Grapevines

“ All intelligent pruning of the grape rests upon the fact that the fruit is borne in a few clusters near the base of the growing shoots of the season, and which spring from wood of last year's growth. It may be said here that a growing, leafy branch [Pg 13] of the grape vine is called a shoot; a ripened shoot is called a cane; a branch or trunk two or more years old is called an arm. Fig. 1 is a shoot as it appears in the northern states in June. The whole shoot has grown within a month, from a bud. As it grew, flower clusters appeared and these are to bear the grapes. ”

“ Clusters ripen better, last longer on the vine, and acquire a more exquisite bloom and flavor in this retirement than if exposed to light as well as to birds and wasps. Not the fruit but the foliage of the grape-vine needs the sun. ”

“ But the best of all climbing or rambling plants, whether for wall or arbour or pergola, is undoubtedly the Grape-Vine. Even when trimly pruned and trained for fruit-bearing on an outer wall it is an admirable picture of leafage and fruit-cluster; but to have it in fullest beauty it must ramp at will, for it is only when the fast-growing branches are thrown out far and wide that it fairly displays its graceful vigour and the generous magnificence of its incomparable foliage. ”

“ The Wild Grape, though not much used, is one of our best native vines. It has the merit of rapid growth, entire hardiness, luxuriant foliage and delightful habit, and when in bloom it has a fragrance that is as exquisite as it is indescribable—one of those vague, elusive, and yet powerful odors so characteristic of spring flowers. You will smell it—the air will be full of it—and yet it will puzzle you to locate it. The wind will blow from you and it will be gone. ”

“ One of the surest of fruit crops is the Grape, a crop each year being reasonably certain after the third year from the time of setting the vines. The Grape does well on any soil that is under good cultivation and well drained. A soil with considerable clay is better under these circumstances than a light, sandy loam. The exposure should be to the sun; and the place should admit of cultivation on all sides. One- or 2-year-old vines should be planted, either in the fall or early spring. At planting the vine is cut back to 3 or 4 eyes, and the roots are well shortened in. ”

“ It was as if a mighty old grapevine, long stripped of fruit and foliage, long fallen away from every living thing, long trailing along the earth—deeply covered with mould and weeds—as if such a mighty, twisted, hard old grapevine were suddenly to put forth strong new tendrils, and, entwining them around a young tree, should thus begin to rise again toward the last light of life's sunset. ”

“ But on the edge of the forest, steeped in sunshine and blest with room, there grows one grape that is purple and one orange that is sweet. And at last all the thousand acid vines and the ten thousand bitter orange-trees perish, while the one purple vine survives, takes feet to itself and journeys to all vineyards, while the orange of the golden heart gets wings for itself and crosses vale and mountain—it could not be otherwise, they are the higher. ”

“ Wherever we walk and ride, we see the wild vine growing luxuriantly amongst the trees (its long branches often covered with fruit) , making delicate green arches and canopies in the darker shade of the woods. The grapes are small, and not so sweet as when cultivated, but the slightly acid flavour is very agreeable in a hot climate. It is sad to see the bunches decaying on the vines, for the people never take the trouble of gathering them to dry for winter consumption. ”

“ In the United States, while widely grown, is of minor importance, ranking sixth among small fruits, being preceded by the strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, cranberry and currant.
Grape (Vitis Labrusca) has a climbing, knotty trunk, which sometimes attains a length of thirty to fifty feet; its leaves have from three to five lobes, and are coarsely serrated; its small, fragrant, greenish blossoms stand in panicles. The fruit of many varieties of vine, which have been produced by cultivation in the course of thousands of years is very different in color, size and flavor. ”

“ You should see by what a world of grape-vines I am encompassed. They climb upon my piazzas, draw a cordon around the walls, besiege every loophole, look in at the chamber windows, and leap from my summer-house to the surrounding boughs, hanging their clusters in the air. I have striven to restrain the last-named class of explorers, and woven them perseveringly in with the lattice-work, but they have an irresistible pioneer spirit. Were the prolific impulses of my vines as strong as their emigrating ones, I might searcely know how to garner their fruits. ”

“ The organs of vine and fruit are distinctive and easily discerned and there are no nearly related plants cultivated for fruit with which the grape can possibly be confused. Botanists, it is true, have dug pitfalls for those who seek exact knowledge as to the names and characters of the many species, but, fortunately, each of the cultivated species constitutes a natural group so distinct that the grape-grower can hardly mistake one for another in either fruit or vine. ”

“ The stem of one species attains a diameter of nearly a foot, bearing its foliage in a great canopy; from this giant form the species vary to sorts with slender, graceful, almost delicate, climbing vines. Wild grapes are quite as varied in climatic adaptations as in structure of vine, and grow luxuriantly and bear fruit in almost every condition of heat or cold, wet or dry, capable of supporting fruit-culture in America. ”

“ The grape vine in the vineyard is not ornamental, but only because its beauty is marred by the formal shapes in which it must be trained to meet the purposes of the cultivator. But as a festoon for an arbor, or for hiding a neglected building, for the porch of the farmhouse, or for any place where a bold or picturesque effect is wanted, or for giving an expression of strength, no vine surpasses some of the varieties of our native grapes. Properly planted they are not only beautiful in themselves but attractive through their suggestiveness. ”

“ The fruit is borne in greater quantity, vine for vine or acre for acre. Added to the above qualities which make it desirable as a parent when crosses are made between the grapes of this country and Vitis vinifera, are comparative hardiness among its kind, a short seasonal cycle of vegetation giving early maturity to fruit, ability to stand more hardships than most of its species, and especially ability to mature its fruit with as small amount of solar heat as any of its species. ”

