Iiill ; : Hill 
 
 
 
 -■ ■! : 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 ; 
 
fw ^ F^wy^P" «* »p""HPw i ipw |P W ■ln |l,l «P llll 'P l " ,l P"" l ip M,1 iP""l 
 
 i No ' i 
 
 I LIBRARY 
 
 t ... M J 
 
 ► N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION. | 
 
 EXECUTIVE OFFICE 
 
 I ;/«?// I 
 
 ^ Purchased j 
 
 & all Hili Hllii....iillli illliiH..iillli iiMIUhhiUIIi iiiUii. .iillimiiia'iiii'liiiiiiAi^ulillimA ulilUuJ 
 
 SB388 
 
 M65 
 
 1867 
 
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE DATE 
 INDICATED BELOW AND IS SUB- 
 JECT TO AN OVERDUE FINE AS 
 POSTED AT THE CIRCULATION 
 DESK. 
 
 ILL (*3SJJ(*>^ 
 |6> A^^ 
 
THE GRAPE VINE 
 
 A PRACTICALLY SCIENTIFIC TREATISE ON 
 
 ITS MANAGEMENT. 
 
 EXPLAINED FROM HIS OWN EXPERIENCES AND RESEARCHES, IN A THOROUGH 
 
 AND INTELLIGIBLE MANNER, FOR VINETARDISTS AND AMATEURS IN 
 
 GARDEN AND VINE CULTURE, 
 
 BY 
 
 FREDERICK MOHR, 
 
 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY AND MEDICINE, ETC. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN, AND ACCOMPANIED WITH HUNTS ON THE 
 PROPAGATION AND GENERAL TREATMENT OF AMERICAN VARIETIES, 
 
 BY 
 
 HORTICOLA. 
 
 NEW-YORK: 
 
 ORANGE JUDD & COMPANY, 
 
 41 PARK ROW. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by 
 
 ORANGE JUDD & CO. 
 
 At the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
 Southern District of New-York. 
 
 Lovkjot & Son, 
 
 Electbotypers and Stereotypics. 
 
 15 Vandewater street N. Y. 
 
PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 To popularize the results of modern science concerning 
 the cultivation of the grape-vine, is the object which I 
 desire to accomplish by publishing this work. For this 
 purpose the subject required to be reached from two direc- 
 tions — the earnest study of the sciences, and the practical 
 cultivation of the vine. Progress made by mere practice, 
 is slow and uncertain ; science is too far removed from 
 life. Botli must be united to produce a material benefit. 
 In the works extant, generally but one of the two stand- 
 points has been kept in view. 
 
 My native city is so situate that I, with one hand, can 
 dip the water of the Rhine, with the other, that of the 
 Moselle — those two rivers, on the banks of which the 
 noblest vines are produced. 
 
 The exclusively practical works, so abundant in our 
 literature, could not give me satisfaction. The connec- 
 tion of cause and effect is not clearly understood ; thus 
 the explanation could not be otherwise than erroneous. 
 What mere practice could effect, has been done long ago ; 
 without the guidance of science, improvement had become 
 impossible. 
 
 I have cultivated the vine practically, following JTecht, 
 and I have reason to boast of my success. Kechfs ar- 
 3 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 rangement, however, and his manner of treating the sub- 
 ject leave much to be desired. He distinguishes in a 
 vine eleven different things, some of which are the natural 
 products of the vine, viz. : shoots and tendrils; others are 
 the products of the hand of man, viz. : spurs and arms. 
 This causes confusion. 
 
 The explanation of the growth of the vine, as well as its 
 anatomy, as given in this book, is entirely new. The 
 chapter on manuring has assumed a form altogether dif- 
 ferent from that in other books. It was all-important to 
 elucidate fully the causes for pruning, and to show why it 
 has to be performed in the manner described, and in no 
 other, because, without this example, custom and authority 
 cannot be supplanted. 
 
PREFACE OF THE TRANSLATOR. 
 
 The translation of the treatise which we offer to the 
 American public, is the first part of Dr. Frederic Mohr's 
 work On the Treatment of the Grape-vine and on Wine- 
 making {Der WeinstocJc und der Wein.) The author is 
 one of the greatest chemists of the age. That Justus 
 Liebeg is one of his intimate personal friends, is well 
 known, and evident from the fact that he wrote the second 
 part of Dr. Mohr's standard work on Chemical Analysis 
 'by Measure {die Titrir Methode), detailing the analysis of 
 soils. It has not often been the case that scientific qualifi- 
 cations and practical skill have been so happily united as we 
 admire them in Dr. Mohr, whose preface explains his stand- 
 point as well as the object he seeks to accomplish, that 
 is, the explanation and practical application to viticulture 
 of the results of modern science. His book does not in- 
 terfere with any work extant ; it is rather a complement 
 to all of them, as its object is to explain the principles of 
 viticulture, and describes only a few methods of training for 
 the sake of illustration. In Germany, it is considered as the 
 best and most thorough book on the Culture of the Grape 
 vine among their many works on the same subject. 
 In a recent letter to me, Dr. Edw. Lucas, the great 
 Pomologist, whom I had requested to give me a list of 
 5 
 
VI PKEFACE. 
 
 the best books on viticulture, says : "Dr. Mohr's book is 
 the most thorough and best of all." It does not need my 
 I • raise ; it will speak for itself. 
 
 Although the second part of the original On Wine- 
 making js as important as the first, yet I concluded to 
 separate the two, as there are many more persons inter- 
 ested in the cultivation of the vine than in making wine. 
 I shall, however, commence the translation of the second 
 part very soon. 
 
 In regard to the hints on the propagation and the gen- 
 eral treatment of American varieties which I have added, 
 I hope to meet the wants of many readers. Being very 
 far from assuming the task of giving instruction, I wish 
 only to encourage such as may feel disposed to devote 
 part of their leisure hours to a branch of horticulture 
 which is as pleasant as it is useful. 
 
 I cannot let this occasion pass, without expressing my 
 admiration of the great zeal and enthusiasm with which 
 viticulture is pursued in this country at present. The 
 names of Longworth and Underhill will, in the history of 
 American Grape Culture, never be forgotten. But it is 
 chiefly due to the indefatigable exertions of Dr. C. W? 
 Grant, of Iona, that, especially at the East, the love for 
 viticulture was awakened, and is now so irresistibly spread- 
 ing. The labors of the editors of the Horticultural Maga- 
 zines, Messrs. Mead, Woodward, Meehan, Hovey and 
 Tilton, and those of the editors of the Agricultural Peri- 
 odicals, such as the American Agriculturist, the Country 
 Gentleman, and others, can not be too highly appreciated. 
 Dr. Grant's Illustrated Catalogues and Manual of 
 Grape Culture, have had the most happy influence on 
 spreading sound views on the treatment of the grape 
 among large numbers of people. 
 
 Andrew S. Fuller's Grape Culturist appeared at the 
 right time. It is a full, clear exposition of all that is, 
 needed for practical success. The author treats the sub- 
 
PREFACE. Vn 
 
 ject in so lucid and comprehensive a manner, that his book 
 will be used for a long time to come. The works of 
 Ernst, Muench, Strong, Husmann, and others, will continue 
 doing good wherever they are known. 
 
 I have abstained from interrupting Dr. Mohr's text by 
 inserting remarks except in one or two places; the chapter 
 on mildew I shortened, omitting what relates to arrange- 
 ments to be made in towns and villages against the 
 Oidium, because those arrangements are utterly impracti- 
 cable in this country. 
 
 I am in the habit of contributing occasionally some 
 trifles to several of our Horticultural magazines under the 
 nom-de-plume Hortlcola. They have been received by the 
 horticultural public in the spirit in which I wrote them ; 
 to collect and establish facts, is the only aim I have in 
 view. I hope some may profit by my little success, and 
 be saved from disappointment by my failures ; for I state 
 both, frankly and candidly. In order not to mislead any 
 body that knows me under my nom-de-plume, I retain it 
 on the title of this translation. The praise this little book 
 merits, belongs to Dr. Mohr ; all I claim for my hints is 
 the indulgence of the readers. 
 
 Charles Siedhof, 
 
 Weehawken, JV. J. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 The Grape Vine 9 
 
 Development and Structure of the Vine 12 
 
 The Node 12 
 
 The Branch. 15 
 
 Reasons for Pruning 21 
 
 Pruning the Vine 25 
 
 Training on Trellises 26 
 
 Treatment of the Vine in Summer 32 
 
 Grape Vine Plantations 39 
 
 Vines Trainedalong the Garden Walk 39 
 
 Trellises on Walls 42 
 
 Free Trellises 44 
 
 Vines Trained to Trellises 48 
 
 Bronner's Method 49 
 
 Time Required for Covering a Trellis 55 
 
 Manuring the Vine 57 
 
 Age of the Vineyard , 69 
 
 The Rising Sap in the Vine 73 
 
 The Grape Disease *! 76 
 
 Treatment of Vines Injured by Frost S3 
 
 Implements 86 
 
 Proper Time to Perform Work on the Vine 90 
 
 Constituents of the Vine and their Distribution 94 
 
 Propagation of the Vine 99 
 
 " By Layers 100 
 
 " By Cuttings 102 
 
 " By Grafting Ill 
 
 " By Inarching 113 
 
 " By Seeds US 
 
 Hybridization 117 
 
 American Varieties— General Management 119 
 
 " " Planting 119 
 
 Pruning 122 
 
 " " Pinching 125 
 
 " " Covering in Fall 126 
 
 8 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 The grape vine is, among the plants, what the horse is 
 among animals, — one of the most precious boons nature has 
 given to man. It follows him to climates of a very different 
 character, and admirably rewards him for all the trouble 
 devoted to it. As in the horse, everything in the grape 
 vine is beautiful and noble. The delicately shaped leaves, 
 the fragrant blossoms, the delicious grapes, extend their 
 development over the whole year, except during the severe 
 months of winter, and require uninterrupted and careful 
 treatment by the hand of man. The grape vine grows on 
 the rocky hill, and in the fertile garden, trails on the 
 ground and climbs to the roofs of houses. By training it 
 may be kept as a small shrub, or made to cover a surface 
 of a thousand square feet. 
 
 The grape vine changes its character, and adapts itself 
 in a wonderful manner to every country, that affords it 
 the necessary warmth. With facility it produces, in the 
 hand of man, new varieties, which conform themselves to 
 all circumstances. The difference' in the varieties is as 
 great as in tne various races of dogs. The berry varies 
 in size from that of a large pea to that of a cherry ; its 
 color is green, yellow, flesh color, red, blue, and black. 
 Sweetness and acidity are mixed in the most varying pro- 
 portions ; its aroma is unsurpassed. 
 
 The grape is decidedly the most noble of fruits ; it is 
 sweeter than any other, and the admixture of a little acid 
 9 1* 
 
10 THE GEAPB VINE. 
 
 lenders it exceedingly delicious. The liquid contents of 
 the grape elevates it above the hard apple. It is the only 
 fruit of our climate which is drunk, rather than eaten. Fi- 
 nally, the fermented juice of the grape, the wine, prolongs 
 the time of the enjoyment of it for a series of years. For 
 these reasons, the treatment or the grape vine and of wine 
 have frequently, been the object of human care, and even 
 the poets have not felt ashamed to be inspired by it. 
 
 The grape vine is a plant belonging to temperate cli- 
 mates. It is found on the continent within a zone, the 
 northern border of which extends from the British Chan- 
 nel through Northern Germany, to the north of the Black 
 and the Caspian Seas to China ; its southern border is the 
 coast of Northern Africa to Egypt, where the line bends 
 from Suez to the point of the Persian Gulf, not touching 
 the sea coast any more. It does not grow in Arabia and 
 Hindoostan. 
 
 The northern border of the vine region commences at 
 the mouth of the Loire, (47^-° N. L.) Receding from the 
 Ocean, it suddenly bends northward, and extends north 
 of Paris to 50° N. L. ; it enters Belgium between Maest- 
 richt and Liege, and touches near Bonn, at the fifty-first 
 degree of N. L. 
 
 The line runs along the banks of the* Rhine to Mayence, 
 where it passes into the valley of the Maine. Thence it 
 passes through Thuringia, touching the Elbe near Meissen. 
 It readies Greenberg, extending through Guben to Lau- 
 satia, where it reaches the fifty-second degree of N. L. 
 Thence the line bends abruptly towards the south, and in- 
 cludes Bohemia. The borders of the wine region do not 
 coincide with certain isothermal lines, so that not all 
 countries of a certain average warmth are fit for the cul- 
 tivation of the vine. It requires a long, warm summer, 
 and is able to bear a considerable degree of cold in the 
 winter. Although the winters of England are very mild, 
 yet the grape vine does not flourish there, because the 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 11 
 
 summers are not warm enough. The hard frozen soil at 
 Tokay, in Hungaria, does not prevent the production of 
 wine of the greatest excellence. A sea climate is favora- 
 ble to viticulture only in lower latitudes ; in Germany, it 
 extends nearly two degrees further north than in France, 
 situated nearer to the Ocean. Bordeaux, on the Atlantic 
 Ocean, produces wines similar to those produced in Bur- 
 gundy, which is considerably more northward, but inland. 
 
 There are, without those borders, here and there certain 
 places where the vine grows, yet it is, within them, con- 
 fined to certain favorable localities and cannot be grown 
 everywhere. It is remarkable that the most delicious and 
 precious wines are produced, almost exclusively near the 
 northern border of its cultivation. The noble Ahrbleichert, 
 and the Walporzheimer, which rivals the wine of Bordeaux 
 and Burgundy, grow immediately on the northern border 
 of viticulture. Only a few miles further north, the cultiva- 
 tion of the vine in vineyards ceases entirely, and the vine 
 is only found growing on trellises and houses. The Johan- 
 nisberg, Ruedesheim, Steinberg and Rauenthal, are grown 
 on the northern border of viticulture in the Rhinegau, 
 from east to west. Only a few hundred paces to the 
 north, there are the Westerwald and the Taunus. 
 
 The true poetry of wine, its beautiful fragrance, called 
 the bouquet of the wine, is the exclusive property of the 
 northern regions. The wines of the south, however rich 
 in alcohol and sugar, are entirely destitute of that bou- 
 quet; or they have a common odor, like Port, Madeira, 
 Xeres, and Malaga, without any peculiarity. The differ- 
 ence, produced by localities and years, disappears in the 
 wines of those regions entirely, but it may be distinguished 
 in those of northern regions with great accuracy. 
 
 Viticulture has also its history ; it is linked with that 
 of man. The vine has perished in regions that are no 
 longer inhabited ; and where it, at present, grows wild, 
 there it was not originally at home. 
 
12 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 The Pramneic and Marseotic wine is only known from 
 Homer ; and such as was given by Ulysses to the Cyclopes, 
 has disappeared. ( Vide Homer's Odysea, IX, 208). Wines, 
 which can bear that poetical dilution, are unknown to us. 
 Also the Vinum Ccecubvm, Jfassiri/m and Falermim, of 
 Horace, have disappeared from causes which we shall learn 
 afterwards. 
 
 DEVELOPMENT AND STRUCTURE OF THE 
 VINE. 
 
 In order to understand the rules for the pruning and 
 the treatment of the vine, it is necessary to study the very 
 simple structure of that plant. 
 
 Without this knowledge, all practical rules appear en- 
 tirely arbitrary ; their necessity can not be understood, 
 nor can they be carried out with the proper enthusiasm. 
 The rules for the management of the vine, derived from a 
 long experience, are based on its peculiar structure, and 
 are, as soon as that is known, intelligible in themselves. 
 In particular cases, where horticultural books fail us, we 
 are able to infer the true treatment of the vine from the 
 knowledge of its structure. We, therefore, premise an 
 accurate explanation of the structure of the vine in a 
 manner not before attempted ; then the practical instruc- 
 tion will follow. 
 
 THE NODE. 
 
 That organ, by the repetition of which the vine is con- 
 structed, is the node in the branch. If we look at a fresh 
 shoot of a vine, we see that it has nodes, (or joints,) from 
 three to five inches distant from each other, and at these 
 places all other organs of the vine are put forth nearly at 
 the same level. These nodes are repeated on a shoot in 
 a manner perfectly alike, only the organs grow in a re- 
 versed posi^on of right and left in each following node. 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 13 
 
 We will now carefully examine the node. We take a 
 branch which grew from an eye in the last spring, and is, in 
 the course of the summer, still green. Fig. 1, represents 
 such a node. Where the swelling has not quite reached 
 its greatest dimensions, there is, in the branch, a joint. 
 
