rROCEEI)IT\'GS OF THE FaEMERS' ClUB. 503 



first and pocond year depends somewhat on tlie system of training to 

 be ado])ted in future, one strong cane the first year cut back in the 

 fall to two or three feet, the two upper buds of this cane to be used 

 the second yeai- to gi-ow the main arms, Mhieh,f<»r the Fuller system, 

 recpiire to be leit about five feet long, and for the long arm, or "fan 

 system,'* tlie canes must be left about seven feet long. The trellis to 

 l)e put up the third year for the latter system requires only two wires 

 — one to be placed three and onedialf feet from the ground, and the 

 other six and a-half feet from the ground. This system of training is 

 a very siuiple one and is considered by many good grape-growers to 

 produce the best results, but the hoi'izontal arm, or "" Fuller system," 

 is decidedly the niost neat and systematic mode of training the grape ; 

 and I would very much prefer this system, but for one objection, 

 and that is pruning back the renewals to two or tliree buds. 

 P>y this method we often cut otf the chances for a crop the follow- 

 ing yeai-, for it is very well known tluit the lower buds on a 

 strong cane arc seldom fully developed, and tliat the best fruat 

 buds are found at a distance further from the main arm. To insure 

 regular crops we sh(»uld aim to grow strong canes, with well devel- 

 oped fruit buds, and no matter what system we adopt in pruning, 

 these buds should be preserved ; and in doing this tliere is danger of 

 leaving too much bearing wood, which can be regulated at the first 

 disbudding the following spring, which should be done as early as the 

 buds have grown about two inches long, by rubbing off all, and espe- 

 cially the naked ones that are not recpiired for the cro}). If this early- 

 disbudding is properly done, then all the summer pruning recpired 

 for the Concord is a slight tliinning and regulating about the latter 

 part of July. The Concord requires about eiglit buds to be left on 

 each arnu making sixteen buds ; and three clusters each, making 

 fortN'-eight clusters, averaging about twelve pounds to the vine, at 

 4(H) vines to the acre, making a total yield of 4,800 pounds of fruit ; 

 this at fifteen cents per pound amounts to sT2<>. This estimate, I 

 think, is rather highei" than the genei-al average of vineyards ; yet 

 considering the fact that v.heat, corn and grass — our staj)le crops — 

 often iail from natural causes, I am well satisfied that a Concord grape 

 A-ineyard, fa\-oral)ly located and well numaged, is the most certain 

 and profitable cnjp we can grow. I leave to those benevolent ama- 

 teurs, who are willing to sacriiice for their country's good, the honor 

 of experimenting with tho.-e new \'arietics, in order to find a hardy 

 grape of a higher order. Their object is worthy of their highest 



