334 MAKING A VINEYARD. 



SUB-SOIL' 



-The Planting of Cuti 



serve as a permanent source of food for the anchor-roots. 



Fig. 2 will help to make my ideas comprehensible. A 

 vineyard planted in this way, with plants grown from 

 long cuttings, will, with care, last indefinitely and bear 

 heavy crops every year. 



2. I prefer to make cuttings within one to three weeks 

 after the leaves have fallen, before the wood has lost any 

 vitality by hard freezing. 

 Any temperature near 

 zero, or below it, con- 

 sumes to a large extent the 

 vitality of even the hardi- 

 est species and varieties. 



3. This question is 

 mostly answered under 

 fig. i; fig. 3 completes the 

 answer. After they have 

 .been put up in bunches 

 in the fall, the cuttings 

 are buried in loamy, well-drained soil till corn planting- 

 time, in spring, when they are "lined-out " with a dibble, 

 as shown in fig. 3. 



4. In any latitude south of 35° I prefer fall planting 

 for vineyards as well as for orchards. 



5. After thoroughly trying all the trellises commonly 

 in use, I have discarded all as more or less unnatural to 

 the habit of vine-growth. The canopy, to shade the 

 roots, body and fruit from the direct rays of the sun, is 

 nature's plan. When that is modified to prevent mat- 

 ting, and to secure a perfect balance between root and 

 top to prevent over-loading with fruit, one has perfect 

 training. After a most thorough test of a very simple 

 trellis, somewhat different from that used by a few vine- 

 yardists, I am fully convinced that it gives the best re- 

 sults with the least outlay of material and labor for our 

 American grapes, which need long-arm pruning. 



This system consists of two posts seven feet long, set 

 two feet deep in the same hole, with tops flaring apart 

 two feet ; a pair are set at each end of each row and 

 midway between every third and fourth vine, thus leav- 

 ing three vines eight feet apart, as I plant common kinds 



MUNSON'S SYSTEft\ FOR TRAINING THE VINE 



Two posts in same hole with tops flaring two feet apart, 

 parallel wires support the vines. 



between each pair of posts. A No. 11 galvanized wire is 

 stapled on the tops of the posts, making two strands 

 stretching along each row, in a parallel way two feet 

 apart, at the same height from the ground (five feet), as 

 shown in fig. 4. 



The vines, shown as pruned with two arms, are tied 

 at the end of the second year. As the vines get stronger 

 more arms, even up to four for each vine (one four feet 



long for each wire), or two of greater length (say up to 

 eight feet each) are trained S-fashion from wire to wire, 

 to suit the trainer's fancy or the amount of bearing wood 

 possessed and capable of being utilized to advantage by 

 the vine. Looking down upon the trellis when the vine 

 is pruned and tied, it might present the various aspects 

 shown in fig. 5. 



The young shoots that are to bear fruit the ne.xt year 

 should ahvays be induced to start in sufficient numbers 

 near the summit of the upright part or body of the vine, 

 so as to allow all the old wood that has borne to be cut 

 away back to the new shoots. Remembering always that 

 American grapes bear better on the long arms than on 

 the short, one to three-eye spurs, the rule should be a 

 few strong long arms and not many short weak spurs, as 

 the old systems induced. 



This system of training has, among others, the follow- 

 ing advantages ; i. It keeps the sun from baking the 

 roots, bodies and fruit. 2. It costs little in material and 

 labor to prune and train the vines. 3. It affords free 

 ventilation below the fruit, leaving it hanging />-f<' in the 

 most convenient position for spraying and harvesting, 

 while it is out of the way of domestic fowls, and can be 



Fig. 5— Training Vines, on the 1 rellis. 

 W, W are wires, and A, B, C are vines. 



easily sacked. 4. Cultivation is easily accomplished, and 

 one can pass easily from row to row. 5. It maintains 

 the equilibrium and life of the vine to the fullest extent, 

 and secures all fruit possible from a given area. 6. Prun- 

 ing and training are simplified, so that a novice can 

 readily do satisfactory work after a few vines have been 

 pruned and tied before him. — T. V. Munson. 



TWO-WIRE TRELLIS : TWO-ARM SYSTEM. 



1. By cuttings. 2. In the fall. After the leaves have 

 fallen I cut the cuttings in lengths, say 16 to 20 inches, 

 tie them in bunches, and pack them in moist sand in the 

 cellar till they are wanted for use in the spring, 3. They 

 should be six or eight inches long, with two or three buds 

 each. Cut quite close to the lower bud, and leave about 

 an inch of wood above the upper bud. As soon as the 

 ground is in good working condition in the spring (having 

 been previously prepared and cleared of stones), I make 

 trenches or furrows about eight inches deep, place the 

 cuttings in them in a sloping position about four inches 

 apart, in rows one foot apart, so that the top buds will 

 be just below or at the surface when leveled. The soil 

 is then firmed and drawn over the top buds ; sawdust is 

 best for this. Keep the soil moist with mulch or water 

 till the cuttings are well started, and allow no weeds to 

 grow. Plant in vineyard the next spring as early as the 

 ground is ready, in rows nine feet apart and ten feet 

 apart in the rows. 4. Spring, although my experience ; 

 (Dutchess county, N. Y.) does not include fall planting. 

 5. The two-wire trellis and the "two-arm" system of 



