5o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
January 23 
NOTES FROM DALE VIEW. 
GBAPE VINES FOB OBN A MENTATION. 
Not the least among the means of enhancing the 
attractiveness of the country home, is the establish¬ 
ment of a dozen or more “ business ornamentals" in 
the form of as many systematically pruned, taste¬ 
fully trained grape vines. The Kniffin or “drooping" 
system of training, in its various modifications, is one 
of the most unique for home culture. It is a 
complete reverse of the old “upright” train¬ 
ing, in that instead of forming the head of 
the vine near the ground, and training the 
new growth upward, the main trunk of the 
newly planted vine is at once carried to the 
desired height, where the head is formed, 
and the new growth allowed, by its own in¬ 
clination, to assume a drooping position. The 
Kniffin form shown at Fig 28, is especially 
suitable for shading or screening any part of 
the dwelling, training upon outbuildings and 
for the production of an abundance of fine 
fruit. 
Fig 28, from a photograph, shows a three- 
year-old Delawaie vine,from which one-half 
of the foliage had been removed to expose to 
view its first crop of fruit—minus about one 
dozen clusters which had been gathered pre¬ 
vious to the time the picture was taken. This 
vine is trained upon a sunny side of our 
spring-house, and practically represents, in 
its form, as well as its proper pruning, the fol¬ 
lowing autumn or winter, shown very plainly in Fig. 
29, a mature vine in this style of training. Its manage¬ 
ment each succeeding year will only be a repetition of 
that of the third season with the single exception that, 
as the vine becomes older, the bearing canes or arms 
are left longer, thus gradually increasing its produc¬ 
tiveness from year to year. This vine, the first season 
after planting, made a growth of about five feet, and 
was cut back in November to about three feet. The 
following spring but one bud—the upper one—was 
permitted to grow. This single shoot, supported by 
loops of soft leather tacked to the building, of course 
pushed up very rapidly, and early in the season had 
reached the height at which it was desired to form 
the head of the vine—about 10 feet from the ground. 
At this point, the tip of the shoot was pinched out, 
thus arresting its upward course and causing vigorous 
laterals to push out from the axils of the leaves. All 
of these, excepting the upper two, were promptly 
broken out. These embryo bearing canes were then 
trained in opposite directions along the upper of two 
horizontal wires which had previously been stretched, 
one foot apart and at the proper height, upon the side 
of the building. Each of these canes or arms, during 
the remainder of the season, made a growth of six or 
seven feet, and were in November cut back about 
one-half, or to eight buds, and securely tied to 
the two horizontal wires. This is done by fasten¬ 
ing each cane, at a point about one foot from the 
crotch of the vine, to the upper wire, and bending 
the points down and securing them to the lower wire. 
The following spring, or the third season, 
each of the buds produced a vigorous shoot 
which, in turn, bore two or three fine, compact 
clusters of fruit. This brings us, in regular 
order, to a careful consideration of Fig. 28. The 
proper pruning of this vine consists in selecting 
two strong laterals—one from each arm—as near 
the head of the vine as possible, and cutting 
away entirely the rest of the previous season’s 
growth. These laterals or arms selected for 
fruiting the following season, may then be cut 
back to from 10 to 15 buds each, according to 
the strength of the vine. This leaves the vine as 
shown in Fig. 29. In the spring, these canes 
should be very carefully lifted up and tied to 
the wires in the same position occupied by their 
predecessors the season before 
Renewing Old Vines. —Recently, while visit¬ 
ing at our place, a young farmer friend became 
very much interested in the form of training de¬ 
scribed above. He expressed his regret that the 
several old and sadly neglected vines about his 
home could not be transformed into “ Knifiins," 
as they were excellent varieties and quite vig¬ 
orous. I assured him that he might do so by 
sawing the old vines off close to the ground and 
training the new growth, with the loss of but 
one crop. Imagine, if you can, his consternation 
at such a declaration !' To prove the possibility 
of the transformation, I led the way to the vine shown 
at Fig. 30, which is, “ from the ground up,” a growth 
of the past season—in total, 150 feet. It sprang from 
the root of an Elvira vine, seven years old, which I 
wished to change from an “ upright ” into a “ Kniffin.” 
It was sawed off two inches above the ground in March, 
1896. But one new shoot was allowed to grow—the 
weaker ones being promptly rubbed off. The upright 
trunk was very soon as high as was desirable—about 
six feet—where it was “tipped.” The horizontal 
arms immediately pushed out, and were pinched at 
the ends of the shed. Laterals were soon drooping 
from these arms, and were permitted to grow during 
the remainder of the season, reaching the length of 
from 10 to 14 feet. It will be quite apparent that this 
vine is in the form of a three-year-old Kniffin, with¬ 
out, of course, having borne any fruit. Its pruning, 
this winter, instead of cutting away all but the two 
A BUSINESS ORNAMENTAL.” DELAWARE VINE. Fig. 28 
THE KNIFFIN VINE IN WINTER. Fig. 29. 