 Fig. 1. — the :node. 
 
 A young branch breaks easily in this place when bent 
 towards one side. On the lower side there is either noth- 
 ing or only the leaf — all protruding organs grow on the 
 upper part. This structure shows that the wood fibers do 
 not, as yet, run through. While a branch cannot be 
 broken off smoothly in any other place, it is there very 
 brittle. In the course of time this joint disappears; the 
 fibers run through, and in the latter part of the" summer 
 a node cannot be broken off in this place. Immediately 
 above the place where it is broken, there is on one side, 1st, 
 a leaf, the footstalk of which commences with a protu- 
 berance. The leaf itself is connected with the branch by 
 
It TIIK GRAPE VINE. 
 
 moans of a joint. It is easier to break it off in this place 
 than in any other, without protruding filaments. The 
 joint docs not grow over, and in the fall the leaf separates 
 at this point. 
 
 In the axil of the leaf, :2nd, one or two unequally large 
 buds grow, from which the so-called laterals proceed. 
 Generally only one lateral grows; should there be double 
 buds, the weaker ones must always be destroyed. By the 
 si tie of the lateral a new eye, the so-called dormant bud, 
 forms in the course of the summer. It is intended to re- 
 main during the winter on the vine, and to furnish, in the 
 next spring, a green branch. On carefully examining those 
 buds, we find that on two nodes succeeding each other, 
 the bud is in one of them to the right of the lateral, and 
 in the^other to the left of it. The branch growing from 
 the bud is attached to'the main cane by means of a joint, 
 and can, as long as it is young, be easily broken off in 
 this place. In the latter part, of the summer, however, 
 the wood fibers grow through, and the secondary branch 
 cannot then be broken off at the joint. 
 
 On the opposite side of the leaf and bud, but at the 
 same level with them, there is, 3d, a tendril or a cluster, but 
 without a joint. The fibers run through from the very 
 beginning, there is no articulation, and the tendril or 
 the cluster cannot be broken off at the place of its origin. 
 The tendril, or the peduncle of the cluster, dries up in the 
 fall, but never drops ; they are separated from the cane in 
 the following year by motion and wind, because they are 
 brittle. Tendril and cluster are identical organs. There 
 are tendrils with some few berries on them, and clusters 
 with a piece of a tendril without berries. Tendril and 
 cluster never grow by the side of each other. One proof 
 of their identity is to be found in the fact that they grow 
 from the cane without a joint, and that they dry up in the 
 fall, and do not drop. 
 
 If there are tendrils on two successive nodes, the third 
 
THE GRAPE YIXE. 15 
 
 node is always without them, and the place of the node 
 opposite the leaf, and the bud presents a roundish protuber- 
 ance without any branch. A node destitute of tendrils is 
 succeeded by two nodes with tendrils, and so in regular 
 order to the end of the branch. 
 
 As tendril and cluster are identical organs, it follows 
 that three successive nodes never bear clusters ; if more 
 than two clusters proceed from one bud, then, the third 
 and fourth clusters are separated from the first and second 
 by a node destitute of tendrils. 
 
 Recapitulating briefly, we find that the organs on a 
 node are distinguished by the following peculiarities : 
 
 1. The leaf is connected witli the branch by a joint, 
 through which no fibers grow, but from which it drops of 
 
 itself." 
 
 2. The bud is connected with the branch by a joint, 
 through which the fibers grow and harden. It does not 
 drop. 
 
 3. The tendril or cluster is connected with the branch 
 without a joint. The place of the connection dries up, 
 and it does not drop of itself. 
 
 THE BRANCH. 
 
 The branch originates in the repetition of the nodes. 
 The distance of two nodes from each other is smaller on 
 the lower part of the cane, greater on the upper part, gen- 
 erally from three to five inches, but oftentimes more, or 
 less/ On each of the succeeding nodes the organs are 
 found alternating with the preceding and following. In 
 the place where there is a leaf on one node there is a ten- 
 dril, or a bunch in the preceding and following one. 
 
 The number of the nodes on a branch is very large, 
 commonly from 25 to 30. I have counted sometimes as 
 many as 83 on strong growing varieties. The number is, 
 properly speaking, unlimited, for in the fall the growth of 
 
16 
 
 TIIK GRAPE VINE. 
 
 the branch terminates, as is shown in figure 2, exactly 
 with the same fan-like structure, with which it commenced 
 in the spring. 
 
 Fig. 2. — THE BRANCH. 
 
 In this lie enclosed innumerable nodes, the development 
 of which is only prevented by the ending of the season 
 of growth, and the exhausted vigor of the plant. In a 
 warm summer and climate, therefore, many more nodes 
 will grow than in a cold one. 
 
 On a shoot grown in the spring, there is only a limited 
 number of blossoms or bunches. They are produced only 
 on the lower part of thc*green shoot, almost without any 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 17 
 
 regularity. The shoot commences with three or four 
 nodes, which are either without blossoms or have only 
 small tendrils ; then two clusters follow ; then a node 
 without a tendril, (as in fig. 2) ; then the third cluster ; 
 then again tendrils, which grow the larger the nearer 
 they are to the top of the shoot. 
 
 The number of clusters on a green shoot depends on 
 the variety of the vine. The rule is two clusters from 
 one bud, sometimes from three to five ; I have never seen 
 more than five clusters. If the latter part of the winter 
 and the forepart of spring are warm, oftentimes three 
 clusters grow from one bud, even if the variety bears gen- 
 erally but two. If we recollect that an eye produces, on 
 the average, three bunches, but that the shoot may pro- 
 duce from thirty to seventy nodes, it is obvious that a 
 grape vine can produce a large quantity of wood and 
 leaves which are useless for the production of grapes. 
 The clusters grow especially from the lowermost nodes. 
 The longest tendrils are found on the uppermost nodes, 
 where the plant needs the most support. If a tendril 
 touches a solid body only slightly, it bends towards it, 
 coils several times around it, and holds to it firmly. The 
 cause of this must lie in the structure of the tendril, which 
 is different from all other parts of the vine, in the fact 
 that it dries up in the fall without dropping. The ten- 
 drils seem to be endowed with vision, as it were, because 
 they grow towards any solid body near them. 
 
 The eyes of the shoots are all of the same nature. 
 There are neither wood nor fruit buds exclusively. After 
 an unfavorable, cold season, the eyes show in the next 
 spring no blossoms ; after a very warm season, they nearly 
 all produce blossoms. This proves that the blossoms are 
 a higher development of the bud, because greater heat 
 was necessary for it. The blossoms are, therefore, always 
 formed in the preceding year, and they appear in the fol- 
 lowing, however unfavorable the weather may be. Thus 
 
18 THE GRAPE VINK. 
 
 two years are required for the production of a heavy crop 
 of grapes. 
 
 At the base of the leaves on the green shoot, there al- 
 ways grow two eyes. One of them pushes during the 
 summer, and forms what is called the lateral. It has 
 been already mentioned that, alternately, the right and 
 the left eye push or remain dormant on two successive 
 nodes. This lateral has all the organs like every other 
 shoot, and a whole vine may be grown from each of them. 
 Generally, the word lateral is believed to convey the 
 meaning of a superfluous organ, which nature has care- 
 lessly produced. This view is entirely erroneous, and 
 experiments will prove that the lateral is capable of 
 producing as heavy crops as the most vigorous cane. If 
 a lateral is broken off, the other eye pushes, and a new 
 eye commences to be formed. If the second lateral is 
 also broken off, the new eye pushes, and another dormant 
 eye is formed. This may be repeated six or seven times 
 during a warm summer. 
 
 If f on the contrary, the first lateral is not removed, the 
 dormant eye does not push, and it is changed, in the 
 course of the summer, into a fruit bud for the next year. 
 Should, however, the last formed eye not have originated 
 until midsummer, it cannot be so developed that it be- 
 comes a fruit bud, and it produces in the next year noth- 
 ing but leaves and wood. 
 
 Hence it follows that, if we wish a certain eye to be- 
 come a fruit bud for the next year, we must not remove 
 the lateral growing beside it. If the laterals, in a warm 
 summer, are broken off, and the dormant eye pushes, it 
 often shows blossoms in August, which cannot mature 
 their fruit on account of the season being so far advanced. 
 This shows conclusively that the formation of blossom 
 buds takes place in the course of the summer preceding 
 thai of the production of fruit. In the year 1858, which 
 was unusually warm, the fruit of the second blossoms also 
 
THE GRAPE TIXE. 
 
 19 
 
 matured, so that two crops, only a month distant from 
 each other, were obtained from Burgundy vines. The 
 second crop was less abundant, and not so good as the first. 
 When a person, without any knowledge of the manage- 
 ment of the vine, breaks oif the end of the shoot without 
 any definite plan, in order to diminish the quantity of the 
 foliage, not unfrequently blossoms appear a fortnight after 
 that operation. The eyes which are forced in this way to 
 produce blossoms are those that ought to have been de- 
 veloped in the following year. The eyes formed after- 
 wards cannot mature their blossoms on account of the 
 lateness of the season in which they are formed. 
 
 It is absolutely necessary to understand fully this mode 
 of the growth of the vine, because all the rules for grow- 
 ing it, so as to obtain 
 the largest quantity of 
 fruit in a given place, 
 are based on it. 
 
 Towards the close of 
 the season, the following 
 changes take place in 
 the shoots that have 
 grown from an eye : 
 
 1. The leaf turns yel- 
 low, and drops from the 
 joint of itself. 
 
 2. The peduncle, or 
 the tendril correspond- 
 ing to it, dries up, but does not drop of itself. 
 
 o. The green shoot is changed into wood and remains 
 permanent, the joints becoming united with the shoot by 
 the two growing together. 
 
 4. The screen color of the shoot is turned brown. The 
 wood matures. 
 
 5. The eye remains dormant until the following spring. 
 The new branch has now the form of figure 8. 
 
 FiG*. 3.— THE NODE IN AUTUMN. 
 
20 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 At A, below the eye, the place is visible where the foot 
 stalk of the leaf was attached ; above, there is the eye, J?, 
 which is going to push in the following year, and to. bear 
 fruit. A second eye does not exist during the winter ; it 
 is developed in the next spring. Beside the eye, B, the 
 lateral, (7, is visible. It is to be removed entirely in the 
 fall. On the opposite side there is the tendril, D, or the 
 peduncle of the bunch, dried up. 
 
 The first period of the life of the shoot terminates by 
 changing its succulent nature into wood. In the first 
 year it bears clusters attached to it with their peduncles; 
 in the next year no cluster grows immediately on it, but 
 on the green shoot which pushes from the eye perfected 
 in the preceding year. Consequently the shoot bears clus- 
 ters only once in its life ;*in the next year they appear on 
 the shoot from the eye ; in the third year on the shoot 
 that grows from the shoot; in the fourth year on the 
 shoot of the shoot which grows from the shoot, and so on, 
 ad infinitum. 
 
 It is now necessary to introduce, instead of the generally 
 used expression branch, those terms which are made use 
 of in viticulture. 
 
 As soon as the green shoot has changed its color and 
 turned brown, and the clusters growing immediately from 
 it have been harvested, it receives the name of cane ; 
 it retains this name a whole year, until the clusters have 
 been gathered from its side branches, when it becomes 
 part of the stem. 
 
 During the time the cane was green it w T as called a shoot. 
 
 We distinguish, therefore, in a grape vine, the following 
 three parts, viz. : 
 
 1. The shoot, of green color, grown in this year from 
 the eye, bearing the grapes immediately on the peduncle. 
 Its course of life lasts from May until October, or half a 
 year ; it was an eye from October until May, also half a 
 year. 
 
THE GRAPE VIXE. 21 
 
 2. The cane, of brown color, and of smooth bark, bear- 
 in or the clusters on a side branch, the shoot. Its course of 
 life is from October to October, or a year. 
 
 3. The stem, of black color, the bark separating from it, 
 bearing: the clusters with the shoot on the cane. Its 
 course of life embraces the age of the grape vine, of from 
 800 to 1000 years. 
 
 The grape vine, therefore, is progressing regularly ; the 
 shoot is chanored to a cane, and the cane to a stem. The 
 stem enlarges more and more as the canes of the preced- 
 ing year are added to it. The necessary consequence of 
 this process is that the stem, which does not bear grapes, 
 increases more and more in extent, and that the clusters 
 cannot grow but on the extreme ends of the stem, because 
 they are the product of the green shoots proceeding from 
 the eye. It follows from these facts that we have to re- 
 sort to a method to compel the vine to produce new canes 
 over its whole extent, lest the greater part of the available 
 space would be occupied by the never-bearing stem. This 
 method consists in pruning or training, that is, an inten- 
 tentional and artificial removal of some parts, to compel 
 others near them to push. 
 
 Pruning the grape vine has, from time immemorial, 
 been considered necessary in its cultivation, although the 
 true connection between cause and effect has not been suf- 
 ficiently well understood. The vine, however, is capable 
 of so much development that even faulty pruning always 
 accomplishes a part of its object. Before we proceed to 
 show practically the true way of pruning, we must study 
 the reasons which render it efficient. 
 
 THE REASONS FOR PRUNING. 
 
 In the course of the year the movement of the sap in 
 the grape vine is subject to great differences. In the 
 spring, when the temperature rises, the sap begins to rise 
 
22 Tin; GRAPE vine. 
 
 also. The eves swell and produce green shoots. If a 
 cane is cnt, drops of water flow out — it bleeds. The 
 power with winch the vine forces the sap upwards is so 
 great that we shall devote to it a particular chapter further 
 
 on. In no plant is the water flowing out so copious as 
 in the vine. If we look at a growing grape vine atten- 
 tively, we observe that the development of the eyes is 
 the greater the nearer they are to the top of it. The 
 Length and size of the shoot increase toward the top of 
 the canes, and decrease toward the stem. We do not 
 know the cause of the movement of the sap ; we cannot 
 explain it as satisfactorily as Ave can the cause of the 
 movement of the blood in the animals, in which it originates 
 from the contraction of the heart. 
 
 We infer from the fact that the development of the 
 eyes increases toward the top, that the cause of the move- 
 ment of the sap is active over the whole length of the 
 cane. This violent and enormous movement of the sap 
 lasts but a short time, and soon ceases entirely, so that a 
 cane may be cut, and not lose a single drop of sap. If we 
 cut off the uppermost node of a cane, the node preceding- 
 it, being now the uppermost, shows a powerful growth ; 
 if we cut off a longer piece of cane, the most vigorous 
 growth always takes place at the then uppermost node. 
 From this fact arises the possibility of inducing develop- 
 ment on any place by cutting above it. The pushing sap, 
 not any more required for the nourishment of the portions 
 cut off, is compelled to contribute to the growth of the 
 eyes below the cut. 
 
 We have seen in the above, that if we remove a green 
 shoot, the dormant eye beside it pushes immediately. 
 This is a fact similar to that explained. If we cut back 
 to the stem, so that no canes are left on a part of the stem, 
 the rising sap causes the stem to produce new eyes on its 
 nodes. As these did not exist in the spring, they are not 
 sufficiently developed to produce flowers ; the eyes, 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 23 
 
 therefore, pushing from the stem, are necessarily wood eyes, 
 but they are capable of producing fruit eyes during the 
 summer. This fact enables us to shorten the stem and to 
 make it produce canes. We cut it off, therefore, in a cer- 
 tain place, so that nodes are left below it. If the wood 
 eyes which are then formed, and have pushed, are per- 
 mitted to grow undisturbed, they can bear fruit the next 
 year. The powerful development of the stem, described 
 in the above, which all canes a year old have also, com- 
 pels us to keep the enlargement of the stem within bounds, 
 and to force, by pruning, the nodes below to produce 
 shoots and canes. 
 
