THE GRAPE. 



525 



AMERICAN GRAPES. 



The better varieties of the native Grapes are among the most valua- 

 ble of fruits in the Middle States. Hardy, vigorous, and productive, 

 with a moderate amount of care they yield the farmer and the common 

 gardener, to whom the finer foreign sorts, requiring much attention and 

 considerable expense in culture, are denied, the enjoyment of an abun- 

 dance of very good fruit. 



The grape region has been lately greatly extended by the addition of 

 new varieties, which, in consequence of ripening their fruit much earlier 

 than the Isabella and Catawba, are suited to two or three degrees of lati- 

 tude farther north than the limit of the cultivation of these varieties. 



The garden culture of the hardy native grapes, although not very 

 difficult, cannot be accomplished so as to give the fruit in perfection, 

 without some attention to their habits and wants. The soil should be 

 dry, deeply worked, and well enriched, always bearing in mind that it 

 is an essential point to secure a perfectly open, sunny exposure, as it 

 may always be assumed that with us no atmosphere can be too warm or 

 bright for the grape ; for although it will make the most vigorous shoots 

 in the shade of trees or buildings, yet the crops will be small, the fruit poor 

 and uncertain, and the vines likely to fall a prey to mildew. 



In the second place, the vines should be kept within moderate bounds, 

 and trained to an upright trellis. The Isabella and Concord are so 

 rampant in their growth, when young, that the indulgent and gratified 

 cultivator is but too apt to allow them to overbear ; the border should 

 always be given to the exclusive occupancy of the vines, and the roots 

 should be allowed space proportional to the branches they are to carry. 

 By observing these directions, and not suffering the vines to overbear, 

 they may be continued a long time in full vigor and productiveness. 



The system of pruning and training these grapes generally pursued 

 is the upright mode, with the spur mode of training. The first season's 

 growth of a newly planted vine is cut back to two buds the ensuing fall 

 or spring. These two buds are allowed to form two upright shoots the 

 next summer, which at the end of the season are brought down to a 

 horizontal position, and fastened each way to the lower horizontal rail 

 of the trellis, being shortened at the distance of three or four feet from the 

 root — or as far each side as the plant is wished to extend. The next 

 season, upright shoots are allowed to grow one foot apart, and these, as 

 soon as they reach the top of the trellis, are also stopped. The next 

 year, the trellis being filled with the vines, a set of lateral shoots will 

 be produced from the upright leaders, with from one to three bunches 

 upon each, which will be the first crop. The vine is now perfect, and, 

 in the spur mode of pruning, it is only necessary at the close of every 

 season, that is, at the autumnal or winter pruning, to cut back these 

 lateral shoots or fruit-spurs to within an inch of the upright shoot from 

 which they sprang, and a new lateral producing fruit will annually sup- 

 ply its place, to be again cut out at the winter pruning. 



After several years' bearing, if it is found that the grapes fail in 

 size or flavor, the vines should be cut down to the main horizontal 

 shoots at the bottom of the trellis. They will then speedily make a new 

 set of upright shoots which will produce very abundantly, as at first. 



It cannot be denied that the renewal system of training (507) is 



