PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS* CLUB. 239 



Now, in the name of common sense, why is it that no grape grower can 

 give a system of pruning without adding, it is difficult to tell how it is 

 done, and more than all, why will experts mutually charge each other with 

 knowing too little of what they arc talking about ? Can it be possible that 

 both are right? For my part I have followed their directions so close that 

 last year every single Catawaba I had rotted, and to cut through the whole 

 business, I am going to give the following directions, which I am going to 

 adopt myself, and whether I succeed or fail, I am certain some one will 

 disagree with me. 



Have the land facing the south. Plow twenty inches deep, if possible. 

 If you can't put in much next year, wait till the year after it ; have the 

 soil of first quality, and plant ten feet apart. Cut back to two eyes the 

 first year, and if both grow, rub one out ; second year, cut back to four 

 eyes ; third year, cut back to six or eight eyes, all the while keeping a 

 single cane. I would have stakes on which a trellis can be built ten feet 

 high. Raise fruit on the previous year's wood, and cut out the old wood. 

 I would have no other crop on the ground, except in the first year I would 

 sow clover. I would plow deep between the rows to within four feet of 

 the stakes; the rest of the space always with a cultivator. After the third 

 year I would keep out the plow, and give an exclusive surface cultivation. 

 The roots are getting a foothold ; by no means should they be disturbed, 

 and they will loosen the soil themselves. In the West it is hardly sus- 

 pected how much damage deep plowing does corn in midsummer. If you 

 follow the plow through the field at a distance of a rod or so, you will hear 

 the roots crack all the way. Always the corn takes a back set, and will 

 require a week at least to recover, so that cross plowing may be done. If 

 both plowings are done at once, the crop is nearly ruined ; it will never be 

 more than half a crop. And yet all these old corn growers have stories to 

 tell how much corn poor men raise, with no team to work it, and use the 

 hoe alone. A cultivator is similar to a hoe. Often a crop of corn is supe- 

 rior when grown on sub-soiled land, because the roots can get down out of 

 the way of the plow. So with grapes. It is a question whether frequent 

 stirring of the land during fruitage is not an injury. With small fruit it is 

 known to be so. There are authenticated accounts from Cincinnati of well 

 established vineyards grown up to weeds, and yet rotted less and bore 

 more than adjoining ones which were kept clean. Weeds may be mowed 

 down. 



I will add to my directions, or to my own plan, that I am going to let 

 some of my Catawbas run up on poles, forty feet high, if I can obtain them 

 so long. It is said the dew rots grapes. Everybody knows and should 

 realize, that grapes thrive on the sides of houses. Is it because the roots 

 go in part under the house and keep dry ; is it the drainage of the cellar, 

 or cistern ; or is it because the dew does not fall on them ? One thing is 

 certain — they are thickest and best on the highest part of the vines. On 

 a high pole there may be less dew — of course there is more air. 



Should the plan succeed, you will see slight, tall timbers mortised into 

 other timbers, making a permanent frame-work ; the vines will run on 

 wires, and you will also see huge canopies of depending grapes. If they 

 will only grow, there need be no fear that they cannot be gathered. This 



