480 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. [November, 
The Grapevine in November. 
Those who have many vines, or a vineyard, will 
have fixed upon some method or “system” of 
training and pruning, which they will follow so far 
as the vines will allow. But we have advocated 
the planting of vines wherever there is soil enough 
for their roots, whether on 
the largest farm, or in the 
smallest village yard, and 
have advised their traiuing 
along fences, and upon 
buildings, whenever there 
was no room for a trellis. 
We have advised growing 
grapevines in the best way, 
if possible, but at any rate, 
and under unfavorable con¬ 
ditions, to plant one or sev¬ 
eral vines, and do the best 
with it that circumstances 
will allow. Those who have 
followed our advice, will 
naturally ask what shall be 
done with their vines, now 
that the season for pruning 
is at hand. It is probable 
that the vine of each reader, 
will be unlike to, and require 
a different treatment from, 
that of every other reader. 
In whatever condition the 
vine may be, when the fruit 
has been gathered, and the 
leaves have fallen, the ob¬ 
servance of a few simple points will allow any 
intelligent person to treat it properly. The vine, 
as one stands before it, after the leaves are off, 
is made up of old wood and new. The stems 
more than one season old, have no buds, but they 
bear smaller stems, that grew in the season now 
closing. In spring and early summer, they were 
green and tender, and we mentioned them as 
&hoots. Now that they have ripened and are hard 
and brown, we call them 
canes. Every vine, large 
or small, is now mainly 
made up of these canes. 
There may be in a 
young vine but a few 
of them, but a large 
old one will 6how a 
mass of such canes. 
Now, however perplex¬ 
ed and confused an old 
vine may seem, it is 
really a repetition of 
the same parts. There 
will be some old stems, 
but the mass is of last 
summer’s growth. Take 
one of these canes by 
itself, whether there are 
but two or three upon 
a young vine, or a mul¬ 
titude upon an old one, 
examine and under¬ 
stand it, and see what 
it will do next year, and 
its treatment will be¬ 
come plain. Let fig¬ 
ure 1 represent a cane, 
whether the only one 
from a very young vine, 
or one of many upou 
an old vine. It maybe 
but three feet long, or 
it may have grown to 
the length of 20 feet, 
but long or short, large 
or small, it will show 
buds on alternate sides, 
which are separated by 
a portion of stem, which is longer or shorter, 
according to the variety. These buds are placed at 
a point where the leaf of last summer was attached. 
Aside from the old stems, which grew a year (or 
Fig. 2.—BADLY PRUNED 
BRANCH. 
SHOOT. 
several years) before, the whole vine is made up of 
repetitions of such canes. No matter how many 
they may be, or how much confused they may seem, 
this is all that the vine has at this season. 
Why Do We Prune? 
We would, at the risk of repetition, impress the 
fact that the whole vine (save the old steins,) is 
made up of buds, separated by sections of variable 
length (three inches to a foot or more) of cane. 
Another point important to bear in mind, is that 
all growth of next year, shoot, leaf, and fruit, will 
come from these buds, and from nowhere else , as a 
rule, though on a vigorous old vine, chance, or ad¬ 
ventitious shoots may appear upon the stems. Un¬ 
less it is desired to have a cane just there, such 
shoots should be broken off as they appear. It 
will be seen that these buds are important points, 
not only next year’s growth, but the whole future 
of the vine, depends upon them. Suppose we did 
not prune, what would happen ? If the cane, fig. 
1, were left as the fall of the leaf found it, its buds 
would next spring push into shoots. The upper¬ 
most buds, according to a well known law of 
growth, would start first, and push their shoots, 
the next lower ones, starting later, would produce 
smaller shoots, and there would be a series of 
smaller shoots as we go down the cane, as in tig. 2, 
while the lowermost buds, being deprived of sap 
by the upper shoots, may not start at all. It will 
be seen that the most vigorous shoots will be from 
the upper buds, while the lower buds, which were 
formed earliest in the season, and are most likely to 
contain the rudiments of fruit, are quite starved 
and useless. Each year, if 
the vine goes unpruned, the 
new growth will be further 
from the root, and the best 
developed buds, starved, as 
it were, by the more rapid 
growth of those above them, 
and but very little fruit will 
be produced. Suppose in¬ 
stead of allowing the cane 
(fig. 1,) to go unpruned, we 
at this season cut it off as 
shown by the line, leaving 
but two buds. Next spring, 
these two, having all the 
nourishment that would 
otherwise have gone to the 
buds above them, will push 
with great vigor, and being 
the oldest and best develop¬ 
ed, will probably bear fruit 
abundantly, and next autumn 
would present the appear¬ 
ance of fig. 3, as contrasted 
with that of tig. 2. We prune 
then, to be more sure of fruit, 
and to avoid growing a great 
number of shoots for which 
we have no use. We wish 
to direct the energies of the 
vine to the production of Fig.3. well pruned 
fruit, rather than to the branch. 
forming of a great mass of shoots and leaves. 
to provide for more than two shoots from a cane, 
but it may be well, especially in severe climates, 
and to guard against accidents, to leave three or 
four buds in pruning at this season, and then late 
in February, or early in March, at any rate before 
the sap starts, cut away the extra buds, leaving but 
two to grow. An intelligent consideration of the 
few simple facts here stated, will allow any one to 
bring a negleete.d old vine into a fair condition of 
fruitfulness. The same principles apply to the 
treatment of young vines, but these, if our direc¬ 
tions heretofore given from time to time have been 
followed, will be less perplexing to the novice. 
