Practical papers—Grape Growing. 
3§3 
a moment to it. Three years since, in trying to remove a large 
tendril which had reached out and was clasping a neighboring 
shoot and its cluster, I naturally found I could not break it. 
Applying the knife and carefully untwining it, the shoot and 
cluster were saved from being strangled. The question at once 
arose: Why pinch the laterals to save superfluous growth, and 
allow this waste of nutrition in the growth of this tough, wire¬ 
like tendril which is entirely useless? Acting at once upon 
the thought, I removed the tendrils from my vines, and have since 
continued to do so, to the evident benefit of fruit and vine. 
Within the past few weeks I have met with the confirmation of 
my theory and practice in the following : 
“The tendrils of climbing plants, as is well known since Mr. Darwin’s dis¬ 
coveries, are continually making circuits to find something to cling to. The 
grape-vine tendril is among the slowest in this rotary motion, making a cir¬ 
cuit once in about three hours. A recent writer in an English periodical 
notes the additional fact that if after about ten days the tendril finds nothing to 
cling to, the motion not only ceases, as Mr. Darwin says, but it soon after dies; 
whereas the one which finds something early in its search lives the entire 
season, dying only with the leaves as winter comes. Of course, this comes 
down to a question of nutrition. * * * Referring to Darwin’s discovery 
of tendril motion, he shows that all motion must take food to maintain it, and 
useless motion must be a heavy draft on the nutrition and consequent vital 
power of the vine. When running over trees, the tendrils find support as 
soon as formed, and thus a great waste of nutrition is arrested and more is af¬ 
forded for regular growth. This explanation will, perhaps, meet this ques¬ 
tion of life or death in the tendrils referred to. The tendril, after a ten days’ 
fruitless search for something to cling to, exhausts itself and perishes, and be 
cause it is thus exhausted it dies within so short a time.” 
We here see that tendril growth is very rapid, and though al¬ 
lotted but ten days of life, it consumes a great amount of the nu¬ 
triment of the vine. They will frequently be seen ten or twelve 
inches in length and very large where they have found nothing 
to clasp. They should be removed entire as soon as they start— 
except on bearing vines, where they should be allowed to remain 
until all the blossom buds are formed ; for we must not forget 
that “ every bunch of grapes commences its formation as a ten¬ 
dril,” the premature removal of which would rob us of fruit. 
Let me here add the caution, not to touch the vine while in 
blossom, for any purpose, if it can be avoided, lest the process of 
fertilization be disturbed. 
