38 



The Canadian Horticulturist. 



neglect of pruning by many grape-growers. Year after year, the tangled, 



matted masses of wood continue to grow more and more tangled, until all 



hope of better things is dead. 



The old system of staking the vines is still followed in some parts of the 



country ; a much more expensive method than that of the post and wire, 



as well as more troublesome to keep in 

 order ; besides, it allows no satisfactory 

 method of pruning. The simplest possible 

 trellis is the post and wire, for which solid 

 Fig. 13.-BRACING WITH Wire. pog^g gix feet high may be placed forty-five 



feet apart, and stakes at distances of fifteen feet between, to all of which the 



wire is stapled. Three strands of galvanized wire, No. 13, or even as small 



as No. 16, may be used, the lower one about two feet from the surface of the 



ground. A very simple method of bracing posts is used about Grimsby, by 



which wires are tightly strung from the top of the post to a flat stone about 



which it is wound, and which is buried a few inches below the surface. 



It is very important to follow some system in pruning. A hap-hazard 



method may do for a time, but, as the 



vineyard ages, thfe mistake will be 



very evident. The fan system, as 



employed in many places, is no 



system, and in time will leave the 



vines in a very unsatisfactory con- 

 dition. By it, the young wood is 



constantly being removed farther 



and farther from the root, and the 



great ugly stalks are too unwieldy 



to be ever put down for protection. 



For the Concord and Worden, winter 



protection in Southern Ontario may 



not be necessary, but for the Rogers 



grapes, there is no doubt about its 



importance. 



Another method, known as the 



Kniffen System, is open to the same 



objection, though in a less degree. 



This system is shown in Fig. 14, and 



has some good points, for the pruning consists only in spurring back to the four 



arms, and little tying is needed, as the young wood can hang down from the 



two wires. On the whole, this is, perhaps, a commendable method for the 



busy farmer, who cannot find time to tie up the young wood in early summer. 

 The most satisfactory method is, no doubt, the Renewal System, or 



some modification of it, as described in Vol. XII., p. 66 ; for although it may 



Fig 14. — Kniffen System. 