 The natural development of a cane which is permitted 
 to grow undisturbed, and without any check, has the fol- 
 lowing result : 
 
 Supposing we have a cane of ten nodes, ten shoots will 
 grow in the spring, each of which may bear three clusters, 
 i. e., thirty clusters on the whole. If all the shoots are 
 permitted to grow, each may have produced in the fall ten 
 nodes, that is, a hundred nodes on the shoots which will 
 became canes in the fall, and these may bear in the follow- 
 ing year three hundred bunches. In the third year, the 
 hundred nodes would produce a thousand eyes, and would 
 consequently bear three thousand bunches. Nature has 
 circumscribed such a development, which is only imaginary; 
 for the root would hardly be able to furnish, in the three 
 succeeding years, food for the three hundred, certainly not 
 for the three thousand bunches. It is evident, at all events, 
 that a vine, not restrained in its growth, would spread so 
 enormously that any given place would become too small ; 
 the stem would, at least every year, increase in its height 
 as much as one node is distant from the other. This is 
 plain from figure 4, in which only the lowest shoots on 
 each cane are shown. The cane, 1, which grows immedi- 
 ately from the stem, would, after the lapse of a year, be- 
 come a part of the stem. After two years more the cane 
 
24 
 
 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 2, after three years the cane 3, and so on, so that after 
 five years the stem would reach to nine. It is a most fa- 
 vorable circumstance that we have chosen every year the 
 
 PLAN OF GROWTH. 
 
 lowermost shoot to bear next year. Should it be neces- 
 sary to choose a cane growing higher up, the stem "would 
 lengthen in height much more rapidly. The stem increases 
 every year one node in height. 
 
 If we further assume that there, where the cane, 1, bears 
 fruit this year, is room only for one cane, the existing 
 space being occupied exactly in the same manner, we see 
 the necessity of cutting off, in the fall, the cane, 1, above 
 its lowermost eye, that is, at M, after it has borne fruit. 
 In the following year the shoot, 2, pushes and bears fruit. 
 After the expiration of the second year it must be cut at 
 
THE GEAPE VINE. 25 
 
 JV. Now the shoot, 3, pushes, which must be cut at after 
 the third year ; in like manner the shoot, 4, grows in the 
 fourth year, and must be cut at JP; the shoot, 5, at Q, and 
 so forth. 
 
 This is the foundation of the pruning of the vine, ac- 
 cording to which the stem increases one node in each year, 
 and only one cane is expected to grow in the place of an- 
 other cane removed. 
 
 After a series of years the stem has necessarily increased 
 in height, and must be shortened. The method to accom- 
 plish this object will be explained in that part of the work 
 which treats of pruning practically applied. 
 
 THE PRUNING OF THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 The necessity of pruning has been explained in the pre- 
 ceding chapter. We wish now to show the practical 
 application of it in a vine fully grown, and occupying the 
 whole space allotted to it. This is the most frequent of 
 all cases, because it takes only a few years to train a vine ; 
 it will last, when properly managed, for centuries. The 
 propagation and management of young vines will be 
 treated of in another place. 
 
 There is a classical work on the pruning of the vine by 
 J. S. Kecht, the seventh edition of which was issued in 
 1853. As Kecht's method is based on the nature of the 
 vine itself, no improvement on it has been made in any of 
 the more recent horticultural books. If we follow his di- 
 rections as laid down in the book, we are easily convinced 
 of the correctness of his teachings, and success is certain. 
 TIijg experience of many years has proved the advantages 
 derived from Kecht's method. 
 
 In pruning a grape vine, we wish to accomplish two 
 object, viz. : 
 
 1. To obtain for the current year as much fruit as pos- 
 sible. 
 
 2 
 
26 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 2. To produce vigorous canes for bearing the next year. 
 
 The first pruning of the vine ought to be done in the fall, 
 commencing in the middle of November, after the fall of 
 the leaf; it may be continued during the winter when the 
 weather is favorable. The advantages of fall pruning are 
 very great. It is easier to manage a pruned vine during 
 the winter than an unpruned one ; no sap is lost in the 
 next spring by bleeding; the pieces cut off can be buried 
 in a compost heap and converted into manure. 
 
 The pruning of the vine is modified by the system of 
 training preferred. By this Ave understand the manner in 
 which the vine is to be extended. The vine is either 
 trained on walls, (trellis,) or on poles, (common vineyard 
 training,) or on wires, which may be stretched high or low. 
 
 For each of these modes of training, the pruning is a 
 little different, but not much, as the principle remains the 
 same. 
 
 TRAINING ON TRELLISES. 
 
 In order to prune a grape vine, trained to a trellis, it is 
 necessary to loosen the vine by cutting the osiers, or other 
 material with which it was tied, either with a knife or gar- 
 den shears. Then the canes for bearing must be selected, 
 and also those which are to be spurred for the production 
 of new canes. The strongest are chosen for bearing ; they 
 must be entirely brown, having been changed from 
 shoots to canes during the summer and fall just passed. 
 Their tops are generally not ripened, and are consequently 
 green. The green part must be entirely cut away, because 
 it would be killed in the winter. The cane is so much 
 shortened that it reaches, in the position in which it i« to 
 be tied, about one-third to the top of the whole trellis. 
 One-third must remain unoccupied, because it is required 
 for tying the shoot to it that pushes from the last eye of the 
 cane. If we suppose that the trellis is from six to seven 
 feet high, and that six feet of its length on each side is 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 27 
 
 to be occupied by the vine, the canes in the middle are 
 pruned to the length of four feet, those on each side 
 spreading, in the shape of a fan, to the length of five or 
 six feet. Therefore from eight to fourteen buds will re- 
 main on each cane, promising an abundant crop. Such 
 canes are to be preferred as grow lowest on the stem. JVb 
 old wood ought to be found beyond the middle of the 
 height of the trellis. After the selection and pruning of 
 the canes, the stem, (that is, the cane which bore fruit in 
 the preceding summer and fall,) is cut off immediately 
 above the place where the new canes grow ; the canes 
 themselves must be cut off an inch above the bud, as, if 
 cut close, this would be apt to dry up. 
 
 It is true that a cane having from ten to fourteen buds 
 can bear from twenty to thirty clusters ; yet it is not 
 probable that it will make strong shoots. To remedy 
 this, some weaker canes are selected in the mil for the 
 production of bearing canes, by cutting them back to two 
 buds* each. A cane so primed is called a spur. 
 
 This spur receives, when the vine grows, as much sap 
 as a cane having ten or twelve buds ; but as this sap 
 serves for the development and pushing of only two buds, 
 the shoots proceeding from them are very vigorous and of 
 strong growth. Each of the two shoots may bear from 
 four to six clusters, yet the spur is not intended for bear- 
 ing. If the blossoms on them are removed, the cane 
 growing from the spur will be so much the stronger. 
 Should both buds of the spur be equally vigorous and 
 strong, they may be left ; but if they are feeble, one is to 
 be removed, which makes the remaining shoot very much 
 stronger. The place for the spurs ought to be as low as 
 possible on the stem, so that the canes proceeding from 
 them may bear fruit along the whole height of the trellis. 
 
 Also wood buds, pushing from the old wood, may be 
 cut to spurs in the fall. • TJie shoots pushing from the 
 sp>urs in the following spring must not be interfered with; 
 
28 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 they must be permitted to grow undisturbed. Also, all 
 weaker canes not intended for bearing, and growing very 
 low on the stem, must be cut back to spurs of two buds 
 each. Should there be too many shoots in the next 
 year to serve as canes, some of them are pinched in, and 
 may be permitted to bear fruit. 
 
 A little higher up on the stem, some canes are pruned 
 to four or five eyes. Canes so pruned are called long 
 spurs. They bear fruit, but not so much as the canes, and 
 are therefore able to produce stronger canes. In this way 
 the vine is compelled to produce strong bearing canes all 
 over, whicii is the condition of fruitfulness every year. So 
 the stem is also kept within certain bounds. If these pre- 
 cautionary measures are neglected, the grape vine may 
 bear for one year a large quantity of fruit ; the next year 
 there will be many, but feeble, canes, all growing high up 
 on the stem. The height of the stem wall have considera- 
 bly increaed, and will show no fruit below. 
 
 Should the trellis be much higher than twelve or sixteen 
 feet, as on walls of houses or barns, it is imjDossible to 
 reach this height with a single cane. In this case a part of 
 the stem is carried up to half the height of the trellis, and 
 canes are grown from it to cover the upper part of the 
 trellis ; the lower part is covered with canes proceeding, 
 near the bottom, from side branches of the stem, which 
 are then treated exactly as described above. It is almost 
 impossible to keep vines, trained on such trellises, in order, 
 because it is impracticable, by means of a ladder, to per- 
 form the labor needed by the vine. 
 
 [It is a much better plan to plant more than one vine, 
 when, for instance, the first is trained low, the second high, 
 the third low again, and so on alternately. — Remark of 
 the Translator.] 
 
 The pruning of a vine trained to a post is much simpler. 
 The best developed canes are pruned to eight or ten buds, 
 and also some of the lower ones to spurs. The manner of 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 29 
 
 tying the canes, either more horizontally, or at certain 
 angles to the horizon, as well as the length to which they 
 are pruned, varies very much in all regions where vines are 
 grown. None, of those methods can be considered as ab- 
 solutely the best ; for each of them is recommended as the 
 best in the region where it is practised. Some do not 
 wish to grow many clusters, in order to obtain fruit of the 
 highest character; others prune their canes long, to obtain 
 a large number of bunches. Aside from the different 
 opinions and views of the people, the character of the soil 
 exerts so powerful an influence that the little changes de- 
 manded by each locality are gradually understood by those 
 inhabitants of it who cultivate the vine. The principles 
 of -pruning are the same for every mode of training : the 
 most beautiful and strongest canes are selected for bear- 
 ing, while the weaker canes are, by short pruning, forced 
 to produce strong shoots. 
 
 If, however, in consequence of an unfavorable spring, 
 no blossoms appear, or if they have perished by late frosts, 
 rains and other accidents, the first of the ends in grape 
 culture, namely, to grow clusters for the current, and canes 
 for the following year, cannot be accomplished, so that the 
 second must be kept in view exclusively. In this case the 
 canes that had been grown for fruiting are pruned back 
 to two eyes, and the shoots proceeding from them are per- 
 mitted to grow undisturbed. In like manner, all shoots 
 of .a cane without fruit may be removed, so that only one 
 leaf near the bud remains. The bunches, as well as the 
 shoots intended for canes, will in this way be much better 
 developed. There exists a mutual action and re-action 
 between the canes and the leaf, and the root and the stem. 
 A strong root is able to produce many canes and rich fo- 
 liage, which latter tends in its turn to enlarge the stem 
 and the root. All carbonaceous formations in the vine, as 
 well as in every other plant, are the result of the fact that 
 the leaves, under the influence of heat and light, decom- 
 
30 THE GEArE VINE. 
 
 pose carbonic acid, set oxygen free, and deposit carbon in 
 connection with the elements of the water for the produc- 
 tion of organic matter in the vine. 
 
 The so-called hydrates of carbon are grape sugar, starch, 
 wood fibre, and also the other formations like tartaric acid ; 
 the green of the leaves, oil, and so forth, originate under 
 the same conditions. 
 
 If there are many leaves on the vine, large quantities of 
 oxygen are given off to the air, and so corresponding quan- 
 tities of grape sugar and wood fibre are formed. Hence it 
 follows that the foliage must be ample to develop many 
 bunches, the number of which is different every year; the 
 foliage is needed to nourish the fruit, and to render it 
 sweet. If, for the sake of experiment, all the leaves of a 
 cane are removed, the berries and clusters growling on it 
 remain small, sour and hard, and the wood does not ripen. 
 Rich foliage tends to ripen the fruit as well as the wood. 
 
 The growth of the wood and of the root depends, there- 
 fore, chiefly on the quantity of the leaves, especially when 
 the leaves have not to furnish nourishment. From this 
 circumstance results the practical rule not to remove any 
 leaves, if we wish to make the vine grow strong. Al- 
 though the richness and sweetness of the fruit depend on 
 the foliage, yet this is also owing to the extent and ac- 
 tivity of the root. A young vine, with a comparatively 
 small and weak root, can furnish sap for a small number of 
 clusters only, even if all the leaves remain on it. The 
 extent and power of the root increases every year, so that 
 the vine will bear and ripen larger quantities of clusters 
 annually. If the proportion of the root, the foliage and 
 the fruit be right, a large and old vine will bear several 
 thousand of clusters, which will be as mature and sweet 
 as twelve or twenty would be on a small vine, the root of 
 which is yet feeble. 
 
 The nourishment is taken by the root and conducted to 
 the plant. It is elaborated in the leaf, where oxygen is 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 31 
 
 eliminated, and where the inorganic* carbonic acid is con- 
 verted into an organic compound ; then the nourishment is 
 deposited and collected in the berry. The true growth of 
 the vine lies, therefore, in the surface of the leaves dis- 
 played in the sunlight, while the clusters on a vine which 
 is growing naturally are protected from the direct rays of 
 the sun. 
 
 It is sufficient when the sun shines on the leaves, and 
 the clusters are growing in diffused light. This is the 
 true and natural condition. It is now not difficult to un- 
 derstand how great a mistake is made when the leaf, grow- 
 ing near a cluster, is* removed for the purpose of admit- 
 ting the rays of the sun directly to the cluster. ~No sugar 
 can be formed in the berry, because no oxygen can be 
 eliminated by it ; the berry only collects the sugar, or it 
 prepares it from an organic substance formed by the leaf. 
 The berry is apt to be injured by the direct rays of the 
 sun during the hot days of summer, (sunstroke). 
 
 The development of the vine may, therefore, take place 
 within limits that may either be very small or very large. 
 In the steep vineyards of the Moselle, where vegetable 
 mould and loam are wanting, so that frequently the neces- 
 sary soil must be carried up in baskets from the valley, a 
 vine cannot grow to a large extent. 
 
 The canes are as thin as a lead pencil ; the stem is as 
 thick as a finger ; the clusters are few, but excellent, pro- 
 vided there is the right proportion between the foliage and 
 the fruit. The circumstance that the vines are planted 
 very near each other, and that the soil is very shallow, 
 prevents the extension of the root, so that the whole plant 
 is crippled during its term of life. It cannot, however, 
 be otherwise under the existing; circumstances. 
 
 A vine, growing in rich garden soil, produces canes 
 twenty feet long, studded with from sixty to eighty nodes 
 eacn. A vine, four years old, can, in such soil, bear four 
 hundred clusters. In the year 1826, Kecht counted on a 
 
32 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 vine of the Frueh-Lcipziger 4,500 clusters ; in other years, 
 generally from two to three thousand. This was at Berlin, 
 the capital of Prussia. The celebrated Hampton Court 
 vine, near London, planted by Cardinal Wolsey, and still 
 growing in a large glass house, bears every year more than 
 a thousand excellent clusters. 
 
 TREATMENT OF THE VINE IN THE SUMMER. 
 
 When the vine is pruned before winter, it is not tied, 
 but permitted to swing in the air, or to lie on the ground. 
 It suffers less from the cold by being moved by the air, 
 than when it is fixed to a certain place where it must lose 
 a great deal of heat by radiation. It is a well known fact 
 that solid bodies lose, in clear nights, much more than 
 aeriform bodies ; consequently the vine will be colder by 
 radiation than the surrounding air. If it moves freely in 
 the air, it comes constantly into contact with new strata 
 of air which are warmer than itself, and is, in this way, 
 protected from being killed by the frost. The vine suffers 
 from the frost w T hen the thermometer is about at zero, 
 [though many American varieties can stand much more 
 cold. — Translator^ In Western Germany, on the Rhine, 
 the Moselle and the Saar, the vines are left on the ground 
 in winter • in the east of Germany, they must be covered 
 with soil, to protect them against being killed by the frost. 
 Every one has, in this respect, to do what the climate of 
 the country requires. 
 
 During the whole winter, changes are constantly going 
 on in the vine. Should it come to a stand still, the plant 
 must die. These changes take place in accordance with 
 the warmth of the winter, so that in mild winters the 
 eyes begin to swell in January and February. That the 
 vine is dormant in winter, shows that it belongs to the tem- 
 perate zone. It is not the cold which causes this donnftnt 
 condition, but the natural desire for rest, to prepare itself 
 
THE GKAPE VINE. 33 
 
 for new exertions in the next year. In the island of Ma- 
 deira, f. i., the vine drops its leaves in October, after 
 it has ripened its fruit, and remains dormant during the 
 winter months, the warmth of which is equal to that of 
 our summers. Surrounded by evergreen • native plants, 
 the vine is there as leafless as with us ; it remains in this 
 dormant condition for one hundred and sixty days, until it 
 awakens in March to commence life anew. 
 
 As soon as the heavy frosts are over, which is, with us, 
 (on the Rhine) after the middle of February, the vine 
 may be tied to its post or trellis. Usually this is done a 
 little later, i. e., in the course of March, and in the first 
 part of April. As at the time of tying, some little prun- 
 ing will frequently take place, it is advisable to commence 
 it as early as possible, so that the wounds may dry up 
 again, and may not bleed afterwards. The remaining 
 canes are equally distributed all over the trellis, to cover 
 the space, and are tied with osiers or bast matting. The 
 necessary manipulations can be easily learned from any 
 gardener or vineyardist ; without this, they are so obvious 
 in themselves that a trial will be all that is needed to un- 
 derstand them. 
 
