18 
After cropping, it is well to remove and destroy such checked 
portions of vine as have fruited at nearly all nodes. Of course, where 
the fruiting portion of the stem is a section of a long runner which 
has reascended the support, the cutting away of the part which has 
fruited would be inadvisable, as it would reduce the growth made 
beyond that point to the condition of a cutting. 
BLOSSOMING AND POLLINATION. 
Effect of length of cutting on blossoming. — In the experimental 
planting (set in February and reported on p. 10) of 80 cuttings 
ranging in length from 2 to 12 internodal lengths, 3 of the 16 longest 
cuttings flowered in June of the following year, while none of the 
others flowered that season. This indicated that longer cuttings 
may be expected to blossom sooner than shorter ones. A long, 
vigorous cutting may blossom at a year from setting. In another 
planting of 55 cuttings of 11 nodes each, 23 plants, or 42 per cent, 
blossomed in the second blossoming season, a lit.tle more than a 
year and a half after setting. As planting material was scarce when 
the earlier plantings were made at the station, many of the plants 
were propagated from cuttings much too short for rapid early develop- 
ment, and so where longer cuttings are used earlier flowering should 
be expected than was had in the following plantings. Of 52 plants 
from cuttings of miscellaneous lengths, not included in those men- 
tioned above, 9 plants, or 17 per cent, blossomed in the second 
blossoming season after setting; of 48 plants, 28, or more than 58 
per cent, blossomed in the third blossoming season ; while all healthy 
plants under observation blossomed in the fourth, fifth, and sixth 
seasons, the record to date. 
The blossoming -period. — The blossoming season extends over a 
protracted period, a fortunate circumstance, since hand-pollination 
must be resorted to. 
A record for three seasons of the date of opening of the first blossom 
of the season on each of a number of plants showed this to have been 
in January in 4, in February in 19, in March in 41, in April in 14, in 
May in 4, and in June in 2 instances. 
The following table shows the average blossoming period for 10 
plants to have extended over nearly 8 weeks: 
Duration of blossoming season for 10 plants. 
Plant 
Date of opening. 
Duration 
of blos- 
soming 
season. 
Plant 
No. 
Date of opening. 
Duration 
of blos- 
No. 
First blossom. 
Last blossom. 
First blossom. 
Last blossom. 
soming 
season. 
1 
Mar. 26 
Days. 
43 
48 
66 
44 
63 
60 
7 
8 
Apr. 11 
Mav 27 
Days. 
47 
2 
Mar. 28 
Apr. 14 
June 8 5J 
3 
Mar. 30 
9 
Apr. 16 
June 15 61 
4 
Apr. 2 
May 15 
10 
Apr. 17 
May 29 
43 
5 
6 
Apr. 3 
June 1 
Average for 10 Dlants 
53.1 
