1»13. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
603 
Chautauqua System for Grape Training. 
Considerable interest is usually mani¬ 
fested at every gathering of grape grow¬ 
ers as to the best method for putting up 
on the wire the Concord vine. Scarcely 
any two grape districts in this and other 
States employ the same system. In 
certain ones the growers are generally 
satisfied with the prevailing one used 
there, while in others much dissatisfac¬ 
tion is felt with the one commonly met 
with. This desire for change arises in 
some instances from a belief that some 
other system will return either larger 
yields, a better displacement of the 
hearing wood, simplicity in pruning, bet¬ 
ter quality of fruit, a more equable 
growth, lessened old wood, a carrying 
of the growing shoots away from the 
ground, thus facilitating cultivation, the 
securing of better air drainage, the 
abolition of Summer tying or the simpli¬ 
fying of spraying and harvesting. While 
it is true that several of the various 
systems possess one or more of these 
merits in greater degree than some 
other, yet the system has not been des¬ 
cribed that possesses anywhere near all 
of the good characters demanded, and 
it is very doubtful if ever it will be. 
It is also quite likely that in many 
growers’ minds the value of type train¬ 
ing is over-estimated, as no system in 
itself can ever make an unproductive 
variety or vineyard productive and it 
is only when the best system for the 
variety in question is adopted and the 
best vineyard practices followed, that 
the method of training becomes an im¬ 
portant factor. 
The Chautauqua or Arm system of 
training was used, in its beginning for 
putting up the Concord about the Lake 
Erie “Grape Belt.” Since then its use 
has been extended to include all the va¬ 
rieties grown in that region. The fact 
that this wide use was made may in 
some manner be responsible for the 
limitation of the successful growing of 
varieties to the Concord. Until we 
know more of the adaptability of va¬ 
rieties to special modes of training we 
must accept the teachings of the earlier 
experimenters and writers on this phase 
of grape growing. 
The trellis for the Chautauqua system 
consists of two or three wires, usually 
two, though in some seasons of short 
wood growth three would be better. 
The lower wire is placed at variable 
distances from the ground, ranging 
from 20 to 30 inches and sometimes 
even more. When two wires are used 
they are usually placed from two to 
three feet apart. If three there is usu¬ 
ally about 20 inches between them. 
Quite frequently the wires are raised 
or lowered to meet conditions of growth 
from season to season. The three-wire 
trellis for the present season would be 
very desirable owing to the shortened 
wood growth. It is the usual practice 
to cut the vine back to a spur of two 
or three buds when planting, and like¬ 
wise at the close of the first season’s 
growth, in order that a good root sys¬ 
tem may be firmly established. How¬ 
ever, some growers tie up the second 
year one or two canes along a wire 
placed 15 or 18 inches from the ground, 
and allow them to fruit, but the former 
practice is the more general ancV the 
better. When this is done the young 
vine is pruned to two of the strongest 
canes at the end of the second grow¬ 
ing season. It is good practice when 
following this method to put on the 
lower wire in the early part of the 
second season, and then when the shoots 
have grown long enough tie them up to 
it. Quite frequently fruit will set on 
the shoots this season, but all such 
should be picked off early and not al¬ 
lowed to mature. The second wire is 
put on at the beginning of the third 
season and if the vines have made good 
strong growth they can be trimmed to 
two canes that will reach the upper 
wire when carried obliquely to it. 
Sometimes these canes are twisted two 
or three times around the lower wire 
before they are carried to the top. This 
practice is not to be recommended, but 
it may be desirable to wind once around 
the lower wire and then carry the cane 
up. As one of these canes eventually 
becomes the permanent trunk and one 
of the arms, the shaping at this time 
facilitates later training. At the same 
time it distributes the weight upon the 
two wires, and the canes are held more 
firmly. If the vine did not make strong 
growth the previous season but one and 
sometimes no canes are put up the third 
season. In the latter event everything 
is cut back to one or two spurs on the 
trunk near the level of the lower wire. 
At the end of the third season shoots 
will have developed at nearly every 
side along the two canes tied up. Four 
or five of the best matured medium¬ 
sized canes are selected of these, and 
so placed that there will be sufficient 
space between them and still spring 
from close to the head of the vine so 
that there will be no long arms with 
canes at their ends. These arms are 
to serve for several years as a frame¬ 
work for future building. It is cus¬ 
tomary at this time to cut away entirely 
one of the canes that was put up the 
third season from near the ground. 
One stem is more desirable than two for 
the reason that there is less old wood, 
and two stems are quite likely to be in 
the way of cultivation. Two of the 
four or five canes that make our vine 
for the fourth season are carried 
obliquely to the upper wire from a point 
on the other cane just below the level 
of the lower. One of these canes will 
become the permanent arm for that side 
of the vine the succeeding year, the 
canes that have developed on it being 
chosen as already mentioned for the 
other side or arm. Our vine now con¬ 
sists of a short stem reaching to nearly 
the level of the lower wire, and two 
permanent or (at least so far a few 
years) arms upon which are borne the 
fruiting canes. It is good practice at 
frequent intervals, that is 10 or 15-year 
periods, to grow a renewal from the 
ground and cut the old trunks away. 