ONE SEASON’S GROWTH OF A “SAWED-OFF”. Fig. 30. 
laterals nearest the head and lifting them to the wires, 
will consist of cutting each one of them back within 
two buds of the horizontal arms, thereby giving it a 
good opportunity to appropriate some of its surplus 
“ steam,” next season, to the production of 75 or 80 
clusters of fruit, after which the regular order of 
Kniffin pruning will be observed. Grape vines with 
their beautiful fruit are the most attractive of vines. 
Ohio. F. H. BALLOU. 
N. J. STATE HORTICULTURAL MEETING. 
PITHY points bbougiit out. 
A striking feature of the New Jersey State Horti¬ 
cultural meeting was the eaeer interest shown by 
practical growers, as evidenced by the fusillade of 
questions poured out at the close of each paper on the 
programme. Scarcely a point of practical interest was 
left untouched. Perhaps we shall best get the pith 
of the meeting by giving various points made 
by these specialist speakers, partly in their 
papers, and partly in answer to questions. 
Prof. Smith, State Entomologist: If we 
could control the weather we need not fear 
plant lice.—Ice water makes a tolerably good 
insecticide, and seems to do no injury to the 
plants.—Natural enemies would not keep the 
San Jos«5 scale in check in southern California, 
were it not for climatic conditions. The in¬ 
secticides used there are useless in our cli¬ 
mate. Therefore, California’s experience is 
positively of no use to us in combating the 
scale, both as regards insecticides and para¬ 
sitic enemies.—We have several reports of the 
total destruction of the scale in the East, with 
no perceptible injury to the trees, through 
the use of pure kerosene. There is no doubt 
that pure kerosene is death to the scale ; but 
I wish it understood that I do not, as yet, in¬ 
tend positively to recommend the application 
of pure kerosene. *It might be tried carefully 
in a small, experimental way.—Dendrolene 
and Raupenleim used indefinitely, become gradually 
injurious to young growing tissue.—We may keep out 
bcrejs by washes, or we may keep them in. They 
bore out and bore in again, to renew their destructive 
channeling. The tree badly infested with borers is 
doomed, and would better be cut down.—Good farm¬ 
ing is one of the best methods of combating insects. 
Charles Black, Hightstown : The Crosby peach is 
not worth anything for market, as it has not a good 
appearance, being woolly and unattractive to look at. 
It is excellent for home use. 
The President, Dr J. B. Ward : A commendable ad¬ 
vance has been made in the increasing number of 
intelligent, well-educated horticulturists. All our 
country needs is knowledge.—The experiments in 
vacant lot farming may well be considered a valuable 
object lesson to farmers generally.—Let us be more 
careful in making experiments and recording them, 
and less backward in bringing them to the knowledge 
of our brother farmers. 
J. B. Rogers, Newark : Few awards at the recent 
Trenton Interstate Fair could have borne competition 
with the vacant lot exhibits at New York ; and almost 
the only fertilizer used was street sweepings. 
J. W. Kerr, Denton, Md. (self-styled, a “plum 
crank”) : I don’t know but low prices have done us 
fruit-growers a good turn by compelling us to im¬ 
prove all classes of fruit.—The native plums have 
done the best for me, and they are very profitable 
when pollenized by planting blocks of the various 
groups side by side. For grafting, a better stock than 
Marianna is needed. Seedlings have given bet¬ 
ter results than cuttings for stocks, and seed¬ 
lings of Golden Beauty supply this need very 
well.—I believe that the best chance for future 
improvement of the plum lies in crossing the 
best natives with the best and most profitable 
Japanese sorts, special attention being given to 
size, form and habits of the parent varieties. I 
don’t care for the pure Japanese sorts ; but in 
any locality and on any soil where one would 
plant peaches, the native plums may be planted 
with complete assurance of two crops of plums 
to one of peaches, every time.—Yellow plums 
are not wanted, and one might as well feed them 
to the pigs as to try to market them.—The New¬ 
man is excellent as a fertilizer for Wild Goose, 
and is very good for Milton. 
Dr. Byron D. Halsted, State Botanist: No 
other rust is so overwhelming in its attacks £s 
the lately-appearing asparagus rust. The two 
prompt and decisive measures imperative to its 
check, are the use of an insecticide at mid-sum¬ 
mer to kill the rust already present, and the 
burning of every particle of brush in autumn, 
to prevent further attacks. 
W. A. Manda, South Orange : It is every man’s 
duty to raise his family outside the city, for 99 
per cent of our men of brains were country 
boys.—We can grow bulbs just as well here as 
they can in Europe, if we grow them in the right 
place. We can grow seeds just as well here, under the 
right conditions.—If a sport throws back, it is very 
likely to do so in its early stages, say, the first year. 
Horace Roberts, Fellowship : Do consumers want 
good fruit ? Yes, assuredly. Do they want good 
fruit most ? No, they take the handsome fruit every 
time. In market, the most attractive fruit takes first 
grade, the best fruit, second grade, so that a first- 
