GRAPE MANUAL. 



23 



not rob the vine of a quantity of foliage it can- 

 not spare (as the leaves are the lungs of the 

 plant and the elevators of the sap) . You can 

 do three times the work that you can perform a 

 week later, when the shoots have become hard- 

 ened, and intertwined by their tendrils. Re- 

 member that the knife should have nothing to 

 do with summer pruning. Your thumb and 

 iinger should perform all the work, and they 

 can do it easily if it is done early. 



2. Perform it thoroughly and systematically. 

 Select the shoots you intend for bearing wood 

 for next year. These are left unchecked ; but 

 do not leave more than you really need. Re- 

 member that each part of the vine should be 

 thoroughly ventilated, and if you crowd it too 

 much, none of the canes will ripen their wood 

 as thoroughly nor be as vigorous as when each 

 lias room, air and light. Having selected these, 

 commence at the bottom of the vine, rubbing 

 off all superfluous shoots, and all which appear 

 weak and imperfect. Then go over each arm 

 or part of the vine, pinching every fruit bearing 

 branch above the last bunch of grapes, or, if 

 this should look weak or imperfect, remove it 

 and pinch back to the first perfectly developed 

 bunch. Should the bud have pushed out two 

 or three shoots, it will generally be advisable to 

 leave only the strongest, and remove the bal- 

 ance. Do not think that you can do part of it a 

 little later, but be unsparing in taking away all 

 you intend to take this time. Destroy all the 

 caterpillars, and all the insects you find feeding 

 on the vines, the steel-blue beetle, who will eat 

 into the buds. But protect the lady-bug, man- 

 tis, and all the friends of the vine. 



We come now to the second stage of summer 

 pruning. After the first pinching, the dormant 

 buds in the axils of the leaves, on fruit-bearing 

 shoots, will each push out a lateral shoot, oppo- 

 site the young bunches. Our second operation 

 consists in pinching each of these laterals back 

 to one leaf as soon as we can get hold of the 

 shoot above the first leaf, so that we get a young 

 vigorous leaf additional, opposite to each bunch 

 of grapes. These serve as elevators of the sap, 

 and also as an excellent protection and shade 

 to the fruit. Remember, our aim is not to rob 

 the plant of its foliage, but to make two leaves 

 grow where there was but one before, and at a 

 place where they are of more benefit to the 

 fruit. By our method, our rows of vines have 

 the appearance of leafy walls, each bunch of the 

 fruit properly shaded, and yet each part ot the 

 vine is properly ventilated. We come now to 



another of those accidental discoveries, which 

 has proved of great use to us in the manage- 

 ment of the Concord, Herbemont, Taylor, etc. 

 In the summer of 1862, when a piece of Con- 

 cord> planted 1861, was growing rapidly, a se- 

 vere hail storm cut up the young shoots, com- 

 pletely defoliating them, and breaking the ten- 

 der and succulent shoots at a height of about 

 two feet. The vines were growing rapidly, and 

 the dormant buds in the axils of the leaves im- 

 mediately pushed out laterals, which made very 

 fair sized canes. In the following fall, when we 

 commenced to prune, we found from three to 

 five of these strong laterals on each cane, and 

 accordingly shortened them in to from three to 

 five and six buds each. On these laterals we 

 raised as fine a crop of grapes as we ever saw, 

 certainly much finer than we had ever before 

 raised on the strong canes ; and we have since 

 learned to imitate hail storms by pinching the 

 leaders of young shoots when they have grown, 

 say two feet, forcing out the laterals, and grow- 

 ing our fruit on the latter, thus meeting with 

 another illustration of the old proverb, " It is 

 an ill wind that blows nobody any good." 



After the second pinching of the fruit-bearing 

 branches, as described above, the laterals will 

 generally start once more, and we pinch the 

 young growth again to one leaf, thus giving 

 each lateral two well developed leaves. The 

 whole course should be completed about the 

 middle of June here, and whatever grows after- 

 wards should be left. In closing, let us glance 

 at the objects we have in view : 



1. To keep the vines within proper bounds, 

 so that it is at all times under the control of the 

 vintner, ivithout weakening its constitution by 

 robbing it of a great amount of foliage. 



2. Judicious thinning of the fruit at a time 

 when no vigor has been expended in its level- 

 opment. 



3. Developing strong, healthy foliage, by 

 forcing the growth of the laterals and having 

 two young, healthy leaves opposite sach bunch, 

 which will shade the fruit and serve as conduc- 

 tors of the sap to the fruit. 



4. Growing vigorous canes for next year's 

 fruiting and no more, thereby making them 

 stronger ; as every part of the vine is thus ac- 

 cessible to light and air the wood will ripen bet- 

 ter and more uniform. 



5. Destruction of noxious insects. As the 

 vintner has to look over each shoot of the vine, 

 this is done more thoroughly and systematically 

 than by any other process. 



