588 



COLD GRAPERIES. 



down, A covering of chaff of any kind, well rotted 

 manure or a few shovels of earth is of great advantage 

 in severe winters. Vines that are laid down should be 

 pruned in the fall. That is also a preferable season for 

 pruning, as the weather is generally much better and 

 the ground dryer, making the work more pleasant. 



There are many systems of pruning. It should be 

 borne in mind that it is a vine and not a bush that is 

 wanted. For arbor culture in yard or garden the fan 

 system of spreading and spur system of pruning is 

 generally considered the best ; bring the shoots from 

 near the ground in the shape of a fan and prune to one 

 and two buds on side shoots. The first season one shoot 

 only is permitted to grow ; that is cut back to two buds 

 and the most thrifty left to grow the next season ; the 

 third year two or even three shoots may be left, and 

 after that the number must be governed by the strength 

 of the vine, always remembering that the fewer shoots 

 and fewer bunches the vine is called on to mature, the 

 better it can do the work and the hardier the vine and 

 the finer the fruit produced. When the vine is of ram- 

 pant growth, pinching back in summer is often resorted 

 to and has a tendency to throw more of the strength of 

 the vine into the fruit. 



The single stake system is yet largely in vogue, as is 

 the wire trellis, consisting of posts set from twelve to 

 twenty feet apart and from two to three wires stretched 

 as for fencing against cattle ; the vines set ten feet 

 apart and rows eight feet. This is a convenient method. 



T. V. Munson, of Denison, Texas, has adopted a 

 system which combines more of the beneficial results 

 and fewer of the inconveniences and possible injuries 



of pruning than any yet devised. Two posts are set in 

 the same hole 2 to 2}^ feet deep, 4 feet high and flaring 

 at the top 2 feet ; these double posts are planted at in- 

 tervals of 32 feet and a wire stretched from the top of 

 each. This gives two lines of vines four feet from the 

 ground, making culture easy and the vineyard present- 

 ing a handsome appearance. The rows are eight feet 

 apart, the distance in the row depending upon the kind 

 of grapes grown. The pruning is on the renewal (Sys- 

 tem, two vines being permitted to remain for bearing 

 and two others grown for the succeeding year, the bear- 

 ing vines being removed. This is simple, can be rap- 

 idly done and anyone can follow it. 



One of the greatest modern improvements in grape 

 culture is bagging. It was first brought to public atten- 

 tion by Col. Bennett H. Young, of Louisville, an en- 

 thusiastic and very successful amateur grower, who had 

 at one time one hundred and sixty-five varieties on his 

 home lot. Common two-pound manilla bags, costing 

 about $1.20 per thousand, are used ; and are put on usu- 

 ally by girls or women, by pinning over the shoot. With 

 a little practice a quick worker can put on a thousand to 

 fifteen hundred a day. Bagging should be done as soon 

 as the bloom falls. It prevents rot, mildew, keeps off 

 birds and all insects except spiders, and they do little or 

 no harm, gives the berries higher color, preserves the 

 bloom, giving them a much handsomer appearance. 

 Cheap green bags will doubtless soon be in the markets, 

 and then bagging will come into general use, many now 

 objecting to them on account of the odd and very con- 

 spicuous appearance of the buff-colored bags on their 

 vines. 



COLD GRAPERIES. 



I READ with much interest the article by Mr. 

 Williams in the March number of The Amer- 

 ican Garden, advocating glazing cold graper- 

 ies by leaving the panes of glass a short dis- 

 tance apart instead of lapping, as is usually done. 

 The necessity of so frequently opening and closing 

 the ventilators is thus avoided, and also watering 

 the border by hand, which is so generally neglected 

 .by amateurs. 



I can say from my own experience, and I have prac- 

 ticed this mode for twelve years, that good grapes can 

 be grown under glass with the roof not water-tight, with 

 the ventilators never fully closed, with no watering save 

 such as comes through the spaces in the roof and an oc- 

 casional broken pane, and certainly with much less care 

 and attention than is required by the other method. 



I have thus grown exotic grapes for many years in 

 a simple lean-to enclosure facing the northwest, which 

 I consider an unfavorable location, and am not troubled 

 with mildew or any insect enemies save occasionally the 

 mealy-bug. I open the ventilators in the spring and 

 seldom change them through the summer, and never 



fully close them, but keep the door closed and avoid all 

 bottom ventilation, as I find the cold drafts from below 

 are apt to produce mildew. At this date, August 20th, 

 the vines are entirely free from mildew and are carry- 

 ing a good crop of grapes just beginning to color. The 

 positions of ventilators have not been changed since 

 they were opened in the spring. 



In the fall the vines are cut back closely, laid on the 

 ground, and covered with salt hay or any light material 

 to protect them from the heat of the sun. The door 

 and all the ventilators are opened wide and left so all 

 winter, and I have never had a vine winter-killed. In 

 my opinion many vines are ruined by too much atten- 

 tion and by following out some pet theory ; in other 

 words, killed by too much kindness. My experience is 

 that the growing of exotic grapes under glass can be 

 made so simple, and the structure built so cheaply, that 

 anyone having some horticultural taste or knowledge 

 can grow as good grapes under a simple lean-to costing 

 but a few dollars as are grown in an elaborate grape- 

 house worth many hundreds, with all the expensive at- 

 tention usually given in such a structure. 



Newark, N. J. Chas. S. Jones. 