 The eyes of the vines commence pushing and are devel- 
 oped into green shoots, on which, from the middle of April 
 to the middle of May, the blossoms ajjpear, but only as 
 blossom buds. [The blossom buds are called, in German, 
 Scheine or Geseheine, for which expressions the English 
 language has as yet no corresponding words. — Translator.'] 
 We know from the process of the development of the 
 vine, that from each eye a shoot will push, and that we 
 need every year the same number of canes. If all the 
 shoots should be sivffered to grow, the vines would have in 
 the next year as many canes as there were eyes in the pre- 
 ceding year ; the vine would, in the summer, be nothing 
 but a confused mass of wood and leaves. To prevent this, 
 the pushing shoots are in a certain manner either rubbed 
 2* 
 
34 THE GRAPE VIXE 
 
 off or pinched. In these operations two objects are kept 
 in view, viz. : to obtain the best possible fruit, and to de- 
 velop only as many canes as are actually on the vine. The 
 honor of the discovery of the method to accomplish this is 
 also due to Keeht ; in it, his teachings have reached their 
 culminating point. According to the opinion of all those 
 who understand viticulture, nothing that is either better, 
 or even as good, has been brought to light ; the method is 
 so simple, and in accordance with the laws of nature, that 
 we may consider it, without hesitation, perfect. 
 
 We do not wish to grow more canes than the vine is 
 bearing. It follows that only one eye on each cane must 
 be used for a new one. The eye to be used for a cane 
 must be necessarily the lowermost. The sap has a strong 
 upward tendency, and causes the uppermost canes to grow 
 strongest ; the growth of the shoots proceeding from the 
 higher part of the cane must, therefore, be restrained. On 
 them the clusters, in which the object of growing the 
 vine centers, are produced. The restriction of the upper 
 shoots must be so managed as to conduce to the best 
 growth of the clusters. The two following rules unite 
 everything that is needed : 
 
 1. The lowermost eye on each cane must be suffered to 
 grow at will without being checked or interfered icith. 
 
 2. The tops of the shoots, pushing from all other eyes, 
 are pinched two leaves above the uppermost bunch, not 
 counting the leaf near the bunch. 
 
 These golden rules contain a wisdom which cannot be 
 valued too highly. The shoot, being pinched, cannot con- 
 tinue growing ; consequently there will be an abundance 
 of sap for the nourishment of the clusters. The two 
 leaves are needed, and sufficient to make the grapes sweet. 
 As the upper eyes of the shoot cannot push, the eye of 
 the lowermost node grows the more vigorously, and makes 
 a strong cane for the next year. The spurs, may they be 
 short or long, are likewise intended for strong canes, hence 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 35 
 
 it follows that one shoot, if possible the lowermost on 
 each cane, must not be pinched, but must grow undis- 
 turbed to the end of the year, when it is to be pruned as 
 a cane. 
 
 The first pinching of the vine may be performed before 
 it blossoms, as soon as the buds are distinctly visible. 
 The earlier the vine is pinched, the less nourishing sub- 
 stance it loses. 
 
 However easy the above rules appear to be, yet their 
 practical application is not quite so easy. There are one 
 or two eyes in the axil of the foot stalk on the green 
 shoot ; those eyes ichich are green and soft, ought also to 
 be removed. This can easily be accomplished with the 
 nail of a finger or the thumb ; for they push, if not re- 
 moved, and absorb a part of the sap, destined to nourish 
 the bunch, and lessen the vigor of the lowermost eye of 
 the cane which is intended for a cane the next year. It is 
 therefore advisable to perform these two operations simul- 
 taneously ; after the top of the shoot has been pinched 
 two leaves above the uppermost bunch, all eyes in the 
 sinuses of the foot stalks of the leaves must be destroyed ; 
 only the lowermost shoot must be left to grow at will. 
 Pinching, during the time of blossoming, is not to be re- 
 commended, because the blossoms are easily injured. 
 
 There exists no other reason for it, although some think 
 it is indispensable not to do anything to the vine during 
 the time of blossoming, as though during that time it were 
 more sensitive to bear external influences than at any 
 other. I have also, during blossoming time, carefully 
 pinched shoots, and have never found any difference from 
 what it would have been, or was, when it was performed 
 before or after that time. 
 
 After blossoming, the vine grows more vigorously. The 
 eyes, remaining on the shoots, push and form little shoots, 
 which are called laterals. 
 
 In the axil of the leaf stalk there are always at least 
 
36 THE GKAPE VINE. 
 
 two eyes, of which alternately the left, the next time the 
 right eye pushes and Conns a lateral. If the laterals that 
 have been produced are removed, the other eye soon com- 
 mences pushing ; if the lateral of the second eye is rubbed 
 off, a third dormant eye is formed, etc. This shows that 
 the laterals perform an important service in regard to the 
 dormant eyes. As long as the lateral is growing, the 
 eye at the base of it remains dormant ; if it is removed, it 
 receives an abundance of sap and pushes. This is the 
 reason why no laterals on the shoot intended for a cane, 
 that is, on the lowermost shoot, should be rubbed off. 
 
 Although soon after the removal of the shoot a new eye 
 is formed, yet this takes place later and later, and the eye 
 does not last so long as that which has pushed in the 
 spring, and, therefore, in the course of the summer, is not 
 fully developed for producing a blossom. It is one of the 
 commonest mistakes made by vintners to remove these 
 laterals without any discrimination, because they consider 
 them to be robbers of strength. The laterals of the shoot 
 to be preserved for a cane are destined to receive the sap 
 and -p reserve the eye, growing at its base in its dormant 
 state. 
 
 The laterals continue pushing from the canes during the 
 whole summer ; it is, therefore, necessary to have a certain 
 and infallible criterion, in going over a vine, to know 
 which laterals must be removed, and which must remain. 
 This is contained in the following rule : 
 
 3. It is useful to remove the laterals of the shoots that 
 have been pinched ; they must remain on the shoot not 
 jnnched, i. e., on the lowermost. 
 
 The remaining leaves of a vine, regularly pinched, grow 
 large and very solid in a short time, and the lowest shoots 
 not pinched grow with great vigor. The pinched shoots 
 soon attain the size, beyond which they camlot increase in 
 length, as they cannot grow T at the top, and the laterals are 
 removed as soon as they appear. The shoots, on the con- 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. o7 
 
 trary, not pinched or interfered with, because intended for 
 bearing the nest spring, grow in the course of the sum- 
 mer from eight to ten, and sometimes even twenty feet 
 long. This does not create any difficulty when the vines 
 are grown on trellises, because there is room enough to 
 arrange and tie them. If the strips of the trellis are in a 
 vertical position, projecting above, those shoots are carried 
 behind them, w T here they are permitted to grow. If the 
 trellises are made of horizontal wires, the shoots in ques- 
 tion are tied to the uppermost, on which they are suffered 
 to grow- in a horizontal position. In vineyards where 
 posts are used, the shoots are tied to them as far as their 
 length goes ; the upper ends of the shoots swing either in 
 the air or they are tied to the post of the next vine. I 
 anticipate that I shall get in conflict with many practical 
 vignerons who are in the habit of cutting off the shoots 
 in August as far as they think proper, to re-establish order 
 and to obviate and further confusion. This practice, how- 
 ever, is altogether erroneous, because, after the shoots in- 
 tended for canes have been shortened, the dormant eyes 
 commence pushing ; so a part of the eyes destined to bear 
 the next year is lost, and the crop is lessened. Those la- 
 terals, although developed so late, grow so large that they 
 must be pinched again. A shoot not pinched is some- 
 times difficult to manage on account of its length, but 
 those pinched, much more so, on account of the number of 
 their laterals. If the principle is correct that the shoots 
 intended for canes must not be injured, it is necessary to 
 provide means for their support. A vine may be grown 
 as large or as small as it is convenient / yet the length 
 of the shoots destined to bear next year cannot be arbi- 
 trarily reduced to a certain measure. 
 
 Even in the smallest vine they will be from six to eigh- 
 teen feet long, and they must, at all events, be provided for 
 without shortening them. When I was riding, in the fall 
 of 1862, through the Rheingau, I saw the vines kept 
 
38 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 neatly about four feet high; the shoots, however, which 
 were to hear next year, had produced mairy laterals. The 
 yellowish-green color of the young shoots shows this; they 
 have not been long enough exposed to the light to be as 
 green as older leaves. These young laterals are especially 
 liable to be attacked by the grape disease. In the second 
 part of the summer, no such yellowish-green shoots must 
 be found on the vine. It is true that they continue push- 
 ing from the pinched shoots, but they must be rubbed oft* 
 as soon tis they appear ; they do not push from the shoots 
 intended for bearing next year, if the error of shortening 
 them is avoided. Where, in the second part of the summer, 
 yellowish-green shoots appear on a vine, regularly pinched, 
 then they may be removed unhesitatingly. The confusion 
 of a vine, treated in the right manner, will never be so great 
 as many believe ; for the bearing canes are pinched and re- 
 main small, and there are but a few long shoots destined 
 for bearing the next year ; their number is not much 
 greater than that of the canes which bear fruit. It is 
 judicious to grow a few more shoots than are to be 
 retained for canes ; this has the advantage that the best 
 may be selected in the fall, and that those that are weaker 
 may be removed by pruning, in order to restore the proper 
 number. The shade from these long shoots is of no ac- 
 count, because the rays of the sun, falling upon the leaves 
 of the long shoot, have the same effect as if they had 
 struck the vine itself. It is necessary that the long shoot 
 should vegetate and develop in the light of the sun, so 
 that the cane itself, of course, must produce shade. If a 
 part of a vine is in the shade from a shoot growing on a 
 vine before it, the shoots of that vine are exposed to the 
 full rays of the sun, and it receives from above the light in- 
 tercepted from below by the vine before it. In planting 
 grape vines on a plain, or on a gentle declivity, shade can- 
 not be avoided ; if one part of a vine is entitled to the sun, 
 the other must be contented to be, for a certain time, in 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 39 
 
 the shade. Moreover, only the leaf of the vine ought to 
 be exposed to the full light of the sun, while the cluster 
 is to develop and to ripen in the diffused light of day. 
 
 GRAPE VINE PLANTATIONS. 
 
 There is hardly any other plant so well adapted to varia- 
 tion of management as the grape vine. It is not our 
 purpose to give here detailed directions concerning the ar- 
 rangements of plantations, but only hints which may 
 be useful, where a skillful gardener can be consulted. 
 There exists no system of cultivating the vine which could 
 be called absolutely the best for all regions ; the climate, 
 as well as the nature of the variety of the vine, requires 
 particular attention. 
 
 All methods are successful to a certain degree, and there 
 is none not considered the best by some. So much is true — 
 that, of all plants, the vine gives the most ample reward 
 for the care bestowed upon it, and that many a vacant 
 spot of a garden may be used for planting a choice variety, 
 so that it may be turned to account. 
 
 VINES TRAINED ALONG THE GARDEN WALK. 
 
 By this, low, horizontal branches of grape vines are 
 meant, growing at considerable distances from each other, 
 the canes and foliage of which do not occupy any useful 
 space. They are trained above edgings of box and 
 strawberries without interfering with their growth. For 
 this arrangement, such walks in the garden are selected as 
 are parallel to the longest extent of it. The whole length 
 is divided into equal parts of five or six feet each, and 
 those places are marked by small sticks. Supposing the 
 distance of six feet is preferred, a hole is dug at the first 
 stick, or six feet from the end, then at the third, fifth, 
 seventh, etc., skipping the equal numbers' two, four, six, 
 etc. If each vine sends out on the two opposite sides a 
 
40 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 cane of six feet each, the whole length will be covered by 
 the vine, and, therefore, the two last vines are planted six 
 feet from the end or beginning. A vine is now planted, 
 either a cutting or a root, in each hole, in a straight line 
 along the margin of the walk ; the roots must be so ar- 
 ranged and so disposed, that they must grow into the beds 
 where they find better soil and can be manured. They 
 are protected by sticks against injury from footsteps, and 
 are watered during the summer, if necessary. In the fall, 
 each young vine is cut down to two eyes, from which 
 two shoots are suffered to grow the next year. As they 
 do not bear, they may be laid on the ground behind the 
 edgings. In the third year, a strong iron wire, at least 
 one-twelfth of an inch in diameter, is stretched between 
 the first and the last post ; the wire is supported by a thin 
 post near each vine. The wire ought to be stretched at 
 the height of eighteen or twenty inches above the ground. 
 In this way, the bed remains open to the view, and the edg- 
 ing plants, growing under the canes, are not injured, as they 
 receive sufficient light. The two posts at the extreme ends 
 ought to be made of oak wood three inches square ; their 
 ends ought to be also square, not round. If they are three 
 and a half feet long, each two feet will be in, and a foot and 
 a half above the ground. They are strong enough to bear 
 the stress of the wire. Near the upper end each of the 
 two posts receives towards the middle a strong iron hook, 
 with a screw cut at its end ; it is screwed into the post, so 
 that the opening of the hook is on the upper side. A hole 
 of a quarter of an inch in diameter is bored through the 
 other post, through which a strong piece of iron wire is 
 put, being bent in the form of a hook on the inside, and 
 having a screw witli a four-cornered nut on the outside. 
 The small posts, set to each vine along the whole side of 
 the walk, are also of oak, and if they are a foot and a half 
 deep in the soil, they will have strength enough. In order 
 to stretch the wire, an eye is made on one of its ends, 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 41 
 
 through which the hook passes ; it is then hooked into the 
 wire of the second end post, which terminates in a screw, 
 so that it touches the tops of the intermediate small posts. 
 Then it is stretched by means of the screw and nut as 
 much as possible. The wire is kept in position on the tops 
 of the intermediate posts by small staples or rings with 
 wood screws. If the stress or the heat lengthens the wire, 
 it is stretched again by turning the nut of the screw. 
 Even without such an apparatus, the wire may be stretched 
 by wooden wedges and stones driven into the soil by the 
 posts, in order to straighten them. As the wire is short- 
 ened by the cold of the winter, it is advisable to loosen it 
 a little, and to stretch it again when the vines are tied up 
 in the next spring. 
 
 Others recommend to use strips of wood instead of 
 wire ; they must be nailed on the tops of the posts. Strips 
 are less durable and more expensive than wires ; for the 
 place where they are nailed is apt to rot, owing to the 
 oxide of iron produced by the rusting nail ; and if the 
 strip breaks there, and is an inch too short, it must be re- 
 placed by a new one. Wires have little body, and the 
 tying to a wire is easier than to a thick, clumsy strip. 
 The durability of the wires is increased by giving them a 
 coat of oil paint. The color is given by mixing it with 
 pure red lead. This color shows the place of the wire, and 
 prevents occasional visitors from injuring themselves in 
 stepping over a place not yet filled with canes of the vine. 
 The canes, growing in the second year, are tied in the 
 third, right and left to the wire, and are suffered to bear. 
 It is necessary to pinch and remove shoots, if this method 
 of training is adopted. One of the lowest shoots on each 
 side must not be pinched or interfered with, as it is to be 
 used as a cane forbearing the next year ; all other bearing 
 shoots, when pinched just beyond the second leaf above 
 the last cluster, cannot grow longer. The shoots for canes 
 
42 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 are tied to the same wire, but below it, which compels 
 them to lengthen in a straight line. 
 
 The canes which have borne fruit are cut off in the next 
 autumn ; the new canes are pruned to twelve or fourteen 
 buds, and also some spurs are provided for, so that it is 
 possible, after the lapse of some years, to shorten the stem 
 and to go back again, nearer to the first starting point. 
 It is very easy always to have two strong canes covering, 
 with the exception of the extremities, the intervals of 
 twelve feet of the wire, except at the end. That space is 
 needed for tying the shoots of the uppermost buds. If a 
 post, seven feet high, is set to each vine, tw r o additional 
 fruiting canes, as w r ell as the shoots for canes, may be tied 
 to it ; so the crop may be very much increased. 
 
 On such a cordon, eight hundred feet long, I have grown, 
 in the fourth year after planting, so many bunches, that I 
 made from them one-half awme (30 gallons) of excellent, 
 red wine, without using a single square foot of the surface 
 of the garden for it. 
 
 Only here and there some plants of the box, wdrich 
 formed the edging, were taken out to make room for the 
 vines. The rays of the sun, intercepted by the vines, 
 would have fallen during one-half of the day upon the 
 w^alks, during the other upon the box and other worthless 
 plants, which attained, however, their perfect develop- 
 ment. The variety was of the early Burgundy variety. 
 
