ry h 
Vol. XLIV. No. 1871. NEW YORK, DECEMBER 5, 1885. 
Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 18SS, by the Rural New Yorker in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
PRICE FIVE CENTS. 
*2,00 PER YEAR. 
H\)£ tHimjanJ. 
PRUNING AND TRAINING THE GRAPE 
VINE 
FACTS TO BE REMEMBERED. 
N an exceedingly instructive 
paper read before the American 
Horticultural Society at New 
Orleans, Mr. E. Williams, the 
experienced and conscientious 
horticulturist of New Jersey, 
stated that, in his opinion, no 
oporation of the fruit garden 
is so little understood as that of 
pruning the vine. This ignor¬ 
ance may be due to the lack of practicality 
on the part of those who teach, or to the care¬ 
lessness of those who read. Many men who 
are supposed to be well posted in rural affairs 
would never attempt to prune their own vines. 
Pruning for fruit is one thing; pruning for 
wood another. The common error is to leave 
too much wood, which is not conducive to 
fruitfulness. The novice should always bear 
in mind certain, facts. As a rale, the fruit- 
bearing canes of this year are grown from 
buds of last year's canes; that is, this year’s 
wood con tains the bud3 for next year’s fruit¬ 
ful canes. The tendency of sap is to the ex¬ 
tremity of the vine. It follows that the most 
rapid growth is found in the straightest 
canes, and the strongest growth of a pruned 
cane is at the end. A young vine is over¬ 
taxed by making it produce and ripen more 
fruit than it is capable of do- i 
ing. To illustrate 
THE GROWTH OF A VINK, 
suppose Fig. 510 to represent 
two streams of water of equal 
length and fall. Water will 
run a given distance in the 
straight one quicker than in —' 
the other, as there is nothing 
to impede its velocity. For 
the same reason, in vines of 
like shape, sap will run most 
rapidly in the straight one. 
In the erect cane the upper buds will make 
the strongest growth. In the other, the flow 
of sap is checked and the buds along the entire 
cane make a more uniform growth. 
Fig. 510. 
THE COMMON PRACTICE 
is to set a stout stake where every 
vine is to be planted. The bottoms of 
these stakes are rendered durable by 
a coating of coal-tar or crude petroleum. One 
vine is planted at each stake, with roots 
12 inches long, the top containing three or 
four buds. The strongest bud is selected and 
the others are robbed away. The bud is kept tied 
to the stake and as the laterals appear they are 
pinched off to one leaf. By thus conflning the 
plant’s energies to one channel, a single cane 
of great value is secured. (See Fig. 511). The 
next season this cane is cut down to three or 
four buds, and if it has made a growth of 
three feet or over, two caues are grown and 
treated os before. (See Fig. 512). Sometimes 
a vine, favorably treated, will be ready for 
the trellis at one year’s growth: but ordinar¬ 
ily two years are required. A once popular 
and still prevailing style of trellis is shown at 
Fig. 518. In this system the bulk of the young 
wood is at the top. The buds, for some dis 
tance from the base of the vine, ure small and 
poorly developed, the sap having rushed past 
them too rapidly to properly develop them as 
fruit buds. They start feebly, while the top 
is pushed into vigorous growth, densely shad¬ 
ing and impoverishing the lower purts; result 
little fruit and much shade. At Fig. 614, 
THE THOMKKY SYSTEM 
is illustrated. Fig. 515 shows the vine at the 
Fig. 513. 
beginning of the third season, with the arms 
in position, the cross marks showing where to 
prune. This is what is known as short-spur 
pruning. The upright canes are cut to two 
buds the first year. The next year two canes 
are grown, and at the nextpruning the upper 
one is cut entirely away and the lower one to 
two buds. Thus two canes are grown every 
year, and the animal pruning thereafter is 
the same. This system has been found too 
laborious for profitable nse in large vineyards. 
Most of the failures in it have occurred ^at¬ 
tempting to get too long an arm in one year. 
The annual pruning thereafter is to ent away 
the entire arm except the branch nearest the 
main cane. This is bent around and tied to 
the wire, shortened into five or six buds, and 
is the new arm, replacing the old one. The 
advantages claimed for this system are its 
simplicity and the little labor required. It is 
objectionable from the fact that the young 
shoots have a very feeble hold on the old wood 
and are easily broken off. This is remedied 
by running a wire six inches above the one 
to which the arms are fastened. To this the 
shoots are tied. On a hill-side an arrange¬ 
ment like thatshown in Fig. 519 can be used. 
The lower wire is dispensed with, and two are 
run at right angles at the top where the four 
arms are secured. Fig. 520 (p. S28) shows a 
vine, in the Fall, before pruning. Fig. 521 (p. 
828i shows the same vine after pruning. 
Fig, 516 shows a style of trellis in use at 
Vineland. Itiiof wires supported on stakes 
two-and-one half feet high. 
At Fig. 517 (p. 828) is shown a trellis used by 
Mr. Williams. It is in general use in vineyards 
in the Hudson River grape region. It is known 
OS THE KNIFFIN TRELLIS. 
In the trellis shown, the lower wire is o>^ feet 
from the ground and the top one ot^feet. 
With this bight of wires, one can easily pass 
from one row to another. The fruit at this 
distance fails to get the effect of the radiation 
of heat from the ground, but secures a better 
circulation of air. and is, in the opinion of 
Mr. Williams, less liable to mildew and rot. 
In this system t wo arms are started on each 
wire, and all the buds between and below the 
wires are rubbed off, as shown at the left of 
Fig. 517. With a good growth the first sea¬ 
son, the vine is cut otT just above the lower 
wire. A bud on eajh side can be trained 
along the wire for the arms. This secures 
good arms at the bottom; otherwise the 
strongest arms would be at the top. In some 
instances two canes are grown from near the 
ground, the second season, to divide the 
sap at that point, as shown at the right 
of Fig. 517. The short vine, shown at Fig. 
518, was pinched off at the lower wire, the 
arms coming from the laterals, the main cane 
of the long vine furnishing one arm for the 
top wire, a lateral the other. In pruning, the 
arms are generally shortened to five or six 
bads. The bending of the arms into position 
tends to retard the flow of sap and favors a 
uniform growth all along the arm. 
ANOTHER TRELLIS 
shown at Fig. 522 (p. 828), is well thought of. 
Three wires are run at the top, nine inches 
apart, the center one for the arms, and the 
side ones for the branches. The vine in Fig. 
523 is trained with a view to laying down with 
ease. ,It is applicable for tender varieties. It 
requires courage to cut it so severely. It 