“ In the Victoria, Cherry, and White Grape, we have decided advances in size, but not in flavor.
CHOICE AND PREPARATION OF SOIL The secret of success in the culture of currants is suggested by the fact that nature has planted nearly every species of the Ribes in cold, damp, northern exposures. Throughout the woods and bogs of the Northern Hemisphere is found the scraggy, untamed, hurdy stock from which has been developed the superb White Grape. As with people, so with plants: development does not eradicate constitutional traits and tendencies. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Then we find large quantities of the grapes so deficient in color and flavor as to be worthless; in some varieties whole bunches will hang flaccid, withered, and insipid—while perhaps a few, more favorably situated, will have their proper flavor. The grape vine is well called beautiful, and it is capable of sustaining most wonderful amounts of fruit; but on young vines, especially, it is very bad policy to allow of this over-production. ”

“ Among the pleasant features of the wayside were always the vines, clambering on fig-trees, or other sturdy trunks; they wreathed themselves in huge and rich festoons from one tree to another, suspending clusters of ripening grapes in the interval between. Under such careless mode of culture, the luxuriant vine is a lovelier spectacle than where it produces a more precious liquor, and is therefore more artificially restrained and trimmed. Nothing can be more picturesque than an old grapevine, with almost a trunk of its own, clinging fast around its supporting tree. ”

“ We have, what they lack, real sunshine, with clear skies. Under the English methods of treatment, our graperies and green-houses would speedily be ruined. Nor are we willing to accept as final and conclusive the present best-known methods of vine culture. If there are better modes of managing exotic or native vines, and of developing the whole theory of grape culture, we shall be quite sure to find them out in the wide sweep of experiment which we are boldly and patiently undertaking in various parts of the country. ”

“ Prater sailing on the Chattahoochee, feasting on grapes that had dropped from the overhanging vines. This remarkable species of wild grape has a stout stem, sometimes five or six inches in diameter, smooth bark and hard wood, quite unlike any other wild or cultivated grapevine that I have seen. The grapes are very large, some of them nearly an inch in diameter, globular and fine flavored. Usually there are but three or four berries in a cluster, and when mature they drop off instead of decaying on the vine. ”

“ It is true that a grape vine may be allowed to produce too many branches and leaves for the fullest development of the fruit, and the proper time to guard against this is when the buds are starting into growth, by rubbing out all superfluous eyes or buds as they begin to push forth. But it is not true that the clusters of grapes require to be exposed to the sun’s rays in order that the fruit may be ripened. ”

“ The grape-grower takes great liberties with Nature in training his plants. No other fruit is so completely transformed by the grower's art from its natural habit of growth. Happily, the grape endures cutting well, and the pruner may rest assured that he may work his will in pruning his vines, following to his heart's desire a favorite method with little fear of seriously injuring his vines. ”

“ CHAPTER IV THE VINEYARD AND ORCHARD He who proposes to plant grape-vines will scarcely fail to take the sensible course of inspecting the varieties already producing fruit in his locality. From causes often too obscure to be learned with certainty, excellent kinds will prove to be well adapted to one locality, and fail in others. ”

“ There are no better garden ornaments for foliage than Figs and Vines, and though the needful pruning of a Vine for fruit takes off somewhat of its pictorial value, which depends in some measure on the wide-flung, luscious summer growth and groping tendril, yet in any shape the Grape Vine is a thing of beauty. ”

“ While the grapes were growing, the ancients, following in the track of nature, supposed them to need shade, since the leaves at that time put forth most abundantly, to screen the young fruit from the scorching sun; but when they began to don their gold or purple hues, observing the foliage shrivel and shrink from about them, in order to admit the warm rays to penetrate and pervade the fruit they then stripped the branches and hastened the vintage, [1580] plucking moreover the clusters as they ripened, lest they should drop off and be lost. ”

“ In fact, one might almost have thought time and human ingenuity had assisted nature, for a wild grapevine was so linked from bough to bough between two tall trees as to form a perfect bower, and as if to protect the opening from intrusive onlookers, a sort of chevaux-de-frise of tall ferns waved their graceful banners up to meet the drooping lengths of vine waving from the tree. ”

“ Leaf, fruit and vine have been favorite subjects for reproduction by ornamentalists of all ages. As yet, however, it is seldom seen in cultivated landscapes except to secure shade and seclusion.
Grown for æsthetic purposes, the grape is seldom fruitful, for the vines can rarely be cultivated or deprived of their luxuriant growth as in the vineyard. Nevertheless, grapes grown as ornamentals can be trained so as to serve the double purpose of ornamental and fruit-bearing plant. Grown on the sides of a building, the grape often can be made to bear large crops of choicely fine fruit. ”

“ The grape vine abounds on the bottoms, and grows to a prodigious size, ascending to the tops of the loftiest trees. The passenger, gliding down the river in the summer, is amused and delighted with the appearance of these vines on the upper branches and tops of the trees, forming large canopies, festoons, arbours, grottoes, with numerous other fantastic figures. ”

“ The range of varieties as to hardiness falls within that of the species, and cultivated varieties hardier than the wild grape are not found. Grapes are designated in descriptions of varieties and species as hardy, half-hardy and tender.
Habit of growth varies but little with changing conditions and is thus an important means of distinguishing species and varieties and not infrequently stamps the variety as fit or unfit for the vineyard. Habit of growth gives aspect to the vine. Thus, a vine may be upright, drooping, horizontal, stocky, straggling, spreading, dense or open. ”