1871 



THE WESTERN POMOLOGIST. 



103 



That the grape requires a specific amount of Iieat, 

 (as all vegetation d >es,) to carry it through the dif- 

 ferent stages of growth from foliation to maturity. 

 That an elevation of about IGO feet gives a mean 

 temperature of nearly four degrees higher than low 

 land by its side, making from twelve to twenty days 

 difTerence in ripeniii^' the grape. That tluy start on 

 high land scjouer than on low land, and consequently 

 ripen sooner. That the sjnality of the fruit is in 

 proportion to the high tempcr.ature of the season 

 and diminished rain fall. That grapes do not ripen 

 when the temperature falls below (5.5 degrees. So im- 

 portant was the elevation of a vineyard considered, 

 that Dr. Howsley moved that a special committee 

 be appointed, with Dr. Staymau as chairman, to 

 report at the next meeting the temperature and tlie 

 effect produced at diflerent elevations, whieii was 

 ail opted by appointing five in number. 



Oommittee. — Dr. J. Stayman, of Leavenworth ; Dr. 

 W. M. Howsley, of Leavenworth ; F. P. Cirant, of 

 Leavenworth ; W. H. Sells, of Lawrence ; Z. S. Ra- 

 gan, of Independence. 



The Committee on Wine reported that they had 

 examined the wines set before them, and find tlie 

 best Catawba to be presented by Mr. F. P. Grant, 

 both of 1868 and 1870 ; best Norton's Virginia, by 

 Mr. Jac. Madinger, of St. Joseph ; best Old Con- 

 cord, by Mr. H. M. Voorhees, of St. Joseph ; best 

 New Concord, by Mr. H. M. Voorhees, of St, Jo- 

 seph ; best Isabella, Mr. Jac. Madinger, of Jt. Jo- 

 seph; best Clinton, Mr. Hidlebidlc, of Indepen- 

 dence ; best Taylor's BuUett, same. The committee 

 call attention to the fact that all the New Concord 

 wines are better than the Old Concord, and their 

 opinion is that the Concord wine does not improve 

 with age. 



Committee. — D. L. Hall, J. Stayman, Wm. Tan- 

 nek. 



The Committee on By-Laws was allowed until 

 ne.xt meeting to report. 



The place for the next meeting was selected, viz: 

 Jt. Joseph, Missouri, and time Tuesday, September 

 12th, 1871. 



The subject of vineyard sites was again discussed ; 

 and, after a long debate the following resolution 

 was passed : 



Resolved, That this society do not consider it of 

 any e.ssential importance which way the trillis is 

 run on level ground, but on hill sides they sliould 

 be run abreast of the hill. 



Then the ([uestion was discussed as to the best 

 slope for growing grapes, and if a hillside is better 

 than equally high level ground, resulting in the 

 adoption of the following : 



ReKolaxl, Tliat in the opinion of this society thor- 

 oughly drained elevated table lands are as suitable 

 for the cultivation of the grape as hillsides. 



The following resolution was lost; 



Resolved, That the hillsides will produce the best 

 quality of graves for wine, drainage equal. 



The next subject taken up was wine making — the 

 proce.ss of Mr. Madinger, of St. Joseph, was to fer- 

 ment twenty-four hours in the skins, then press. 



Mr. Rlvard takes out the stems, uses a .syphon in 

 fermenting — tlilferent grapes require diflerent time 

 for fermenting. Best temperature for fermenting 

 45 (leg. The quicker the wine ferments the better. 

 Racks off in January and March. 



Considerable debate took place on gallizing, etc., 

 resnlting in no definite conclusions. 



Dr. J. Stayman then read an able paper on 

 "Pruning and Trimming of the Grape." It was 

 qiiite original in the ideas advanced. It was pretty 

 thoroughly discussed. 



We cannot do justice to the essny by giving a 

 condensed report, without diagrams. We will pub- 

 lish it in full in the Pomologist, accompanied with 

 suitable diagrams illustrating the different parts, in 

 a .series of articles. 



Mr. D. L. Hall spoke also of the advantage of the 

 spiral .system of training the vine on .stakes, which 

 was favorably received. He showed that the canes 

 mu.st be thoroughly twisted around the stakes, par- 

 ticularly below, to impede the upward tendency of 

 the sap and force out the bearing shoots below. 

 That was the greatest difficulty in the system, but 

 could be overcome by thoroughly pinching, &c. 

 He trained up new canes to renew the old each 

 year on a separate stake, and if the .system is well 

 executed there was no difficult/ in raising from 

 twenty-five to thirty pounds of grapes from a vine. 



Mr. J. Cadogan said he had tried it and produced 

 the best Catawba grapes this season he ever raised. 

 We saw his i;rapes trained on the spiral system and 

 they were much the best we have seen for a number 

 of years; but whethei' it was the system of training 

 that done it, we are not able to say, for we also saw 

 the best Concord grapes on trellis there. Much is 

 to be attributed we think, to his skill and industry 

 and pride to excell, as well as to the system. Al- 

 though we were well pleased with what we saw 

 there of the spiral method. The great difficulty ap- 

 peared to be to get the stakes in a prairie country, 

 wire trellis being much the cheapest. 



Dr. Stayman wished to know what advantages 

 could be gained by the spiral over the horizontal 

 arm sy.stem as given in the essay. Dr. Howsley 

 tliought it was just the same in checking the flow of 

 sap, but perhaps the spiral had the advantage in air 

 and in tilling the soil. Mr. Gushing rather pre- 

 fered the horizontal .spur system on account of 

 cheapness and ease of training. Mr. Godard, Dr. 

 Howsley, Mr. Rivard and others, generally adopted 

 the horizontal arm and S])ur system, or some modifi- 

 cation of it, while Mr. Madinger prefered the fan 

 system. 



A vote of thanks to the citizens of Leavenworth, 

 railroad companies, etc., was unanimously adopted, 

 after which the Society adjourned. 



