100 THE GRAPE IN KANSAS. 



very busiest season. Besides, there was never room for the vine to properly ex- 

 pand itself. The lower part of the body was exposed to the baking sun, and in 

 a few years killed along its southwest side. The foliage either matted up in a 

 bundle, choking the fruit, or had to be kept cut back too closely for the health 

 of the vine. The crops were small and uneven in quality, and the vine short- 

 lived. Besides, the post in the center was a perpetual harbor for insects and 

 fungi, ready to prey on the vine and fruit. 



In the vertical three- or two-wire trellis was found a large improvement, es- 

 pecially with the Kniffin method of long-arm pruning and drooping training. The 

 fan training on such trellises was next best, and the Fuller system poorest, be- 

 cause so tedious in detail and the incessant pinching necessary to maintain the 

 balance of the vine. All, however, lacked the proper canopy of shade, permitted 

 uneven exposure of foliage and fruit to wind and light, presented a broad surface 

 of resistance to storms, and when the ground became saturated and soft, or the 

 trellis a little old, whole rows would go down with a crush of fruit in a heavy 

 blow. 



Besides, the vertical wire trellises in a vineyard allow no free ventilation when 

 full of foliage and fruit, and are the same as so many fences to oppose one's pass- 

 ing from row to row at any point in the vineyard. 



So I might show the defects of all the other trellises commonly used. 



At first I tried a two- wire canopy trellis, and have used it extensively for thir- 

 teen years, with much satisfaction. It has two parallel wires at the same height 

 five feet from the ground and two feet apart, resting on the ends of arms 

 bolted to posts, or on the ends of small posts set flaringly in the same hole in 

 in pairs, thus : 



The Munson two-wire canopy trellis. 



The defects of this are that the bearing arms, being tied along the wire, with 

 no support above for the bearing shoots to cling to or recline on, are very easily 

 blown off by gusty winds when tender, before the wood becomes hard and tough ; 

 the plow animal passing along in cultivating rubs off some shoots with the 

 hames, and sometimes, when the fruit gets heavy, it carries the shoots down, re- 

 versing the foliage and fruit, when, if the sun is very hot, some fruit will scorch 

 before the leaves erect themselves over it. 



To overcome these defects, a third wire is run midway between the other two, 

 and about six inches lower, making a broad V-shaped trough of the three wires. 

 The bearing arms, after pruning, are tied solely to the middle, lower wire, as 

 shown in the drawing of the three-wire trellis accompanying this article. This 

 form of trellis I am also using, and find it as near perfection as I ever expect to 

 get. 



The posts and cross-bars, of course, should be of most durable wood. By 

 having sawn posts of cypress, or bois-d'arc, or cedar, or black locust, or mes- 

 quite, or white post-oak, or burr-oak, and keeping them painted, they will be 

 very durable, and give a tidy, thrifty appearance to the vineyard. The drawing 

 shows the end post set deeper than intervening posts, and well anchored by 

 buried rocks, or low posts may be used in place of the rocks. 