 TRELLISES ON WALLS. 
 
 A wall, exposed to the sun during one-half of the day, 
 towards the east, south or west, or intermediate between 
 them, may be used for a trellis. A southern or south- 
 westerly is the best ; early ripening sorts succeed also when 
 exposed to the east or west, provided the climate is not 
 unfavorable. 
 
 The walls for trellises are generally, whitewashed, be- 
 cause it is cheapest. Yet it is better to add something to 
 
NHE GRAPE VINE. 43 
 
 it that makes the wash darker, to absorb more heat. For 
 this purpose, any brown coloring matter, mixed with white- 
 wash, will answer to make a dark-colored wall. Without 
 the mixture of whitewash, the pulverized coloring matter 
 is washed off by the rain from the walls. Umber and 
 lampblack may be nsed, yet Manganese is much to be 
 preferred. 
 
 A wall, covered with blue slate, absorbs the greatest 
 amount of heat ; the cheapest kind of slate or refuse of 
 slate answers a very good purpose. Blue slate, exposed 
 to the full sun, is heated to fifty to fifty-five degrees 
 Reaum. (to 145 or 156° Fahr.) The wall, not shaded by 
 the foliage, is heated by the rays of the sun, and imparts 
 warmth to the currents of rising air, which give off their 
 warmth to the vine. 
 
 A great amount of heat is accumulated in the wall from 
 the sun, the effect of which is felt even at night. In pass- 
 ing by a wall, shone upon by the sun during the day, af- 
 ter sunset the undulations of the warmth are distinctly 
 felt in the face. This advantage of being heated for a 
 longer time can be green to the vines by painting the wall 
 dark. Wire trellises are now preferred to wooden ones, 
 not only on account of their durability, but also on ac- 
 count of their greater cheapness. They can, besides, be 
 erected and arranged in a very short time. The wire 
 must be at least one-twelfth of an inch thick, and annealed, 
 so that it may be bent without breaking. It is best to 
 stretch the wire in a horizontal direction. In this case, 
 there are not many places where the vine is to be tied, nor 
 can a vine which has been tied, slide down. A trellis five 
 or six feet high requires but three or four wires, the lowest, 
 a foot from the ground, the others, in distances of sixteen 
 inches from each other. Strong pieces of iron are fast- 
 ened to the extreme ends of the wall, in order to stretch 
 the wire ; every twelve feet, the wire must be passed 
 through a thinner piece of iron, in order to keep it in 
 
44 THE GRAPE VIXE. 
 
 place. It is necessary to mark first the places at the ex- 
 treme ends with a cross, the middle of which, where the 
 two lines intercept each other, indicates the place where 
 the iron has % to be fixed. As such a trellis lasts a long 
 time, it is advisable to measure the distance with a rule, 
 carefully. After the strong pieces of iron at the two ends 
 of the wall have been fastened, the whole length is divid- 
 ed into equal parts of ten or twelve feet each, and there a 
 perpendicular line is made with a piece of charcoal or. a 
 carpenter's lead pencil. Then a piece of cord or twine is 
 stretched between the two strong irons, which crosses the 
 black lines at right angles ; the places where the cord 
 crosses the black lines are to be marked red. Here the 
 thinner irons are fastened, which are to serve to keep the 
 wire in place. To drive a pointed iron in mortar or brick 
 walls is easy enough, but stone Avails cause a great deal 
 more trouble. Frequently it is necessary to try to the 
 right and left, till a place is found where two stones are 
 put together; for it is impossible to penetrate into the 
 stones themselves. In order not to spoil many points, of 
 the pieces of soft iron, a four-cornered punch of steel, 
 which has been tempered blue, and has a handle, is used. 
 Should the hole become too large by this operation, a piece 
 of pine wood is driven into it with a hammer, and then 
 the iron is driven into the pine wood. It is left to the 
 judgment of the person who makes the trellis, whether he 
 will make use of an apparatus to stretch the wires by 
 means of screws and nuts. The wires receive a coat of red 
 paint ; they last, so painted, much longer, and are always 
 visible. 
 
 A wire trellis well arranged and firm will likely last 
 longer than the life of him who has made it. 
 
 FREE TRELLISES. 
 
 It is much more profitable and advantageous to erect 
 grape trellises on gentle declivities than to plant single 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 45 
 
 vines. The number of posts required is mucli less, and 
 the greater extent of the root in vines growing strong 
 will involve less expense, and give a greater produce. 
 A vine trained on a trellis ten or twelve feet wide, and 
 four or four and a half feet high, bears as many clusters 
 as eight or ten vineyard vines trained to posts. Also the 
 labor of pruning, tying and manuring is much simpler and 
 easier than in a larger number of single vines. 
 
 As regards the direction of the trellises, practical men 
 differ. Kecht advises the direction from north to south, 
 that is, parallel to the meridian. This arrangement has 
 the disadvantage that in the hottest part of the day, the 
 sun shines into the spaces between the rows, heating the 
 ground, while the rows are in their own shade. It is, how- 
 ever, much more important that the vine should be 
 warmed than the ground. I have, therefore, chosen just 
 the opposite direction, that is, from east to west, in a plan- 
 tation of vines. As the line of the rows is a little inclined 
 towards the meridian, it so happens that the sun at one 
 o'clock, p. ra., shines vertically upon the rows. Conse- 
 quently my plantation enjoys the sun in the following 
 manner : Before seven o'clock, a. m., the sun shines on 
 the back part of the trellises ; at seven o'clock it shines 
 between the rows from east ; from seven o'clock, a. m., 
 till seven o'clock, p. m., the front part of the trellis enjoys 
 the sunshine; at seven o'clock, p. m., the rays of the sun 
 strike the spaces between the rows, and after seven o'clock 
 the back part of the trellises again. 
 
 In the hottest part of the day, from ten o'clock, a. m., 
 till three o'clock, p. m., the sun is almost vertical above 
 the rows, and they are then in the condition of trellises 
 made on walls with a southern exposure, which exposure 
 has always been preferred to all others. In the hottest 
 part of the day, the ground is shaded so that it does not 
 dry so rapidly. My aim was to intercept all the rays of 
 the sun, that would fall upon that piece of ground, by the 
 
4:6 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 plant itself, as this would insure the best success. It is 
 true that I have no experience yet, but the arrange- 
 ment was planned with so much care, that I am confident 
 of a favorable result. A little deviation from this direc- 
 tion may be desirable if the natural condition of the situa- 
 tion of the ground is different. Should it be so situated 
 as to receive the shadow from a near mountain in the af- 
 ternoon, it will be advantageous to turn the whole ar- 
 rangement a little eastward, and plant the rows so that 
 the sun shines into them in the morning and in the even- 
 ing at five o'clock ; it will then, at eleven a. m., be verti- 
 cally above them. 
 
 If the ground lies open in all directions, it is better to 
 deviate a little towards the west, because the afternoon is 
 always hotter than the forenoon. If the shadow of a 
 mountain falls from the east upon the plantation, it may be 
 so arranged that it has the sun vertical at two o'clock, p. 
 m., but always so that the sun does not shine into the 
 spaces between the rows during the hottest time of the 
 day. 
 
 If the direction is ascertained, the east and west sides 
 of the ground are to be divided into equal parts, each four 
 feet wide ; this is the distance of the trellises from each 
 other. Then the north and south sides of the piece must 
 be divided into parts of ten feet each. 
 
 Each vine is to cover five feet of trellis on each side, 
 consequently ten feet in the whole. No vines must, there- 
 fore, be planted at the east and west terminus of the rows, 
 but five feet from it. The last post, however, is to be 
 planted at the terminus itself. Now the holes are dug in 
 the places indicated, and the plants or cuttings are so 
 placed that they are in straight lines ; this may easily be 
 accomplished by another person sighting at the last hole, 
 marked by some prominent object, along a straight pole, 
 placed horizontally. In the first year, the green shoots may 
 lie and grow on the ground ; in the second, they may be tied 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 47 
 
 to sticks, and the spaces between the rows may be used 
 for cultivating vegetables. In the third year, the trellis ( 
 must be erected. For this purpose strong posts, three 
 inches square, the points of which are four cornered, are 
 driven into the ground at the east and west side of the 
 rows ; if they are two and a half feet in the ground, and 
 five feet above it, they are long enough. Between them, 
 thinner posts two inches square, but equally high as the 
 larger ones, are driven into the ground near every vine, 
 i. e., in distances of ten feet from each other to support 
 the wires ; the two last rows east and west may, of course, 
 be skipped. Instead of oaken posts, which are expensive, 
 round, pine saplings may be used, but they must be im- 
 pregnated with sulphate of copper. This can be done by 
 dissolving ten or twelve pounds of sulphate of copper in 
 an old hogshead, by pouring hot water on it, stirring it 
 frequently. Ten or twelve posts are put in it, and remain 
 five or six days, when they are to be replaced by 
 others, while the first set is dried. So much water is to 
 be added that the hogshead with the posts in it is full. 
 As long as sulphate of copper remains undissolved at the 
 bottom, the absorbed or evaporated water must be re- 
 plenished. Of all the materials used for impregnating 
 wood to make it durable, (kyanizing,) sulphate of copper 
 is one of the cheapest and most effective. 
 
 To give a good coat of coal tar to the part impregnated, 
 after the posts are dry, will protect them still more effec- 
 tually. 
 
 To stretch the wire, strong conical pieces of iron may 
 be used, similar to those used for stretching piano strings. 
 They must be made to fit holes bored with a tapering bit, 
 flattened at the top, and pierced with a hole. The iron 
 must be driven into the hole, so that it bears the stress by 
 friction alone. The force applied in stretching is so great 
 that the posts may yield and turn a little. To prevent 
 
48 TIIE GEAPB VINE. 
 
 this, the lowest wire is fastened to the front part (south 
 Bide) of the post, the second to the back side 
 
 The Lowesl wire is to be stretched about a foot from the 
 ground; the others at distances from twelve to sixteen 
 inches. Four wires will make a trellis five feet high. 
 
 We will now compare such an arrangement with a vine- 
 yard of single vines trained to poles. Supposing the piece 
 of ground is eighty feet square, there will be twenty-one 
 trellises, if the rows are four feet distant from each other. 
 As each vine covers ten feet of the trellis, there will be 
 eight vines in a row, consequently 168 in the whole. If a 
 vineyard is planted of single vines three and a half feet 
 apart each way, there will be 24 vines in a row, that is, 
 576 vines in the whole. But if the vines are planted three 
 feet apart each way, as it is usually done, there will be 
 ?;29 vines and posts. Although it is impossible to estimate 
 the first cost of each of these arrangements, even approx- 
 imately, as the prices of the posts, as well as those of the 
 wire, vary very much ; yet trellised vines cover the whole 
 space, and consequently bear much more abundantly than 
 vines trained to posts, so that trellises are proper and more 
 profitable than posts. 
 
 VINES TRAINED TO TRELLISES. 
 
 The bearing canes of vines, occupying a trellis ten or 
 twelve feet wide, or five or six feet high, may be grown in 
 the middle, and evenly destributed over it, in the shape of 
 a fan. From eight to ten canes are sufficient, and they 
 may be easily grown on a stem only a few feet in extent. 
 Figure 5 represents such a vine, immediately after pruning 
 in the fall. The canes which have borne have been al- 
 ready removed, but the places of the cuts of the shoots, 
 intended for canes, are only indicated. Also some spurs 
 are to be seen at A and By the shoots which will start from 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 49 
 
 their buds will enable the vine dresser to reduce the height 
 of the stem in the following year. If only two branches 
 
 Fig. 5.— VINE ON TRELLIS, PRUNED. 
 
 of the stem are shortened every year, the vine will always 
 be kept within moderate bounds. 
 
 J. P. BRONNER'S METHOD. 
 
 According to this method all branches and shoots form 
 right angles with the stems and canes from which they 
 grow. [Whether Bronner had any knowledge of Speech- 
 ly's and Hoare's plan I cannot tell, although it is hardly 
 probable. — Translator.] It is very similar to the methods 
 adopted at Thomery and Fontainebleau, where nearly all 
 the grapes are grown which are consumed at Paris. It is 
 the special object of this method to cause an equal distri- 
 bution of the ssp, and to cover the whole trellis equally 
 with bearing canes. It is adapted to free trellises, as well 
 as to such as are arranged on walls. The form of the 
 right angle is especially adapted to walls with windows 
 and doors, as it is in conformity with them. The dis- 
 
50 
 
 I HE GRAPE TONE. 
 
 tanccs between the vines, trained to a free trellis, may be 
 eight or ten feet ; for those on walls, twelve feet and more. 
 
 All strips and wires must run in a horizontal direction ; 
 the unequal numbers, three, live, seven, etc., according to 
 the height, must be preserved. The first wire must be 
 stretched a foot from the ground ; the others at distances 
 of sixteen inches each. 
 
 A single trellis consists of three wires ; the two arms 
 are tied to the lowest, and the bearing canes are tied in a 
 vertical direction to the two next wires. A double trellis 
 consists of five wires, and has horizontal arms tied to the 
 first and third ; the canes from the third wire are to be 
 tied to the fourth and fifth. 
 
 A trellis of three stories consists of seven wires, having 
 arms on the first, third and fifth ; the canes of the fifth are 
 to be tied to the sixth and seventh. AVe will now consider 
 the management of a single trellis with three wires. Be- 
 fore the vine can be trained to it, it must have attained 
 vigor and a good size. 
 
 A vine, two years old, when planted in the fall, must be 
 cut down to one eye. The shoot, pushing from it, must 
 not be interfered with; it must grow undisturbed without 
 pinching and stopping. This treatment will tend to pro- 
 duce fibrous roots. 
 
 In the following year, the vine is to be cut down to two 
 buds, and should, in the next year, the two canes not be 
 so thick as a child's finger, they 
 must be cut down again, and 
 treated as described. If a cutting 
 is planted, it will require at least 
 three years to make it strong 
 enough for training. The third 
 
 -FIRST PRUNING. ° & 
 
 year of the growth of the young 
 vine is, therefore, the first of the training. The two years' 
 plant, having grown a year in the place assigned to it, 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 51 
 
 makes in the summer a shoot to be pruned to two eyes in 
 the fall. Figure 6. 
 
 These two buds will produce two shoots in the follow- 
 ing (the second) year, figure 7, which are left four feet 
 long at pruning, and are changed to brown canes in the 
 fall. There will be a great many buds on them, which 
 
 Fig. 7. — SECOND PRUNING. 
 
 will all push in the next spring. Four are selected on 
 each arm, on the upper side of it, and distributed as equally 
 as possible, (figure 8) ; the green shoots proceeding from 
 them must be suffered to grow undisturbed, while all the 
 other buds must be rubbed off. In this way, eight shoots 
 will be obtained at nearly equal distances from each other, 
 which are to be tied vertically to the two upper wires as 
 
 Fig. 8. — PRUNING THE CANES. 
 
 soon as they reach them. In the (third) fall the unequal 
 numbers one and three of the shoots, being now canes, are 
 pruned back to two buds, but the equal numbers two and 
 four to three buds. Figure 8. 
 
THE i;kape VINE. 
 
 In the following (the fourth) year one shoot of the 
 spurs, corresponding to the unequal numbers, and pruned 
 to two eyes, is suffered to grow, but the other is rubbed 
 off, because it was only left on account of the possibility 
 of an accident to either of them. The shoots, pruned to 
 the three buds, (the equal numbers,) will bear fruit ; they 
 must be pinched, as explained, and no green shoot must 
 
 Fig. 9.— FIRST TEAR OF FRUITING. 
 
 be permitted to grow. The lowest buds of a cane being 
 mostly wood buds, only the third buds will show blos- 
 soms. Figure 9. 
 
 This will not weaken the vine. In the fall of the fourth 
 year, the canes of the unequal numbers are pruned to five 
 or six eyes, as shown in figure 9, but the equal numbers, 
 having borne fruit, to two eyes. 
 
 In the following (the fifth) year, the canes of the une- 
 qual numbers will bear along their whole length for the 
 first time, figure 10, and each of the spurs of the equal 
 numbers will produce a strong shoot for a bearing cane. 
 Now everything remains in the same order, the equal and 
 unequal numbers alternately bearing or making shoots. 
 As the shoot on the strong arm retains but one bud in the 
 year in which this is to be grown for a cane, it receives 
 an abundance of sap to make the canes strong ; and as the 
 
THE GRAPE TINE. 
 
