L. H. Bailey

“ There are many men who can remember its beginning in a commercial way. It seldom occurs to the younger generation, which is familiar with the [Pg 6] great vineyards in many states, that the Concord is yet scarcely forty years old, and that all grape growing in eastern America is yet in an experimental stage. Progress has been so rapid in recent years that the new methods outstrip the books. The old horizontal arm spur system, which is still the chief method in the books, has evolved itself into a high renewal training, which is widely used but which has not found its way into the manuals. ”

“ The pruning of the grape vine, therefore, is essentially [Pg 15] a thinning process. In the winter pruning, all the canes of the last season's growth are cut away except from two to six, which are left to make the fruit and wood of the next year; and each of these remaining canes is headed back to from three to ten buds. The number and length of the canes which are left after the pruning depend upon the style of training which is practiced. A vine which may completely cover a trellis in the fall, will be cut back so severely that a novice will fear that the plant is ruined. ”

“ Varieties may thrive equally well upon the same general system of training, but require minor modifications; so it comes that no hard and fast lines can be laid down, either for any system or any variety. One system differs from another in some one main principle or idea, but the modifications of all may meet and blend. If two men practice the Kniffin system, therefore, this fact does not indicate that they prune and train their vines exactly alike. It is impossible to construct rules for grape training ”

“ Each shoot will bear, on an average, two or three clusters. Some shoots will bear no clusters. From one to six of the old canes, each bearing from five to ten buds, are left each spring. The number of clusters which a vine can carry well depends upon the variety, the age and size of the vine, the style of the training, and the soil and cultivation. Experience is the only guide. A strong vine of Concord, which is a prolific variety, trained upon any of the ordinary systems and set nine or ten feet apart each way, will usually carry from thirty to sixty clusters. ”

“ The High Renewal, or upright training which is now very extensively employed in the lake regions of New York and elsewhere, starts the head or branches of the vine from eighteen to thirty inches from the ground. The ideal height for most varieties is probably about two feet to the first wire, although thirty inches is better than eighteen. If the vines are lower than two feet, they are liable to be injured by the plow or cultivator, the earth is dashed against the clusters by heavy rains, and if the shoots become loose they strike the ground and the grapes are soon soiled. ”

“ The upright training distributes the bearing wood more evenly upon the vine and is thought, therefore, to insure more uniform fruit, it keeps the top near the root, which is sometimes thought to be an advantage, and it is better suited to the stature of the small-growing varieties. There is, perhaps, a greater temptation to neglect the vines in the drooping systems than in the others, because the shoots need no tying and do not, therefore, demand frequent attention; while in the upright systems the shoots soon become broken or displaced if not watched. ”

“ If the vine is still vigorous, it will probably pay to grow an entirely new top by taking out a cane from the root. If the old top is cut back severely for a year or two, this new cane will make a vigorous growth, and it can be treated essentially like a new or young vine. If it is very strong and ripens up well, it can be left long enough the first fall to make the permanent trunk; but if it is rather weak and soft, it should be cut back in the fall or winter to two or three buds, from one of which the permanent trunk is to be grown the second season. ”

“ This fact does not appear to have been apprehended clearly by the early American grape-growers, even after the native varieties had begun to gain prominence. American viticulture, aside from that upon the Pacific slope which is concerned with the European grape, is an industry of very recent development. It was little more than [Pg 10] a century ago that the first American variety gained favor, and so late as 1823 that the first definite attempt was made, in Adlum's "Memoir on the Cultivation of the Vine in America," to record the merits of native grapes for purposes of cultivation. ”

“ It is the only book accessible to American horticulture which gives the reasons, discouragements, possibilities and limitations of Cross-Breeding. Every man who owns a plant should have it, if for no other reason than to post himself upon one of the leading practices of the day. ”

“ In Delaware and other weak-growing varieties, twenty or twenty-five buds to the vine should be the maximum and only two canes should be left. In short-jointed varieties, the canes are usually cut to the desired length—four to six feet—even if too great a number of buds is left, but the shoots which spring from these extra buds are broken out soon after they start. A Delaware vine which has made an unusually short or weak growth will require fewer buds to be left for next year's top than a neighboring vine of the same variety which has made a strong growth. ”

“ Some kind of training is essential, for a vine will not often bear good fruit when it lies upon the ground. In essence, there are three general types or styles of training, which may be designated as the upright, drooping and horizontal, these terms designating the direction of the bearing shoots. The upright systems carry two or more canes or arms along a low horizontal wire, or sometimes obliquely across a trellis from below upwards, and the shoots are tied up as they grow to the wires above. ”

“ Training the grape vine is practiced for the purpose of keeping the vine in convenient shape and to allow each cluster to receive its full amount of space and light. A well trained vine is easily cultivated and sprayed, and the grapes are readily harvested, and it is only upon such vines that the best and fairest fruit is uniformly produced. ”

“ The fundamental principles of pruning are alike for both European and American grapes, but the details of pruning and training must be greatly modified for different species. We must understand at the outset that American species of grapes demand an American system of treatment. ”

“ Pruning and training the grape are perplexed questions, even to those who have spent a lifetime in grape growing. The perplexity arises from several diverse sources, as the early effort to transplant European methods, the fact that many systems present almost equally good results for particular purposes and varieties, and the failure to comprehend the fundamental principles of the operations. ”

“ When pruning time arrives, the entire bearing cane of the present year, with all its laterals, is cut away at a point near where the young renewal shoots have started, and these shoots are shortened back, according to strength of vine; some, such as Herbemont, being able at four years to fill four shoots six or eight feet long with fine fruit, while Delaware could not well carry over three or four feet each way of one shoot only. ”