Experiment in Cutting and Planting 
Potatoes. 
BY HENRY E. AI.VORD, OP HOUGHTON FARM. 
For years past, the agricultural papers of the 
country have published accounts of trials with po¬ 
tatoes cut and planted in different ways. These 
tests have seldom been repeated by the same person, 
or carried on by persons in different places, in such 
a way as to be comparable, and hence have been of 
little value. To do this work in a thorough and 
systematic manner, making a careful study of the 
potato plant, and incidentally testing the latest 
proposed method of cutting seed potatoes, it was 
last April agreed by the N. Y. Agricultural Experi¬ 
ment Station and Houghton Farm (Experiment 
Dept.) to institute two parallel series of potato 
trials. The schedule was arranged for this cooper¬ 
ative test, and Early Rose potatoes were planted in 
May, in small garden plots, the seed being cut in 
various ways, and planted at different depths for 
both level and ridge culture. All were on soil in 
fair condition, half being manured and half uu- 
manured. The rows were placed three feet apart, 
and the hills one foot apart in the rows. 
On the State Farm, at Geneva, the seasop was 
favorable, and the trial progressed without accident 
or interruption. Accounts of the work and results 
there have been published in the Station Bulletins 
II and VII, (July 29 and Sept. 2,) to which reference 
is made for details. It is intended to give here only 
the report of results at Geneva, for comparison. 
At Houghton Farm the season was unfavorable; 
cold and wet during the vegetating period, then hot 
and very dry until the potatoes were dug, the last 
of August. The plots were badly washed by a cold 
rain, and stood soaked for some days after plant¬ 
ing. The damage was 6uch in some rows, out of 
the twenty-four differently planted, that they were 
dropped from the record. But the facts hereafter 
given relate to rows so far undisturbed and of such 
average condition, considering the season, as to be 
fair samples for comparison. The results are given 
in tabular form as most compact. The figures are 
tdken from twenty average hills, in rgws of like 
treatment, manured and unmanured. The yield 
per acre is estimated by regarding twenty hills, as 
planted, as ‘/j^th part of an acre. 
TABLE OF RESULTS. 
AT HOUGHTON FARM—MANURED PLOTS. 
Now if one understands this as to a single cane, 
The Pruuing of the Whole Vine is Plain. 
One should use his imagination, and knowing 
that the future growth will come from the buds, 
now plainly seen, he can at a glance tell what to 
remove. Standing before an old vine, no matter 
how complicated it may seem, let him bear in mind 
that each bud will next spring push a leafy, and 
may be fruiting shoot. If there are too many 
canes, so inauy that even one or two shoots from 
each will cause crowding, let him cut them out al¬ 
together. Then cut the canes that are allowed to 
remain, back to two buds each, keeping in mind 
the fact that each of these two buds will produce a 
shoot, which next autumn will appear as a cane, 
just like the one he has now before him. With an 
old and neglected vine, we can only give these gen¬ 
eral directions, which, if intelligently followed, 
will produce good results. There is greater danger 
that too many buds will be left, than that too many 
will be cut away. In pruning it is rarely desirable 
How Cut and Planted. 
1 £ 
b • - • 
"til 
£ ° 
AO ^ 
No. 
Lbs. Oz. 
Bushels. 
Single eyes, cut shallow. 
89 
2 6 
20} 
Single eyes, cut deep. 
101 
6 11} 
81} 
Ordinary cutting and planting... 
175 
18 8 
224 
Whole tubers, ordinary planting 
Potato peelings, pared close.... 
224 
19 3 
239} 
268 
11 8 
139 
AT HOUGHTON FARM—UNMANURED. 
Single eyes, cut shallow. 
Single eyes, cut deep. 
Ordinary cutting and planting.. 
Whole tubers, ordinary planting 
Potato peelings, pared close_ 
134 
109 
192 
208 
228 
2 6 
5 15 
16 13 
14 8 
9 15 
20 } 
72 
203} 
175} 
120 } 
AT N. Y. STATE AGR’l EXPERIMENT STATION. 
Single eyes, cut shallow. 
Single eyes, cut deep. 
Ordinary cutting and planting.. 
Whole tubers, ordinary planting 
Potato peelings, pared close_ 
52 
3 
13 
37- 
129 
15 
!•'} 
191 
177 
16 
13} 
202 
177 
13 
1} 
158 
Not 
yet 
reported. 
The agreement in quantity and size of the pro¬ 
duct of ordinary cutting and planting in the three 
cases above, is very striking ; the disagreement in 
