March, 1920 
19 
HOW TO 
GROW GRAPES 
The Alethods 
oj Planting, Pruning and General Care JJhich Lead to Success 
in the Culture of this Most Productive of Fruits 
M. G. KAINS 
I F you are looking for a fruit that you can 
grow to greater perfection, in greater abun¬ 
dance, with greater satisfaction, in less space 
and with less trouble than any other, let the 
grape be your first choice. It is not generally 
realized that you can plant vines this spring 
and in only sixteen or eighteen months begin 
to get fruit just as he did by the methods 
herein set forth. 
In the fall of 1916 I knew" of a suburban 
home near New York City. As is customary, 
the builders had already scattered their rub¬ 
bish all over the place and the real estate 
people had buried it wdth earth taken from 
the cellar excavation. It w"as a sorry looking 
yard. Nothing was growing on it but the most 
determined w^eeds. Yet in this hopeless earth, 
not worthy of the dignified name of soil, is 
where the owner wanted and now" has a fruit 
garden in which grapes are predominant. 
Planting the Vines 
To offset the handicaps we dug holes as 
large in diameter and as deep as a nail keg 
where each vine, tree and shrub was to be 
placed, and as each plant was set we filled 
these holes with a 
mixture of good 
earth enriched with 
bone meal, rotted 
leaves and wood 
ashes, and threw in 
liberal quantities of 
bones that dogs had 
obligingly left on the 
premises. In each 
case the roots were 
tramped in with my 
full weight as hard 
as I could stamp on 
each heel alternate¬ 
ly. Though some of 
the vines were set in 
the fall and others 
the following spring, 
one lot did as well 
as the other. No 
pruning was done to 
the fall set plants at 
setting time; only in 
the spring, -when all 
were pruned. In 
ever}" case at that 
time (spring) the 
tops of the vines 
were cut back so that 
onlv two or three 
plump buds remained. Thus, all the food 
gathered by the roots was concentrated in one 
to three shoots. Every vine grew' well. 
^^'hen the base of the strongest shoot had 
become more or less woody the other shoots 
were shortened so the food would again be con¬ 
centrated to make the strongest shoot still 
Grapes are perhaps the most productive 
jor the space occupied of all cidtivated 
fruit plants 
Overhead training of the vines makes it easier to get about among them and permits good air 
circidation. At the right of the picture can be seen paper bags covering individual clusters as a 
protection to restdt in better quality fruit 
stronger. The only reason for leaving more 
than one shoot was to guard against loss by 
accident. Beyond tying the shoots as they 
grew to stakes about 8' long and keeping the 
ground hoed more or less—mainly less—dur¬ 
ing the summer, my friend gave no further at¬ 
tention to the vines during the season of 1917. 
The Second Pruning 
Before the first of March, 1918, I pruned 
his vines, the main shoot (or trunk, as it was 
to become) being shortened according to its 
strength. In cases where it w'as sturdy per¬ 
haps a third or a half would be cut off; but 
where weak only tw'o or three buds would be 
left. In the former cases the vines were judged 
to be strong enough to bear more or less fruit; 
in the latter, the idea was to get a strong shoot 
to make a good trunk even though another 
season was required to develop it. As a result 
of this method of treatment and the summer 
handling discussed in the next paragraph, 
eight of the sixteen vines bore fruit, in most 
cases only half a dozen to a dozen clusters, but 
in two instances forty clusters each. Good 
record for vines set only si.xteen months! 
As the new shoots 
grew' in the spring 
of 1918 those that 
bore clusters of blos¬ 
soms were shortened 
so that only tw'O or 
three leaves were left 
beyond the outer¬ 
most cluster on each 
shoot. .\t the same 
time the shoots that 
bore no blossom 
clusters were also 
shortened, in many 
cases to only ont^ 
leaf. This shorten- ^ 
ing was always done ' 
while the shoots 
were so soft that 
they could literally 
be pinched off w’ith 
the thumb and fin¬ 
ger. Thus the maxi¬ 
mum of strength and 
food were directed 
to the developing 
flower or fruit clus¬ 
ter and the stem 
upon which these 
were borne. 
Soon after this 
