20 



BUSHBEKG CATALOGUE. 



Fig. 21. 



In place of the wire, slats or laths may serve 

 the same purpose (as seen in fig. 21), but they 

 are not durable, and the posts must then be put 

 in much closer. Another mode of making wire 

 trellis (the Fuller plan) is with horizontal bars 

 and perpendicular wires, as shown in a follow- 

 ing illustration (fig. 22). Posts of good, hard, 

 durable wood, 3 inches in diameter and Ci to 



!1 



Fig. 22. 



7 feet long, are placed between the vines, at 

 equal distance from each vine, and in a line 

 with them, two feet deep in the ground. When 

 the posts are set, nail on strips about 2 inches 

 wide and 1 inch thick, one strip or bar being 

 placed one foot from the ground, and the other 

 at the top of the post. Then take No. 16 gal- 

 vanized iron wire and put it on perpendicularly, 

 twisting it around the lower and upper bar, at 

 a distance of about 12 inches apart. Galvan- 

 ized iron is preferable, and as a pound of No. 

 16 wire gives one hundred and two feet, the ad- 

 ditional expense is but very small. This trellis 



will probably cost less than with horizontal 

 wires, and is preferred by some. Practical ex- 

 perience, however, speaks in favor of horizontal 

 wires, and a method with only two horizontal 

 wires, the lower about 3 feet high and the upper 

 about 5 feet high, is gaining the good opinion 

 of vineyardists, East and West. A good many 

 grape growers train their vines to stakes, be- 

 lieving it to be cheaper, and the decline in the 

 price of grapes and wine induces many to adopt 

 the least costly plan ; one, two and three stakes 

 will be recommended by some, all of which will 

 prove a slovenly very inconvenient method. 

 And yet, quite recently, a method of training 

 our vines to but one stake each, pruning the 

 vine to two branches, which are wound spirally, 

 in opposite directions, around the stake, and 

 nailed fast to its top, has been not only claimed 

 as a new invention and as an improvement in 

 grape culture, but has actually been patented ! 

 (J. B. Tillinghast, modes of training and secur- 

 ing Grave-vines, No. 155,995. Patented Get. 

 13, 1874.) 



Some people believe even that we could dis- 

 pense with both trellis and stakes entirely, and 

 urge the adoption of the " Souche " or " Buck 

 Pruning" plan used in parts of France and 

 Switzerland, but quite impracticable for our 

 strong growing species. 



If you have covered your young vines last 

 fall, remove the earth from over them at the ap- 

 proach of spring; then cultivate the whole 

 ground', plowing between the rows from four to 

 six inches deep, and carefully hoeing around 

 the vines with a pronged hoe ; the two-prong 

 German hoe or Karat, has been generally used 

 in vineyards, but since we got Hexamer 'sprang >- 

 hoe w prefer this excellent tool. The ground 

 should thus be broken up, inverted and kept in 

 a mellow condition continually; but do not 

 work the ground when wet! 



During the second summer, a cane or shoot is 

 produced from each of the two or three buds 

 which you left on the young vine last fall. Of 