 53 
 
 bearing canes on the same arms are not permitted to make 
 a single shoot, they are supplied with ample nourishment 
 for perfecting fruit. The functions of all the parts of the 
 vine are performed alternately, so that none of them is 
 taxed too heavily. 
 
 If a double trellis is to be covered, more time is re- 
 quired ; the upper story must not be made to bear in the 
 same year as the lower, but several years later, and so on. 
 
 Each branch growing from an arm must be regarded as 
 an independent vine, as it were, which is prolonged every 
 
 10.— SECOND YEAR OF FRUITING. 
 
 year by a joint. The same means which are employed to 
 reduce the height of a vine, must be used in managing a 
 branch. The shoots pushing from wood eyes on the old 
 wood must be suffered to grow ; they are pruned in the 
 fall to spurs from which a shoot is grown to replace the 
 old wood above it. 
 
 It is frequently necessary to train a vine so that the bear- 
 ing canes are at considerable distance from the ground, for 
 instance, in streets and yards where people are going to and 
 fro. . A cane, tied in a vertical direction to the wall, must 
 then be grown as a stem, without any branches whatever: 
 Only the leaves are left, as long as it is an object to 
 
54 
 
 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 strengthen it. If the uppermost bud is permitted to 
 push, the height is soon reached where the horizontal arms 
 
 are desired, which have to rest on wires. It is important 
 not to reach the height too soon. If four feet are added 
 annually to the height of the stem, the arms and bearing 
 canes will be so high that they cannot be touched by a 
 person on the ground. The arrangement just described, 
 according to which bearing canes and shoots are grown 
 alternately along the horizontal wires, is very well adapted 
 
 Fig. 11.— ARCADE TRELLIS. 
 
 for this purpose. The height of the space between two 
 windows of a house affords room enough for a second wire 
 to tie the bearing canes to it. Vines may be planted in a 
 great many other places to make them profitable, and to 
 embellish them, as near the columns of a verandah, to 
 cover the wire roof of a poultry yard, etc. If the princi- 
 ples of the management are understood, their application 
 to a given case is not difficult. .Arbors, covered with 
 grape vines, ought, under no circumstances, to be clothed 
 Avith vines on both sides and above, because it will make 
 the inside moist and shady, so that the grapes will not 
 
THK GRAPE VIXE. 55 
 
 ripen perfectly. An excellent arrangement for growing 
 table grapes is the so-called arcade arbor, of which only 
 the outlines can be given here. The framework, made of 
 wood, is indicated, figure 14, by straight lines. 
 
 Strong posts are set at equal distances from each other, 
 of seven or eight feet, on which two trellis strips or wires, 
 a foot and a half or two feet distant, are arranged. A 
 vine is planted to each post, trained up to the first strip, 
 and two arms from it are laid in along the strip. 
 
 A height of seven or eicrlit feet from the ground to the 
 
 o o o 
 
 lowest strip is sufficient, according as it may be desirable 
 to have the clusters higher or lower. Roses may be grown 
 between the vines, especially if the stem has no branches. 
 Such an arcade is, as it were, a vineyard in the air, which 
 makes little shade, so that the beds below may be used for 
 growing anything on them ; it is beautiful to look at, and 
 yields large crops. 
 
 TIME REQUIRED FOR COVERING A TRELLIS. 
 
 This is the plnce to discuss the question how soon the 
 space of a certain trellis may be covered. If the canes are 
 pruned long, that is, to sixteen or twenty buds, a vine 
 may be made to cover a large space in a few years, but so 
 rapid a process has disadvantages peculiar to itself. The 
 extension of the vine ought always to correspond to the 
 probable development of the roots. As they are in the 
 ground, not exposed to view, judgment must be exercised 
 by taking into consideration the length of the time, the 
 fertility of the soil, and the vigor, the length, and the 
 number of the growing shoots. If the process is hastened, 
 and numerous shoots are left in the third and fourth years, 
 the root cannot furnish as much nourishment as is needed. 
 Many shoots push, show blossoms, and remain feeble, and 
 in spite of regular pinching, the lowest eyes do not push 
 vigorously. They yield many bunches of small size ; they 
 
5G THE GEAPE VINE. 
 
 will not be sweet, and will ripen late. In the next fall 
 the canes are changes to stems ; there are no strong shoots 
 to make good canes in the fall. The shoots grow very 
 high on the stem, which has grown to an enormous extent. 
 
 This results from pruning a vine too long. In this case 
 it is necessary to prune down to the old wood, in order to 
 produce few, but more vigorous shoots. The crop, after a 
 rich harvest, will be small; the advantage, gained by the 
 prematurely hastened production, will be lost, and the 
 development of the vine will be put back a year. If this 
 circumstance is always kept in view, the temptation to ob- 
 tain an abundant crop by long pruning will be easily re- 
 sisted. 
 
 It is only the question whether the covering by a vine 
 of a space twelve feet wide shall be accomplished two or 
 three years sooner. A slower procedure is much prefera- 
 ble, as it makes both the steins and the roots stronger. 
 How long a vine ought to be pruned, that is, how many 
 eyes ought to be left, is different in different kinds of 
 grapes. The cluster never grows from the first bud of 
 the shoot, and not lower than from the fourth and fifth; 
 likewise the lowest buds of the canes rarely bear fruit. 
 There are kinds which bear fruit on shoots from the 
 seventh and eight bud / there are others, like the Chasselas, 
 ichich bear grapes on the lowest shoots. 
 
 Should the former be pruned below r the seventh eye, 
 then all the fruit bearing buds would be cut off, and only 
 wood buds would be left ; consequently they would not 
 bear fruit. This explains the experience of all vinyard- 
 ists that close pruning produces much wood and little 
 fruit, because the eyes, organized for blooming, are cut off. 
 The opinion is pretty generally prevalent that if the sup- 
 ply of sap should be too abundant, only wood and no 
 fruit would be produced, and that the fruit only requires 
 a very moderate supply of sap. This opinion is, no doubt, 
 erroneous, as the fruit demands more nourishment than 
 
THE GKAPE VIXE. 57 
 
 any other part of the plant. This is sufficiently proven by 
 the fact that an abundant crop prevents the vigorous de- 
 velopment of the branches very much. 
 
 The same takes place in regard to apples and pears. 
 Too close priming produces only wood shoots, not, how- 
 ever, on account of a super-abundance of sap, but because 
 the fruit buds, which grow more towards the end of the 
 shoots, have been cut off. On the other hand we find that 
 our rule holds good, namely, that we have to prune very 
 close, in order to obtain strong wood for the next year, 
 even if the rich crops of the current year should be lost. 
 It would be foolish to grow, as unskilled gardeners do, 
 every year nothing but wood and very little fruit. A gen- 
 eral knowledge of the varieties, in regard to the eyes, 
 which will he fruitful, is a sure guide. Varieties bearing 
 higher up must be pruned to twelve or fifteen buds ; the 
 lower bearing ones to six or eight eyes. To the former 
 belong the varieties from the South, such as Malvasierand 
 the like, often, also, kinds ripening late; those that ripen 
 early, and are accustomed to our climate, as the Chasselas, 
 bear on the lower eyes. 
 
 MANURING. 
 
 The grape vine, like all other plants, takes from the soil 
 certain constituents which must be replaced to grow them 
 successfully. They are the so-called mineral ingredients 
 which cannot be supplied by the atmosphere. To them 
 belong especially potash and phosphoric acid, combined 
 with lime. 
 
 If the culture of the vine could be so managed that 
 only the alcohol and the sugar were taken from the vine- 
 yard, and that all other things taken from the vine were 
 given back to the soil of the vineyard, no other manuring 
 would be needed. But along with the wine, also tartar, 
 and in this the potash is sold, as well as phosphate of 
 lime. All the tartar sold and bought is derived from wine, 
 3* 
 
58 THE GEAPB VINE. 
 
 and contains potash, of which the soil of the vineyard 
 has been robbed. If that is not restored, and if it does 
 not exist in the soil in the greatest abundance, the growth 
 of the vine must be impaired. It is a fact that in former 
 years the vine was planted in plains to a much greater ex- 
 tent than at present ; so, many places in the Margraviate 
 Brandenburg designate some tracts of land by calling them 
 vineyards, though not a single vine is now growing there. 
 An animal cannot form bones except by such food as con- 
 tains phosphate of lime ; a hen cannot lay eggs with hard 
 shells, if her nourishment does not contain lime. The vine 
 cannot form tartar when it is wanting in potash, and the 
 tartar, as it appears, is formed like the bones and the shell 
 of the eggs, because it is never wanting, and the plant 
 ceases growing without a full supply of potash. For 
 these reasons, the culture of the vine has ceased in 
 regions with little potash in the soil, after it had languished 
 for a number of years without giving any profit. In plains 
 it is impossible to restore the potash, except by man itself; 
 but who could be induced to simply it without knowing 
 the cause of the failure ? In mountainous districts the 
 cause is very different ; the soil near the Moselle, the 
 Rhine, the Nahe, and the Ahr consists of argillaceous 
 slate ; there the stones are spread all over the inclined 
 plains of the vineyards, so that not a single square inch 
 of the soil remains uncovered, and the vineyards look 
 more like quarries than plantations of vines. During the 
 whole winter the stones, containing frequently as much as 
 three per cent, of potash, are disintegrated by the weather, 
 and the little particles are washed down into. the soil by 
 rain and melting snow, and supply there the loss caused 
 by the removal of the last crop. As long as stones of this 
 are abundant in those vineyards, potash is not wanting ; 
 therefore the softest of such stones are preferred ; and 
 where they are not found in small pieces, they are severed 
 from the rocks with sledge hammers, and even with pow- 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 59 
 
 der, to cover the clean soil of the vineyards with them, 
 although this requires much labor. 
 
 This is manuring with minerals in the best form, al- 
 though it is the general belief that the stones serve only 
 for warming the soil, and for preventing it from being car- 
 ried off by heavy rains. They are effective in this respect 
 also, it is true, but they yield potash, and supply that 
 which has been abstracted. It is the chief benefit derived 
 from them. 
 
 Should any one be skeptical, he can easily convince him- 
 self by taking for this purpose stones, destitute of potash. 
 The experience of a few years will be sufficient to show 
 him the value of stones, containing potash. In Deides- 
 heim, on the Haardt Mountains, disintegrated basalt is 
 carried into the vineyards at great expense. There the 
 soil in the plains contains but little potash, not enough to 
 supply the vines in adequate proportions. Experience has 
 taught people that stones carried into the vineyards from 
 so great a distance yield the supply needed ; it is manur- 
 ing with minerals. Basalt contains from two to four per 
 cent of potash. But not only potash, but also phosphate 
 of lime must be restored, which is generally done by cow 
 manure. It is true, cow manure contains phosphate of 
 lime, and a sufficient quantity of potash. If we had al- 
 ways a sufficient supply of it, the potash, as well as, espe- 
 cially, the phosphate of lime, carried off in the wine, would 
 be restored to the soil. But cow manure is getting daily 
 more expensive, and enough of it cannot be procured. 
 When it shall have reached a certain price, vineyard cul- 
 ture, which does not yield even now in our region a cer- 
 tain crop every year, will not be profitable any more; 
 we have nearly arrived at that point. • 
 
 The cause why the price of cow manure is rising daily, 
 lies simply in the fact that the potash and phosphate of 
 lime have been abstracted from the fields to such a degree 
 that they are exhausted. If the farmer cannot grow 
 
60 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 clover, he has no feed for his cows, and cannot sell manure 
 The number of fanners whose fields are becoming unpro- 
 ductive is rapidly increasing, so that the price of manure 
 must rise rapidly, because it is getting very scarce. The 
 fields of the farmers are impoverished when they sell the 
 manure, and do not use it for fertilizing their own fields. 
 It is an incontrovertible fact that the land is impoverished 
 by selling the products of agriculture, even without selling 
 manure ; how much more certain and rapid will be its 
 ruin, if, in addition to the products, the manure also is sold. 
 A farmer who sells manure is a prodigal living on his cap- 
 ital ; he lights his candle simultaneously at both ends. 
 For a man who cannot resist the temptation to sell his 
 manure, the day is already appointed on which his field 
 will come under the hammer, and which will make him 
 either an emigrant or a beggar. Emigration is a proof of 
 the exhaustion of the soil; thus the culture of vineyards 
 becomes a curse to an agricultural country. It hangs like 
 a vampire on the neck of the country, sucking the potash 
 and phosphate of lime. It is my intention to stir up the 
 farmers not to sell any more (not even an ounce,) manure 
 to the owners of vineyards, for the interest of both. If 
 the land of the farmers is ruined by selling manure, the 
 owners of vineyards cannot get from them what they need, 
 so that they will be forced at last to become independent 
 of them. It is my ardent wish that this may take place 
 before the farmer is ruined. 
 
 The vinyardist will buy manure as long as it is offered 
 to him at a suitable price ; he can console himself, should 
 a farmer be ruined, by buying his field at the sheriff's 
 sale. As it is the firmer who is ruined first, he ought 
 t ( i commence resistance, and to refuse to sell manure, or 
 to ask such a price that he can buy double the value of 
 it in bone dust, guano and wood ashes. He must use the 
 money received for the manure in buying the materials 
 just mentioned, and give them back to his fields. 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 61 
 
 Should the farmer get only sufficient money for his manure 
 to buy an equivalent of bone dust, he has not sold at a 
 profit. If, on the contrary, the vinyardist has to pay 
 double the amount for cow manure that he does for an 
 equivalent in bone dust or leached ashes, he will cease 
 buying manure, and will prefer to buy bone dust for his 
 money, of which he receives double the value as a manure 
 for the same amount. If, however, the vinyardist con- 
 tends that he cannot do without animal manure, which is 
 not yet proven, he may then pay to the farmer the double 
 price asked ; for error must pay a tax. In this case the 
 vinyardist receives what he wishes, and the farmer has 
 his profit If the same individual cultivates vineyards as 
 well as fields, he may use his barnyard manure for his 
 vineyards, and bone dust, guano, and leached ashes for his 
 fields. II he cultivates only vineyards, he must become 
 independent of the farmer, who will continue raising the 
 price for manure, so that the vinyardist cannot buy it 
 any more. As soon as the price for manure rises higher 
 than that for an equal quantity of fertilizing material in 
 bone dust and guano, the vinyardist is forced to use them 
 for fertilizing purposes. If a vineyard is situated in a re- 
 gion of argillaceous slate, and if the surface of it is cov- 
 ered with a stratum of this material, only bone dust is re- 
 quired for manuring ; but if the vineyard is in a plain 
 where disintegrated rock cannot be supplied, something 
 besides must be used containing potash, for instance : wood 
 ashes, leached ashes, dust from such roads and turnpikes 
 as are covered with granite, syenite, basalt, and similar 
 rocks containing small proportions of potash ; also soap- 
 suds, chloride of potassium and sulphate of potash. It de- 
 pends altogether on the price whether the one or the other of 
 the materials mentioned deserves the preference. Of these 
 manuring materials, leached ashes and road dust may be 
 used immediately ; those, however, which are soluble, for 
 instance, wood ashes, soapsuds, chloride of potasssium and 
 
62 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 sulphate of potash, require some preparation. All mineral 
 Btuffs, fit for the nourishment of plants, become insoluble 
 in contact with the soil ; to prevent them from reaching 
 the roots of the vines in a soluble form, they must be 
 mixed with large quantities of good soil. Sufficient water 
 is then poured on it to wet it thoroughly, and so it re- 
 mains long enough for the chemical changes. The result 
 is an insoluble compound of the soil and the salts of pot- 
 ash, which may be used as manure. 
 
 In the fall, some of the soil on the northern side of the 
 rows is removed, and some of the above compound is laid 
 there; rain and snow will wash the fertilizing material 
 into the soil. 
 
 It is true, this chemical combination is nearly insoluble 
 in pure water, but the soil surrounding the roots of the 
 vine has an affinity for these stuffs, and in virtue of 
 it, the particles of the salts of potash continue spreading 
 from grain to grain of the soil until they are evenly dis- 
 tributed. This process is similar to the cementation of 
 iron, in which the molecules of carbon change their 
 places without ever having been volatile or liquid. 
 
 The carbon gradually penetrates the white-hot, soft iron 
 bars, until they are changed into steel. Precisely in the 
 same way mineral substances penetrate in the exhausted soil 
 from above downwards, and reach the roots in such a con- 
 dition that they can be absorbed by them without injury. 
 