“ As a rule, too much wood must be allowed to grow, and the soil about arbors is rarely ever cultivated. Still, fair results in fruit can be obtained if the operator makes a diligent use of the pruning shears. It is usually best to carry one main or permanent trunk up to the top or center of the arbor. Along this trunk at intervals of two feet or less, spurs may be left to which the wood is renewed each year. If the vines stand six feet apart about the arbor—which is a satisfactory distance—one cane three feet long may be left on each spur when the pruning is done. ”

“ A strong stake is driven in the ground behind each vine, standing as high as the top of the trellis when set. The permanent trunk or head of the vine stands about a foot high. The vine is renewed back to the top of this trunk every year. One cane is left at each pruning, which, when tied up to the stake, is as high as the trellis. From this perpendicular cane, the bearing shoots are carried out horizontally. About six of these shoots are allowed to grow upon either side of the cane. As the shoots grow, they are tied to perpendicular slats which are fastened on the wires. ”

“ The strong varieties, especially those making long and drooping canes, are well adapted to the Kniffin styles; but the smaller sorts, and those stronger sorts which, like Catawba, make an upright and stocky growth, are usually trained upon the upright systems. But the merits of both systems are so various and even so little understood, that it is impossible to recommend either one unqualifiedly. ”

“ These superfluous shoots are pulled off from time to time as they appear, or the buds may be rubbed off before the shoots begin to grow.
The heading-in of the main canes, while desirable for the purpose of keeping the vine within bounds, is apt to cause a growth of laterals which choke up the vine and which do not mature, and in those styles of training in which very little wood is allowed to grow, the practice may prevent the development of a sufficient amount of leaf surface to properly sustain the vine. Vines are often weakened by summer pruning. ”

“ There are serious objections to spurs in any position. They become hard and comparatively lifeless after a time, it is often difficult to replace them by healthy fresh wood, and the bearing portion of [Pg 18] the vine is constantly receding from the main trunk. The bearing wood should spring from near the central portions of the vine, or be kept "near the head," as the grape-growers say. In order to do this, it is customary to allow two canes to grow out each year back of the canes A 1 and B 1, or from the head of the vine; these canes may be designated C and D. (Fig. 3.) ”

“ In setting posts on hillsides, it is a common practice to lean them slightly uphill, for there is always a tendency for the posts to tilt down the slope. For the Kniffin systems, especially for the strong-growing grapes, the posts must stand six or six and one-half feet high when set, but a foot less will usually be sufficient for the upright and horizontal systems. The posts should stand higher at first than is necessary for the support of the wires, for they will need to be driven down occasionally as they become loose. ”

“ Hard, smooth wood of medium size usually gives better results than the very large and softer canes which are sometimes produced on soils rich in nitrogenous manures. This large and overgrown wood is known as a "bull cane." A cane does not attain its full growth the first year, but will increase in diameter during the second season. ”

“ Renewals from the ground are now little used, however, for they seldom give a sufficient crop unless they are headed in the first fall and are allowed to bear the second year. It should be borne in mind that the spur and renewal methods refer entirely to pruning, not to training, for either one can be used in [Pg 19] any system of training. Spur pruning, however, is growing in disfavor amongst commercial grape-growers, and the renewal is more or less used in all systems of training.
4. SPUR.
Fig. ”

“ The old trunk should be cut away as soon as the new one is permanently tied to the wires, that is, at the close of either the first or second season of the new trunk. Care must be exercised to rub off all sprouts which spring from the old root or stump. If this stump can be cut back into the ground and covered with earth, better results may be expected. Old vines treated in this manner often make good plants, but if the vines are weak and the soil is poor, the trouble will scarcely pay for itself. ”

“ Later in the season the whole vineyard becomes a great arbor, and a person standing at a distance sees an almost impenetrable mass of herbage, as in fig. 32. This system appears to have little merit, and will always remain local in application. It possesses the advantage of economy in construction of the trellis, for very slender posts are used, even at the ends of the [Pg 77] rows. The end posts are either braced by a pole or anchored by a wire taken from the top and secured to a stake or stone eight or ten feet beyond, outside the vineyard.
31. CROSS-WIRE TRAINING.
32. ”

“ As a matter of practice, however, the wires soon stretch and sag enough with the burden of fruit and vines to take up the winter contraction, and most growers do not release the wires in fall. It will be found necessary, in fact, to tighten the wires and to straighten up the posts from year to year, as they become loose. It is always a profitable labor to tamp the ground firmly about all the posts every spring. The wires should always be kept tight during the growing season to prevent the whipping of the vines by wind. ”

“ This High Renewal training, like all the low upright systems, allows the vines to be laid down easily in winter, which is an important consideration in many parts of Canada and in the colder northern states. ”

“ It is sufficient condemnation of European methods when applied in eastern America, to say that the American grapes are distinct species from the European grapes, and that they are consequently different in habit. ”

“ Into this stub insert two cions exactly as for cleft-grafting the apple. Cions of two or three buds, of firm wood the size of a lead-pencil, should be inserted. The top bud should stand above the ground. The cleft will need no tying nor wax, although it is well to place a bit of waxed cloth or other material over the wound to keep the soil out of it. Fill the earth tightly about it. Fig. 37 shows the first year's growth from two cions of Niagara set in a Red Wyoming root. Great care must be taken in any pruning which is done this first year, or the cions may be loosened. ”

“ The different varieties are set at various distances apart, according as they are strong or weak growers.
33. MUNSON TRAINING. END VIEW.
"Thus the trellis and system of pruning are reduced to the simplest form. A few cuts to each vine cover all the pruning, and a few ties complete the task. A novice can soon learn to do the work well. The trunk or main stem is secured to the middle lower wire, along which all bearing canes are [Pg 81] tied after pruning, and from which the young laterals which produce the crop are to spring. ”