1882. ] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
253 
and the hotter the weather the better they 
seem to like it. In gathering, take 3 to 6 
inches of the shoots ; the tender stem near 
the end may be cooked with the leaves, 
which should be picked from the tougher 
parts. New shoots quickly replace those re¬ 
moved, and a few plants will keep up a con¬ 
tinuous supply. It is cooked in the same 
manner as spinach. The unripe seed pods, 
while tender, are used for pickles. 
The Grape Vine in Summer. 
Those who grow grapes for profit, or have 
a large number of vines, will of course have 
fixed upon some method of training them, and 
understand how this is to be earned out. 
All such will do 
well to take some 
standard work on 
the vine as a 
• guide. Where one 
has but a few 
vines, and these 
often grown as 
much for the 
shade as for the 
fruit, he does not 
usually care to 
make a special 
study of the mat¬ 
ter ; still, by at- 
Fig. 1- SHOOT ON OLD VINE. tending to a few 
simple rules, he can with a very little trouble 
greatly increase the quantity as well as the 
quality of the fruit, and at the same time keep 
his vines in a satisfactory condition. The time 
for pi-uning the old wood is past, and the vine 
now presents a greater or- less nunjber of 
canes upon which at intervals are green and 
tender shoots, that have started this spring. 
Of course, we now speak of the vine in gen¬ 
eral, no matter how it has been trained. As 
one stands before the vine, he must consider 
that every one of these young shoots now 
just growing, will, if left to itself, make by 
autumn, just such a ripened cane, as that 
from which it starts. Will there be too 
many of these canes ? Will there be a great 
crowding and tangling if they all grow ? If 
so, break a portion of them off while they 
are still young. If a bud produces two 
shoots, and they are often double, always 
break out the weaker one. Each shoot on a 
vine old enough to bear, will appear as in 
figure 1. Beginning below these is a leaf, 
with opposite to it a cluster of buds: a short 
distance above, another leaf with another 
cluster of buds, but their positions reversed, 
the second leaf being over the first cluster, 
and so on, alternately, some vines producing 
three and some four clusters of buds, and 
beyond these, 
instead of buds, 
there will be 
merely a tendril 
opposite the 
leaf. Observe 
that the whole 
growing vine is 
only a repetition 
of this ; a por¬ 
tion of stem, a 
leaf with oppo¬ 
site a cluster or 
a tendril, an¬ 
other length of 
stem, a leaf and Fig. 3. —shoot with laterals. 
a tendril.or clus¬ 
ter, and so on to the very end. That point of 
the shoot, where the leaf and opposite tendril 
or cluster are attached, is called the node. A 
single node is shown at figure 2. When it is 
understood that every vine, however con¬ 
fused it may appear, is made up merely of 
repetitions of that which is shown in figure 2, 
the matter becomes much simplified. The 
tendril may be the stem of the fruit cluster, 
or it may be bare and used to hold up the 
vine. When it first appears, the tendril 
is nearly straight, except at its slightly 
hooked end, when that end comes in contact 
with, and catches hold of some object, it 
then coils in a manner most interesting to 
witness. When it bears fruit, there is often, 
as in figure 2, a bare branch ready to catch 
hold of something, and help sustain the 
weight of the cluster. 
It will be observed that in the axil, the 
place where the leaf-stalk joins the shoot, two 
buds will soon appear, which we will notice 
presently. If the shoot in fig. 1 is left to 
itself it will continue to grow and often reach 
several feet beyond the uppermost cluster. 
With every vine, no matter how it may be 
trained, it is a safe rule to 
stop the growth after one or 
two leaves have been form¬ 
ed above the uppermost 
cluster. If any one is afraid 
to do this, let him try it on 
a few shoots and leave the 
rest to grow. This should 
be done while the shoot is 
still tender, and its end can 
be pinched by the use of the 
thumb and finger nails. The 
leaves remaining upon the 
shoot will soon become much 
larger and thicker, while the 
fruit will also grow much 
larger than if left unpinch¬ 
ed. This is a general rule to 
be followed on all bearing- 
vines. In fig. 1 a line is 
given to show where to cut 
in case the vine is dis¬ 
posed to bear too much, a point we need not 
consider now. Soon after the top of the 
shoot has been pinched, side shoots will ap¬ 
pear, as shown in fig. 3. These side shoots 
are for convenience called laterals, and one 
will appear from the axil of each leaf. If 
these are allowed to grow the vine will soon 
become a tangled mass ; but they must not be 
broken off, altogether, but should be checked 
by pinching. As shown in fjg- 2, there are 
two buds in the axil of the leaf ; the lateral 
comes from one of these, and if this lateral 
be broken out, the other bud will start into 
growth and produce another one ; this is to 
be avoided, as that bud may be needed next 
year ; consequently when the lateral has pro¬ 
duced two or three leaves, it is pinched off, 
leaving only its lower leaf ; a shoot may 
start from the axil of that leaf ; if so, that is 
to be pinched again, in the same manner, 
back to its first leaf. This is made plain by 
fig. 4, which shows a lateral that has been 
pinched at a, and a seco id growth has start¬ 
ed which should be pinched back to its low¬ 
est leaf at b. Although it takes some space 
to describe these operations, they are really 
very simple, and if one will observe the di¬ 
rections the fruit will be greatly improved, 
and the vine prevented from becoming a con¬ 
fused mass of stems and foliage. The pinch¬ 
ing should be done while the shoots are still 
so young as not'to require a knife, but only 
the finger and thumb. Of course all the in¬ 
sects observed should be destroyed. 
Staying a Vineyard or other Post. 
Mr. Frank Kreiger, of Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, 
sends us a sketch aDd description of a method 
of staying or bracing the end posts in vine¬ 
yards where wire is used. This method is 
used by his father, who has had forty-five 
years’ experience in vineyard work. The 
same method may be adopted for end or 
comer posts of wire fence, if durable wood 
can be had for the brace, and the amount of 
digging be not too great. Mr. K. gives the 
following description for a vineyard post. 8 
feet long. Bore a two- 
inch auger hole about 
4 inches from the lower 
end, and into this fit 
a strong stick, 34 to 
4 feet long. Dig the 
post hole about 3 feet 
deep, according to the 
firmness of the soil, 
with a side trench cf 
nearly the same depth, 
for the stay piece. Set 
the post in and fill in 
the soil 3 or 4 inches 
above the cross-piece, and lay over it two or 
three large stones, and fill up with earth. 
This method saves the necessity of wire or 
other above ground braces, which are always 
in the wav. The engraving explains it. 
STAYING A POST. 