 The roots of the vine are very sensitive to soluble fer- 
 tilizing materials. Liquid barn-yard manure, incautiously 
 used, may kill or make them sick. In the summer following 
 the application of it, the leaves turn yellow, the shoots 
 that push are feeble, and the fruit remains poor, and does 
 not mature. Liquid barn-yard manure ought, therefore, 
 never be brought in direct contact with the roots. 
 
 Urine, not decomposed, contains urea, and not yet carbon- 
 ate of ammonia, and the urine of man, besides, has a large 
 proportion of common salt. If this liquid manure is to 
 
THR GRAPE TINE. C3 
 
 be used for manuring purposes, it must be prepared in the 
 same way. It must be mixed with sufficient soil to 
 form a stiff paste, which is to be exposed to sunshine and 
 rain. The heat decomposes the urea; it is changed to 
 carbonate of ammonia, and fixed and retained by the 
 soil, while the undecomposed urea filtrates through the 
 soil, and is carried down to the roots. The common salt 
 is not fixed by the soil, and is washed out and carried off 
 by the rain. Liquid manure, so prepared, may, in a solid 
 form, be unhesitatingly used as manure. The method 
 just described, is nearly identical with that of the Japa- 
 nese, and which that nation, during thousands of years, has 
 followed in the management and preparation of manure, 
 and which has reached us only by a very long and circuitous 
 route. Our bam cellars, built at great expense, and re- 
 warded by premiums as models, are, with exception of the 
 water-tight floor, nothing but humbugs. They have been 
 resorted to through the error of the nitrogenous theory. 
 We attempt to retain in force, what, in contact with the 
 soil, remains of itself, viz.: the ammonia; we guard 
 against sunshine and heat, and prevent thereby the de- 
 composition of the urea; we keep what ought to be wash- 
 ed out, the common salt. But to return to the Japanese 
 method of preparing and managing manure. We must col- 
 lect and preserve all the offal obtained from our domestic 
 life to be composted with soil, refuse of straw, etc., and to 
 be exposed to sunshine and rain. Nothing useful is washed 
 out ; that which is important and needed undergoes the 
 necessary changes, and that which is injurious is remov- 
 ed. There is, however, another reason why liquid manure 
 ought to be subjected to the process of decomposition and 
 condensation. It is asserted that the disagreeable odor 
 of liquid manure exerts an injurious influence on the per- 
 fume of the Avine. I have not had any experience of this 
 alleged fact ; but I know from experience that liquid ma- 
 nure makes vines sickly. 
 
04 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 In Mulder's work, The Chemistry of the Wine, there is 
 the following passage, (p. 13, of the German translation 
 by Charles Arenz, Leipsic, 185G) : " It is remarkable that 
 fetid manure, fecal matter, and the mud of large cities 
 have an injurious influence upon the perfume of the wine, 
 while, on the contrary, inodorous manures, which decom- 
 pose slowly, for instance, wool, horn and bone-black, have 
 ;t beneficial effect upon the perfume. The fetid organic 
 ingredients of the manure pass, therefore, over into the 
 plants in such a quantity that they are perceivable in the 
 fruit ; so is the fetid odor of decaying fishes easily distin- 
 guished in the cauliflower when manured with them. It 
 is not without danger to pronounce these facts aloud in a 
 time in which it is said of the plants that they do not take 
 up the slightest particle from the soil; I risk it, however, 
 to mention the facts." 
 
 This passage of Mulder has reference to the principles 
 of agricultural chemistry established by Liebig to which 
 Mulder is scientifically, and also personally, opposed, which 
 is to be regretted. But Mulder could not have found a 
 better proof for Liebig's principles than just that one be- 
 fore us, which he uses as a weapon against them. If the 
 odorous ingredients of the manure are such as are perceiv- 
 able in the plant, they have not been received and assimi- 
 lated by the plant. Liebig speaks only of the assimilation 
 of certain bodies by the plant itself. The sugar, the albu- 
 men, the fibres in the fetid cauliflower, have assuredly 
 their origin in inorganic matter ; the organic ingredients 
 of the decaying fishes in it have not become parts of the 
 cauliflower. The fact itself proves the necessity of de- 
 animalizing all manure that is fetid, i. e., to change it as 
 much as possible to inorganic matter by the aid of atmos- 
 pheric influences. 
 
 In garden and field culture, large heaps of weeds are 
 accumulating ; they are excellent for receiving liquid ma- 
 nure. They are light and permeable, producing, by the aid 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 65 
 
 of liquid manure, in a short time a mould, which retains 
 with great tenacity all mineral ingredients. When expos- 
 ed during the summer, and until January and February, 
 to the influence of sun and rain, and dug over several 
 times, they make a very powerful manure. Offal of the 
 house, of wood stoves, and of bones, is also added. He 
 who cannot obtain cow manure may buy, during the sum- 
 mer, a sufficient supply of horse manure, which can easily 
 be got, because people do not attach much value to it. 
 If managed in the right way, it serves a very good pur- 
 pose. 
 
 It is generally believed that horse manure is too hot. This 
 is a belief not well founded in fact ; the assertion is with- 
 out sense. Horse manure is too light and so much mixed 
 with straw, that it cannot have the same fertilizing power 
 in the same bulk as cow manure. If the horse manure is 
 well prepared and managed during the summer, it can be 
 deprived of its heating power and lightness. It must be 
 composted in alternate layers with garden soil and coal 
 ashes ; all bones that have been collected must be put in 
 the horse manure, but not too many in the same place ; 
 liquid manure must then be poured over the heap, and 
 this must be covered about four inches deep with garden 
 soil. So prepared, it remains exposed to rain and sun ; 
 should a long drouth prevail, it must be sprinkled from 
 the rose of a water-pot. The heaps shrink considerably, 
 but lose not a particle of useful ingredients by evapora- 
 tion. When dug over from time to time, they make an 
 entirely homogenous and very powerful manure. Fre- 
 quently this operation is called composting, which, on the 
 whole, does not mean anything definite. It is paramount 
 that the materials used for compost heaps should con- 
 tain potash and phosphoric acid. Composting exists, then, 
 in such operations as tend to render those mineral materi- 
 als insoluble in connection with soil, w T armth and moisture. 
 Heat offers the conditions of decomposition, and moisture 
 
66 THE GEAPB VINE; 
 
 is instrumental in equally distributing and mixing soil and 
 vegetable mould. How often manuring is needed, cannot 
 be determined by a rule that will hold good everywhere 
 and always. If many good years succeed each other, as 
 was the case from 1857 to 1S62, five times in six years, 
 a more liberal and frequent application of manure is need- 
 ed than in the bad years, from 1847 to 1856. This follows 
 directly from the rule : If no fruit is taken from a vine- 
 yard, the fertilizing mineral ingredients remain in it ; if, 
 on the contrary, the crop is abundant, a very large quantity 
 of potash and phosphoric acid has been taken from the 
 soil. No attention has been paid as yet to this circum- 
 stance, so that the application of manure after a bad year 
 was the same as after a good one, as though the mineral 
 manures were removed by the mere lapse of time. 
 
 The application of manure ought, without exception, to 
 take place soon after the fall of the leaf, as long as the 
 weather permits it. Some of the soil at the back of the 
 vine, consequently, according to our rule, on the north 
 side, being removed by using the hoe, the manure must 
 be put in the little ditch so made, and must remain un- 
 covered during the whole winter. Rain and snow decom- 
 pose and carry the manuring materials gradually down- 
 ward. In the spring, the manure is lightly covered and 
 mixed with the soil, but not so that the roots are injured. 
 Every two, three, or four years, manure is needed. If the 
 weather is favorable, and berries and clusters remain small, 
 while they are abundant and of normal size in neighbor- 
 ing plantations, the soil has not a full supply of mineral 
 inatter. If the crop is abundant, it indicates the necessity 
 for manuring, because the mineral matter has been carried 
 on° by it. As the vine liberally repays all the care be- 
 stowed upon it, there are always causes for hetter manur- 
 ing, but not a single one for not giving enough. There is 
 no danger from an overdose of well prepared manure; it 
 will only assist in producing the best possible crops. 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 67 
 
 On declivities the manure must be placed above the vines 
 in shallow ditches, crossing the vineyard. The soil from 
 them is heaped up on the lower side of them. This soil 
 collects the rain water running down the hill, and keeps it 
 in the ditches filled with manure. It penetrates the soil 
 by a force inherent in it. It is very wrong, as prescribed 
 and taught in many books, to put the manure near the roots. 
 This cannot be effected without injuring them, the mineral 
 manures reaching the roots by cementation and according 
 to the law of gravity. If they are abundant above, they 
 will not be wanting below, in the course of time. 
 
 It is in the nature of things that a plant can be ma- 
 nured with the offal from it. Rape may be grown on soil 
 manured with oil cake, the refuse of making oil from rape ; 
 grape wood, leaves, tendrils, and skins will assist the 
 growth of the vine very much. It is, therefore, very im- 
 portant to take from a vineyard or garden as little as pos- 
 sible, and to give back as much as possible, or, in other 
 words, nothing but the grape juice must be taken from the 
 vineyard; everything else must be restored to it. The 
 canes cut off in the fall or spring must be chopped into 
 small pieces with a hatchet and mixed with manure. The 
 pressed skins, either before or after distillation, if brandy 
 is made, must be thrown on the compost heap. If all the 
 refuse parts of the vine are used for preparing manure, it 
 reduces the purchase of manure to the smallest figure ; it 
 is as impossible to avoid it entirely, as it is impossible 
 to invent a lamp that can be fed with the spare oil. 
 What is sold in the wine itself must be restored to the 
 vineyard from other sources ; we lessen it by using the 
 offal from the vine. 
 
 If the pressed skins are boiled for distilling alcohol, they 
 are of course nearly valueless for manuring purposes. If, 
 however, Tartaric acid, (which does not cause a loss of the 
 soil,) is made, part of the profit may be used for buying 
 and restoring in a cheaper form the potash taken with 
 
G8 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 it. The hopes based on manuring vines by using the offal 
 from them have, therefore, not been realized. Some- 
 times another way of manuring, with green plants, is 
 talked of; it is recommended to sow among the vines 
 vetches, turnips, clover, cereals and the like, and to dig or 
 plow them under as soon as those plants are fully devel- 
 oped in their growth. This is manuring with the seeds 
 alone. What those plants have taken from the soil was 
 already in it, and can therefore not enrich it. Such seeds, 
 however, are too expensive to use as manure, and the labor 
 is too great. 
 
 All such hopes, founded on imaginary effects of green 
 manure, have disappeared before the light of exact science. 
 
 For a long time an ill-founded importance was ascribed 
 to digging the soil of the vineyard, and it was recom- 
 mended to repeat this four or five times during the season. 
 According to an old proverb, to dig well amounts to slight 
 manuring, ( Gut gegraben ist halb geduengt,) and the fa- 
 ble of the vineyard, in which the sons are said to have 
 found the hidden treasure in the abundant crops by fre- 
 quent digging, bears testimony to such a view. It was the 
 result of the opinion prevailing formerly of the inexhausti- 
 bility of the soil, in which those who are in favor of im- 
 moderate digging share yet. But as we know at present 
 that this is not so, we find now that digging is not manur- 
 ing, and that the story of the vineyard is but a story. 
 The stirring of the soil is useful, as it permits the air to 
 penetrate the soil and to assist in the formation of carbonic 
 acid ; it opens also the soil to a more thorough influence 
 of the rain. In digging, the greatest care must be used 
 not to go so deep as to touch the roots ; for, to remove the 
 soil from the fibrous roots, would be equal to a destruction 
 of the whole crop. In vineyards covered with debris of 
 rocks, no digging can take place, except in the spring, 
 when the vineyard is cither manured or only stirred. 
 Very frequently the vines are manured in the spring, in 
 
THE Gil APE VINE. 
 
 69 
 
 order to make use of the manure collected during the 
 winter. It would be better to manure in the fall, and to 
 preserve the winter manure in heaps for the following 
 year. But at present manure is so scarce that such a 
 course cannot be thought of. To pay people for digging, 
 is an expense which does not enrich the soil. In a rational 
 culture of the soil this expense will be reduced to that 
 which is unavoidably necessary ; the money saved in this 
 way is better employed in buying fertilizing materials for 
 improving the soil. 
 
 In some books, nice distinctions are made in regard to 
 different kinds of manures, such as hen, sheep, hog, pigeon, 
 and other manures. Of one it is said, that it is too dry, 
 another, again, too moist. All such distinctions amount to 
 nothing and are meaningless. If the manures are " Japan- 
 ized" before their application, they are all equally good, 
 because all animals live on the same constituents of the 
 plants. 
 
 THE AGE OF THE VINEYARD. 
 
 In our climates the age of the vineyard is, as a rule, 
 twenty-five or thirty, and in some localities fifteen or 
 twenty years ; then the vines commence to be unproduc- 
 tive, and a new plantation causes a loss of four or five 
 years. Bronner describes, as early as twenty-six years 
 ago, in his work " Viticulture on the Rhine," No. 3, p. 33, 
 this gradual failing of the vine. He says : " The vines pro- 
 duce but a few grapes ; although they bloom like other 
 vigorous ones, yet they have not power to make fine wood ; 
 they turn yellow and sickly, and look at last as if their 
 pith had been killed by frost. Many vineyards of this 
 kind, especially towards Mentz, (he speaks of the vine- 
 yards at Hochheim,) on the westerly side of the place, 
 show such a sickly weakness; no stimulant nor any ma- 
 nure can restore them to their former vigor. Such enfeeb- 
 
70 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 led vines may be considered as a cancer in the household ; 
 they arc a dead capital, the interest from which, the ex- 
 pected crops, the owner loses, and on which he bestows 
 besides, annually, unprofitable labor. Is not," Bronner con- 
 tinues, " this short life to be ascribed to the fact that the 
 soil has been used during many centuries for the same pur- 
 pose, so that it is now exhausted '?" But what has been ab- 
 stracted from it ? Hcerter thinks, that there is a want of 
 humus, (vegetable mould, muck,) which is, according to 
 him, the soul of the vegetable kingdom. If such soil is 
 leeched out, and the liquid is a colorless fluid, then it is 
 exhausted and unproductive. But Bronner observes cor- 
 rectly that the vines do not grow better after an applica- 
 tion of humus, and that they thrive luxuriantly on the 
 other hand in. pure argillaceous marl, which does not con- 
 tain the slightest trace of humus. w For," he says, " it is 
 an established fact that vines grow best in soil on which 
 vines have never before grown, in a virgin soil, never 
 worked before; in such soil they reach also a greater age." 
 
 " I," says Bronner, " have endeavored to investigate the 
 matter in the vineyards ; I have called natural philosophy 
 and chemistry to my assistance ; I have conversed about it 
 with scientific men ; but no explanation is satisfactory to 
 me as yet without resorting to hypothetical phrases." 
 
 This excellent man felt, twenty-six years ago, that all 
 explanations then in vogue were unsatisfactory, and yet, 
 on the following page, he seems inclined to assent to the 
 view that the roots of the plants excrete matter injurious 
 to their own growth. What are the present teachings of 
 science in this respect ? We know that no stimulants ex- 
 ist for plants, but only nourishment. We know that the 
 plants do not excrete anything injurious to themselves, 
 that cannot be changed again into carbonic acid by rot- 
 tin--. We know that the whole doctrine of humus is 
 nothing but error and deception. The only cause of the 
 premature death of the vines, which is true and perfectly 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 71 
 
 sufficient, lies in the exhaustion of the soil of mineral con- 
 stituents, and in too short pruning. The reasons given 
 by Bronner prove this. The soil may be rendered incapa- 
 ble of producing vines as of producing clover. After a 
 few years the roots of the vine penetrate the soil so deep 
 that the manure cannot reach them, because it moves 
 slowly and with difficulty in the soil. So their nourish- 
 ment can only be taken from the mineral constituents in 
 their immediate vicinity. By close pruning we prevent 
 roots from going deeper in quest of food stored up there. 
 There exists a mutual action between the formation of 
 leaves and wood. The wood fibres, originating from car- 
 bonic acid, cannot be formed except by the excretion of 
 oxygen at the surface of the leaves. The greatest quan- 
 tity of wood fibre is formed if the vine is not pruned at 
 all, but suffered to grow at will; in the same proportion, 
 also, the root grows, provided thai there is a sufficiency of 
 mineral constituents. Under this condition, even the 
 greatest quantity of sugar is formed, but its percentage 
 in the single cluster does not satisfy us. We diminish, by 
 pruning, the formation of the absolute amount of sugar, 
 in order to raise its percentage in the few grapes left. In 
 this way we diminish the formation of wood and roots, 
 and to obtain a very few sweet- clusters, we cripple the vine 
 by pruning, prevent the root from going deep, and so lay 
 the foundation of its premature decay. The vine can 
 reach the age of 800 years, yet we see it die of old age 
 under our treatment after the short life of twenty-five 
 years. To dig deep, or trench, is only effective a few 
 times, i. e., as long as the lower strata of the soil not yet 
 exhausted can be dug out and mixed with the others. But 
 the period of the life of the new vine planted in the place 
 is successively abridged in each of the following attempts, 
 and ends necessarily by the relinquishment of the land if 
 the mineral ingredients taken from below are not restored 
 again below. Manuring is useful for an indefinite period 
 
72 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 if only plants, the roots of which spread near the surface, 
 are cultivated. That is the reason why mowing land, 
 and a wheat field may be kept constantly productive, but 
 not a field sown to Lucerne, a vineyard, or a forest. Expe- 
 rience has proved abundantly that the field of Lucerne, 
 when giving out, cannot be restored, even by manuring it 
 most abundantly. 
 
