two leaves beyond the second bunch 

 of fruit, and when the grapes have got 

 nearly their full size, itwill be pruned off 

 even with the ridgepole. 



By this plan I think the grapes will get 

 air and sun sufficient to secure both growth 

 and ripeness. It will be easily managed, and 

 the cost will be but trifling. I think in this 

 way the vines may be kept in due bounds, 