More frequently the old arms should 
be entirely cut away and new ones 
allowed to develop. The fruiting wood 
is obtained from year to year from 
canes that grow from adventitious buds 
along the arms, from the canes tied up 
the year previous, and from spurs upon 
the arms left for the purpose of re¬ 
newal. There is a tendency for the 
arms to lengthen and for canes to de¬ 
velop to their best at the extremities of 
the arm so that the vine has a sprawl¬ 
ing appearance, but careful attention 
to heading in each year will in a great 
measure check this tendency. If in the 
beginning the canes are wound once 
around the lower wire the only tying 
necessary each year is to the upper. 
After a few years the arms will become 
stiff enough to support themselves. 
In pruning the vine trained to the 
Chautauqua system, the canes are cut 
full long and after they are tied the 
tops are clipped close to the upper wire. 
As a rule but one tying is necessary 
except in cases of severe winds when 
the vines have to be retied in many 
cases. The tie material usually used is 
fine wire cut to the proper length. This 
is twisted around the cane and wire. 
This often causes a girdle at the point 
of contact and allows the cane to drop, 
but usually the tendrils have caught to 
the wire sufficiently to support the load. 
String is used by many, although it is 
more expensive in first cost, yet when 
the amount of retying is considered it 
compares favorably with wire and cer¬ 
tainly girdling is less frequent. The 
advantages of the Chatauqua system 
are in the simplified tying, the possibility 
of frequent renewal of trunk and arms, 
the disposition of the growing parts so 
that spraying is facilitated, and the ease 
with which the system can be adjusted to 
meet existing conditions. Its chief draw¬ 
back is the tendency for the best canes to 
be developed at the extremities of the 
arms and canes where it cannot be 
utilized to the best advantage for the 
succeeding crop. The photograph shown 
on page 5 O 7 shows a vine seven years set 
with the fruiting canes tied up for 
the season of 1913. The two center 
canes have arisen from a spur left the 
season previous. Short spurs are to be 
seen on the arms from which desira¬ 
ble canes may develop the present sea¬ 
son for putting up in 1914. If the cen¬ 
ter canes develop suitable growth one 
of them at least may replace one of 
the older arms, it being laid down on 
the wire and canes tied up from it. 
One of the arms, that is the one to the 
left, is the same age as the trunk, the 
other is a year younger. The picture 
does not represent natural sizes. 
F. E. GLADWIN. 
Yellow 7 Swan Peach.— In reply to your 
Inquiry about the Yellow Swan peach some 
weeks ago, I would say that I am growing 
It in Ulster County, N. Y. I secured the 
stock from Texas and find it to be per¬ 
fectly adapted to Southern New York. It 
Is a medium-sized, delicious yellow peach, 
as hardy as the Greensboro, but a few days 
later in ripening. It is of fine shape and 
color when properly thinned and attended 
to. That and the Greensboro were the 
only ones that gave me any samples last 
Summer as the buds of all other kinds 
were killed by the severe Winter preced¬ 
ing. c. h. p. 
Ulster Park, N. Y. 
When you write advertisers mention Thb 
R. N.-Y. and you’ll got a quick reply and a 
“square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
KODAK 
on the Farm 
There’s a practical, common sense 
use for the Kodak on every well regu¬ 
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a necessity to the business farmer. 
Pictures of stock and poultry to be 
sent to prospective customers, pic¬ 
tures of crops at certain stages of 
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record, pictures of fat or lean cattle 
and hogs and horses as a record of 
certain methods of feeding, pictures 
of buildings that are to be re-modeled, 
pictures of desirable features in other 
peoples buildings—you can use all 
these to advantage in your business. 
And you can make good pictures 
with a Kodak, or with a Brownie and 
can successfully do the developing 
and printing. No dark-room, no 
fragile glass plates. Nothing com¬ 
plicated. 
Ask your dealer to show you the 
goods and give you a catalogue, or 
write us and we will mail catalogue 
without charge and give you the 
address of your nearest Kodak 
dealer. 
EASTMAN KODAK CO., 
387 State St., Rochester, N. Y. 
a 
FUMA 
55 kilH Prairie Dogs. 
Woodchucks, Gophers, 
and Grain Insects. 
“The wheelsof the gods 
grind slow but exceed¬ 
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S“ 'Fiima Carbon Bisulphide”,"'S 
TAYLOK CHEMICAL CO., Penn Yan, NT. Y. 
THE SATURDAY EVENING POST 
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