PREFACE. 



THIS I^ITTLE book has grown out of an attempt to 

 teach the principles and methods of grape training 

 to college students. I have found such teaching 

 to be exceedingly difficult and unsatisfactory. It is im- 

 possible to firmly impress the lessons by mere lectures. 

 The student must apprehend the principles slowly and by 

 his own effort. He must have time to thoroughly as- 

 similate them before he attempts to apply them. I there- 

 fore cast about for books which I could put before my 

 class, but I at once found that there are very few succinct 

 accounts of the subjects of grape pruning and training, 

 and that none of our books portray the methods which 

 are most largely practised in the large grape regions of 

 the east. My only recourse, therefore, was to put my 

 own notes into shape for print, and this I have now done. 

 And inasmuch as all grape-growers are students, I hope 

 that the simple account will find a use beyond the class- 

 room. 



This lack of adequate accounts of grape training at 

 first astonished me, but is not strange after all. It must 

 be remembered that the cultivation of the native grape is 

 of very recent origin. There are many men who can 

 remember its beginning in a commercial way. It seldom 

 occurs to the younger generation, which is familiar with 



