THE GRAPE. 



507 



which, seizing upon the young fruit, prevents its further growth, causes 

 it to crack, and renders it worthless. Unwilling to believe that this 

 was not the fault of bad culture, many intelligent cultivators, and among 

 them men of capital and much practical skill, have attempted vineyard 

 culture with the foreign sorts in various sections of the country, under 

 the most favorable circumstances, and have uniformly failed. On the 

 other hand, the very finest Grapes are produced under glass, in great 

 quantities, in our first-rate gardens. In the small yards or gardens of our 

 cities, owing to the more uniform state of the atmosphere, the foreign 

 Grape thrives pretty well ; and finally, in all gardens of the Middle 

 States the hardier kinds may, under certain modes of culture, be made 

 to bear good fruit. 



Without entering into any inquiries respecting the particular way in 

 which the mildew (which is undoubtedly a parasitical plant) is caused, 

 we will endeavor to state concisely some practical truths, to which our 

 own observation and experience have led us, respecting the hardy cul- 

 ture of the foreign Grape. 



In the first place, it is well known to gardeners here that young 

 and thrifty vines generally bear one or two fair crops of fruit ; second, 

 that as the vine becomes older, if it is pruned in the common mode 

 (that is to say, the spurring-in mode of shortening the side branches, and 

 getting fresh bearing shoots from main branches every year), it soon 

 bears only mildewed and imperfect fruit ; and, finally, that the older 

 and larger the vine, the less likely is it to produce a good crop. 



This being the case, it is not difficult to see that as the vine, like 

 all other trees, is able to resist the attacks of disease or unfavorable 

 climate just in proportion as it is kept in a young and highly vigorous 

 state, it follows, if we allow a plant to retain only young and vigorous 

 wood, it must necessarily preserve much of the necessary vigor of con- 

 stitution. And this is only to be done, so far as regards training, by 

 what is called the renewal system. 



The renewal system of training consists in an- 

 nually providing a fresh supply of young branches, 

 from which the bearing shoots are produced, cutting 

 out all the branches that have borne the previous year. 

 Fig. 37 represents a bearing vine treated in this man- 

 ner, as it would appear in the spring of the year after 

 having been pruned. In this figure a represents the 

 two branches of last year's growth trained up for 

 bearing the present year ; b, the places occupied by 

 the last year's wood, which, having borne, has been Renewal Training, 

 cut down to within an inch of the main arm, c. 

 The present year, therefore, the two branches, a. will throw out side shoots, 

 and bear a good crop, while the young branches will be trained up in the 

 places of b, to bear the next year when a are in like manner cut down. 



This renewal training will usually produce fair fruit, chiefly, as it 

 appears to us, because the ascent and circulation of the sap, being mainly 

 carried on through young wood, is vigorous, and the plant is healthful 

 and able to resist the mildew ; while, on the contrary, the circulation of 

 the sap is more feeble and tardy through the more compact and rigid 

 sap-vessels of a vine full of old wood.* 



* See Hoare on the Grape- Vine. 



