GRAPE EXPERIENCES IN SOUTHWESTERN MICHIGAN. 



N THE SPRING of 1880 I 

 set a vineyard of 2,000 vines 

 — 1,000 Concord, 500 Dela- 

 ware and 500 of various va- 

 I rieties, including Moore's, 

 Champion, Hartford, Ives, 

 Lady, Martha, Worden, 

 Brighton, etc. The location 

 was a high, steep, southern 

 exposure, with a mixture of 

 all kinds of soil, and very 

 stony. It was new land covered with stumps, some 

 of which were pulled out, but most of them were 

 left until they became rotten enough to pull easily. 

 At present about a dozen of the old settlers still 

 defy all efforts to loosen them. 



The vines were set 6x8 feet, and the ground occupied 

 was 2i acres. No crop was planted between the rows, 

 but the vines were kept well cultivated and hoed. The 

 second spring they were staked at a cost of about one 

 cent each, last year's growth cut back 

 to two buds, and given clean culti- 

 vation until the first of August, when 

 several days were spent picking up 

 and drawing off loose stone. The 

 third spring the vines were all 

 pruned to one cane, long or short, 

 according to their strength. Every 

 year the cultivation has been the 

 same, beginning about the middle of 

 April and cultivating every week or 

 ten days until the middle or last of 

 July. The vineyard has been thor- 

 oughly hoed twice and sometimes 

 three times each season. On ac- 

 count of the steep side hill and the 

 tendency of the soil to wash, the vines 

 have been trained to stakes and cul- 

 tivated both ways. The aim in prun- 

 ing has been to leave the strongest 

 and best ripened wood (new growth) 

 each year, cutting away weak canes 



entirely, leaving the old wood or main stock from two to 

 four feet high, and at each hoeing breaking off all suck- 

 ers and sprouts near the ground. The pruning has a 

 ways been very close, cutting away from | to ^ of the 

 growth. 



In the Concords I have experimented with severa 

 systems of pruning, following it up year after year. In 

 two rows the two longest new canes were left, cutting 

 everything else away. For the first few years these 

 vines bore large clusters, but lately they fail to make 



sufficient wood growth. In two other rows four to six 

 new canes were cut back to about two feet long, but 

 aside from being a bother to keep so many short canes 

 tied up, I could see no difference from the rest of the 

 vineyard. In the next two rows all the canes were cut 

 back to two buds, leaving the old wood each year. This 

 system has made so much old wood that I have had to 

 cut away considerable in the past two years in order to 

 get between the vines with horse and cultivator. 'Vines 

 pruned this way have too many small clusters. In the 

 next two rows a bush was formed about one foot above 

 the ground. From this three or four of the strongest 

 new canes were left at each pruning, about four feet 

 long, the last year's bearing canes being cut away and 

 other new canes being cut back to two buds. This plan 

 gives the best results. The clusters average better, and 

 the vines seldom fail to produce good canes for the suc- 

 ceeding crop. If I were starting a new vineyard to be 

 trained to stakes, I should follow this manner of pruning ; 

 but unless the ground is very steep and hilly, I prefer 

 training to posts and wires on many accounts. 



Three years ago I ap- 

 plied half a ton of bone 

 meal to the poorest spots. 

 Fearing it would be 

 washed away on the steep 

 hillside if applied broad- 



Fig. 6. Yedo-ichi. 



cast, it was put in holes made by a hop bar, one pint in 

 each hole, or one pound to the vine. I have been disap- 



