GRAPES 



41 



grapes and is to be had only in limited quantities. The bunches are 

 rather large, the berries much elongated, and the flavor is sweet and 

 refreshing. It is a good keeper, the fruit being kept in paper-lined 

 baskets or in jars in cool places until February (S. P. I. Nos. 16927 

 and 17156). There are also some seedless white grapes in northern 

 China, one variety being apparently the same as the Sultanina, 

 or so-called Thompson Seedless. (S. P. I. No. 17160.) 



There are also several varieties of purple grapes, central Shansi, 

 especially, being renowned for them. One variety can be kept for 

 almost a whole year if the fruit is carefully put in baskets and jars 

 and kept in cellars which are cooled by ice. 



The culture of grapes in China is somewhat different from what it 

 is in other lands. The plants are always grown trained over arbors, 

 with very long main leaders. In the month of October, just after a 

 cold snap, the vines 

 are taken from their 

 supports, skill full}" 

 pruned, and then 

 tied together in long 

 bundles . If the main 

 leaders are very long 

 they are bent around 

 to make the bundle 

 shorter. Pits from 

 4 to 6 feet deep are 

 dug, wide enough for 

 a man to work com- 

 fortably in and as 

 long as the tied-up 

 bundle of the grape- 

 vine requires. The 

 vines are now laid down in these pits, which are covered with sorghum 

 stems and old matting, over which a couple of feet of soil is put (fig. 

 15). Care is always taken to leave a few air holes, which are left 

 open in warm weather but are closed up entirely in case a blizzard 

 occurs. The root from which the stems originate is never taken up, 

 but some old matting is put around it and the whole is covered with 

 soil to the depth of a few feet. 



In visiting a vineyard in China in the winter, unless one's attention 

 were drawn to it, few people would suppose that the apparently 

 barren spot they were walking upon was covered in summer with a 

 luxuriant growth of choice grapes. This practice of burying the 

 grapevines that would not be able to pass unprotected through 

 severe winters is certainly worthy of general attention. It can not 



204 



Fig. 15.— A grapevine of a tender variety just removed from a trench 

 where it was protected for five months. Photographed March 31, at 

 Tientsin, China. 