 The mineral constituents of the plants are contained in 
 the soil in an insoluble form, or they are changed to such 
 a form by combining with other constituents of the soil, 
 if they are mixed with it in a solution. For instance, 
 sulphate of potash cannot filter through the soil when dis- 
 solved in water, nor can phosphate of lime, when dissolved 
 by carbonic acid ; they remain in the uppermost stratum, 
 and nearly pure water filters through. If the humus does 
 contain minerals, it is excellent, but without them, not worth 
 a farthing. Nothing grows in peat, nothing in brown coal, 
 both being nearly pure humus, except they make ashes 
 containing potash, which is hardly ever the case. All this 
 leads us necessarily to the fundamental truth already 
 stated in the above, that viticulture can, in the future, 
 only be based on manuring with minerals, and that with- 
 out them it will disappear in the course of time, as has 
 already been the case in the plains of middle Germany 
 and in the Rhine country, if it cannot be carried on by 
 manuring with minerals. But how can this be effected ? 
 Science will assist also in that, because she alone can give 
 aid. Road-dust from granite, syenite, phorphyry, etc., will, 
 as has been already mentioned, be exported as an article of 
 trade and conveyed by the railroads, which diminish so 
 much the formation of road-dust. The few roads yet used 
 for carts and carriages, will be considered as the mills 
 which pulverize the rocks without extra labor. Pure feld- 
 spar will be very much preferred ; from the proceeds from 
 the sale of the dust the roads can be kept in good order, 
 still leaving a margin of profit. If the percentage of pot- 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 73 
 
 ash is the same in different rocks, the softest will be pre- 
 ferred ; different granites will be analyzed, in order to find 
 such as contain the greatest percentage of potash. Per- 
 haps granite will be heated, thrown into cold water, and 
 pulverized in mills, to take from nature by force what she 
 is taking from us daily through the plants. Enormous 
 quantities of potash are contained in the ocean. In South- 
 ern France, thousands of tons of potash salts are sent to 
 the markets ; they are obtained from the lyes of the salt 
 yards. The water of the ocean contains more than one 
 thousandth part of its weight of chloride of potassium. In 
 the water of the Dead Sea is contained one and one-third per 
 cent, of chloride of potassium, consequently ten times more 
 than in the water of the ocean. The trachytes of the Eifel 
 contain four and one-half per cent. ; the phorphyry of 
 Kreuznach, five and one-half per cent. ; that of Freiburg 
 seven and a half per cent. ; the phronolite of Hohenkrsehen 
 even twenty-four per cent, of potash. This shows that 
 enormous quantities of such materials, as we need so much 
 for growing plants, are accumulated. Science will find 
 and make known the localities where they are to be found ; 
 technical art will find the means of making them available. 
 
 THE RISESTG SAP IX THE YINE. 
 
 More than a hundred years ago an English clergyman, 
 by the name of Stephen Hales, made an experiment to 
 measure by a column of water or quicksilver the force of 
 the rising sap in the vine. I am not in possession of his 
 original work, yet the experiment is mentioned in many 
 books ; but I do not find that anybody has ever either re- 
 peated or confirmed the experiment, so that at last, on ac- 
 count of the length of time, doubts were raised whether 
 it were so Or not. Hales inserted the cut end of a cane 
 in a glass tube, bent in the form of the letter S. The 
 sap issuing from the wound rose twenty-one feet high. 
 4 
 
74 
 
 THE GEAPE VINE. 
 
 Hales then filled the tube with quicksilver, which rose to 
 a height of thirty-two inches. Out of curiosity I repeated 
 this experiment iu the year 1849, and found that the results 
 obtained by Hales were perfectly 
 correct. I have not published any- 
 thing about it, but I think this a 
 good opportunity to communicate 
 here, verbatim, the results as noted 
 down in my memorandum book. 
 
 " On the 16th of April I repeated 
 the frequently mentioned experi- 
 ment of Hales in regard to the ris- 
 ing of the sap in the vine. At first 
 I arranged glass tubes for the saj:> 
 to rise in them ; but I had to give 
 this up because the sap filled the 
 glass tubes very soon, and I was 
 prevented by the wall on which the 
 vine (Chasselas,) grew, from mak- 
 ing them longer. 
 
 " Then the apparatus, represented 
 in Fig. 12, was arranged. It con- 
 sisted of a glass bottle closed with 
 a cork, which was tied firmly to the 
 glass, so that it could not be forced 
 out nor even moved. The cork was 
 perforated with two holes, in one of 
 which a small glass tube, bent at a 
 right angle, was inserted; in the 
 other, a glass tube, three feet long, which nearly touched 
 the bottom. The cane was fresh cut and connected with 
 the small glass tube by means of an India rubber tube, 
 enlarged to receive the cane, and then surrounded by 
 thick strips of linen. The bottle contained quicksilver an 
 inch deep ; the remaining space was filled with water, 
 without a bubble of air. 
 
 Fig. 12. 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 75 
 
 The rising took place in the following manner : 
 April 16, A. M., 1849, 9 o'clock 45 min., 1"— 
 « " " 10 " 10 " 3" 10"' 
 
 " " a 10 a n a 4 u 10 ;u 
 
 a a a ii a a tyu 
 
 a a a 21 ** 30 " 7" 4'" 
 
 a a a -jo a a ryu g«c 
 
 April 1G, P. M., 1849, 12 " 43 " 8 a 7'" 
 
 a a a 2 "* 9 " 11" 
 
 a u a g a 4.17 <c jo" 
 
 a a a rv a a io(( 
 
 . " " 9 " 45 " 15— 
 
 April 17, A. M., 1849, 8 " 15 " 19" 3'" 
 then it commenced falling again. 
 
 According to the spec. gr. of the quicksilver of 13.57, 
 the height of nineteen and a quarter inches of the quick- 
 silver is equal to a pressure of. water of 26.12. The quick- 
 silver did not, in my experiment, rise so high as in Hales', 
 but high enough to confirm the facts. This phenomenon 
 remains yet unexplained. Neither the law of capillary at- 
 traction nor endosmosis furnish the least means of expla- 
 nation, although both have so frequently been resorted to. 
 The cause of the sap rising seems to lie in the whole 
 length of the cane. The fact that the uppermost eyes 
 push always most vigorously, agrees with it. 
 
 The liquid is, according to my researches, very weak in 
 constituents. One litre gave only 2.43 grammes of dry 
 matter, or 0.243 per cent. ; this, reduced to ashes, weighed 
 only 0.65 grammes, or 0.065 per cent, ingredients of the 
 ashes. The ashes showed a very feeble alkaline reaction. 
 It contained lime, and I could trace a little phosphoric acid 
 by molybdanic acid. The liquid, mixed w T ith sugar, does 
 not ferment. It contains, therefore, no albuminous mat- 
 ter, and remains perfectly clear by boiling. The loss of 
 matter, therefore, which the vine sustains by bleeding, is 
 of very little account, except we consider it unnatural 
 
76 THE GRAPE VIXE. 
 
 that the vine should indulge in the satisfaction of its ten- 
 dency to raise the sap so high. It is a ridiculous supersti- 
 tion that this liquid serves a good purpose as an eye water. 
 
 THE GRAPE DISEASE. 
 
 In the year 1845, a fungus originated at Margate, in 
 England, in a vinery for forcing grapes. It is related that 
 it escaped through a broken window light, and commenced 
 its destructive travel over Europe and the adjoining parts 
 of the world. It attacks unripe berries, covering them 
 with a coat resembling flour; its roots penetrate the skin 
 of the berry, destroys thereby its structure, so that it can- 
 not grow anymore. As the sap continues flowing to it, it 
 cracks from want of expansibility, dries up, and decays. 
 It creeps on the berry along the peduncle to the shoots 
 and leaves, covering the whole vine with a white film, ex- 
 cept the Woody parts of it. Single spores, carried by wind 
 or insects to distant points, create a new source of infec- 
 tion from which it spreads again by creeping, so that, 
 by these two ways of dissemination, in a short time, the 
 largest trellises of vines are destroyed. The fungus in 
 question belongs to the genus of the O'ldiums, resembling 
 egg-shaped pearls, as transparent as glass, which are, as it 
 were, strung on a thread ; when they are detached and 
 separated, they sprout and make roots. Of these Oidiums 
 many species were known long ago, but they were of no 
 importance compared with that in question, because they 
 appeared only now and then, attacking only wild plants 
 of no value. The grape fungus, however, spreads so 
 rapidly, and the plant attacked by it is of so great im- 
 portance, that it attracted general attention. The question 
 might be asked here why this fungus was not observed 
 earlier. We cannot answer it from history. We know, 
 however, from the recent investigations of Darwin and 
 others, that the species of plants and animals are not con- 
 stant; they are subject to continual changes caused by ex- 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. W 
 
 ternal conditions and circumstances. Although, not a sin- 
 gle case of generatio spontanea s. equivoca, (immediate 
 creation within the historical period,) has been established 
 or proved, yet we recognize the fact that beings, already 
 in existence, may be very much changed by external con- 
 ditions, especially those lowest organisms with their sim- 
 ple organs. The nature of the O'idiums is changed by the 
 nature of the body on which they lead their parasitic 
 life. The year 1862 was very productive of different kinds 
 of O'idiums. I observed in my garden that not only the 
 grapes, but roses, Thlaspi Bursa-Pastoris, Bignonia, 
 Catalpa, cucumbers, squashes, Zamium album, peas, and 
 many other plants were attacked. Under the microscope 
 they were so similar in form, that they all might have 
 been regarded as the same. It is true, they showed little 
 differences in the form, yet they did not necessarily estab- 
 lish a difference of the species ; it is very probable that 
 the same spore has a different development on the leaves 
 of the cucumber, or Bignonia, from that which it would 
 have on the tender leaves of the pea. In this way, the 
 spore of an O'idium, grown on another plant, may have 
 settled on the berry of a grape vine in a warm, moist glass 
 house, and its nature may have been changed so much, 
 that it was now especially fit to grow on grapes. Conse- 
 quently, it is not in the least remarkable that the grape 
 disease has not made its appearance earlier, but only after 
 a new species had been called into existence by favorable 
 circumstances, a species especially fit to live on the juice 
 of unripe grapes. So the disease came into existence and 
 lias not as yet disappeared. There is reason to believe 
 tjjat the spores of the O'idium may remain dormant during 
 the winter, on the infected canes and buds. This is 
 proved by the fact that the disease re-appears regularly in 
 southern countries, and that its recurrence in northern, 
 colder countries, is irregular and sporadic. With us, the 
 disease seems to be destroyed by a severe winter; for 
 
it 
 
 THE GEAPE VINE. 
 
 many cases arc known in which it did not re-appear in lo- 
 calities where it was very prevalent the year before. In 
 countries enjoying mild winters, like Madeira, Tyrol, and 
 Italy, its re-appearance may be predicted almost to a day. 
 There is also a difference in regard to its appearance. In 
 the South, it is frequently observed before the time of blos- 
 soming ; with us, not until the berries have attained the size 
 of small peas. The warm months of April and May, in 
 1862, developed the spores so early that the disease had 
 already spread to a great extent in the beginning of July. 
 
 At the first appearance of this O'idium, which was called 
 by Berkeley Oidium Tvc7ceri, those whose vineyards 
 were affected by it, were driven to despair. The descrip- 
 tion of it given by Mr. de Comini, the owner of a farm 
 at Botzen, is really awful. Year after year the whole crop 
 was lost, families sank into poverty, and emigration and 
 seizure of their property followed. 
 
 The results of the experiments to counteract this calam- 
 ity, were slow, and centered in the view entertained that 
 jmlverized sulphur, sprinkled over the vines, was a never 
 failing specific. At first, the operation was performed in 
 a defensive way ; only the clusters attacked by the fun- 
 gus, were sprinkled. Afterwards it was thought better to 
 use the sulphur as a preventive; the whole vine was 
 sprinkled with sulphur to prevent the disease. At last, 
 experience established the fact, that it is necessary to ap- 
 ply the sulphur four or five times, to kill the sj^ores, and to 
 prevent the disease from spreading. 
 
 In the beginning of July, in 1862, I noticed for the first 
 time on a trellis a spot affected with the disease ; it had 
 never appeared before in the same garden. At that time 
 my garden contained several thousand feet of trellis ; I 
 saw at once the difficulty, amounting almost to an impos- 
 sibility of staying the disease by sprinkling the leaves and 
 bunches, for some of the trellises were from sixteen to 
 twenty feet high, and not accessible without the use of a 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 79 
 
 ladder. Thinking over all the experiments made to com- 
 bat the evil, I saw that they were mostly only prophylac- 
 tic, (preventive.) I concluded, therefore, to proceed at 
 once in a defensive way, and to destroy the spores as soon 
 as they originated. The result showed that this was much 
 easier than it seemed to be at first. The diseased spot was 
 thoroughly cleansed ; all bunches seized with the disease, 
 beyond the possibility of curing them, were broken off, 
 and the leaves and branches severely beaten with towels 
 and brushwood. • 
 
 Then the diseased spot with its surroundings was very 
 frequently examined, and all new attacks of the disease 
 instantly annihilated. This was effected in the following 
 manner : I carried a deep box filled with flowers of sul- 
 phur, around the neck, by means of a cord, so that I had it 
 before me, in which a common hair brush, an inch thick, 
 was kept. In examining the clusters, great facility of recog- 
 nizing the disease is very soon acquired, so that there is not 
 the least doubt about it. Especially the small berries which 
 are not developed, because they are not fertilized, are seized 
 when they are not larger than a pin's head. These appear 
 as if powdered white, while everything else around them 
 is in order yet. Where there is such a berry, there is gen- 
 erally, also, a small empty space by which the infection is 
 retarded. Such a cluster is then taken in the hollow of the 
 left hand, then brushed powerfully with the brush, not 
 charged with sulphur, and then dusted over by means of 
 the same brush with sulphur. A spot, so treated, is always 
 saved. The sooner the examination of the vines com- 
 mences, the easier it is to accomplish the purpose. Often- 
 times many days elapse before a new infection takes place. 
 In a large garden, of three acres area, with vines planted 
 everywhere, it required but an hour every day to arrest 
 the evil. 
 
 Sometimes I found twenty spots affected, sometimes but 
 one, and had the disease not already spread so much be- 
 
80 THE GRAPE TINE. 
 
 fore I noticed it, the task would have been still easier. 
 The disease ahoays attacks the bunches first, and only ap- 
 pears on the leaves and branches later y if it is destroyed 
 on the berries it does not reach the leaves. When the 
 bunches begin to ripen, they are in less danger than the 
 leaves and green shoots. The bunches so treated ripened 
 perfectly on vines, of which every leaf was affected. 
 
 The protection is, therefore, to be confined to the clus- 
 ters, as it is impossible to treat leaves and shoots in a like 
 manner. In a cluster saved, the#>bject of the labor is be- 
 fore us ; it is not so near and immediate in the leaves and 
 shoots, the number of which is much larger. The offen- 
 sive (prophylactic) treatment causes under all circum- 
 stances the same amount of labor, the defensive only in 
 proportion to what is really saved. 
 
 The first traces of the disease appear, as stated, always 
 on the unripe cluster. The disease does not spread, nor 
 do the leaves or the on- e en shoots suffer when the fundus is 
 destroyed there. 
 
 There is no place for the spores of the O'idium, but on 
 the green shoots, which will be canes in the fall by chang- 
 ing their green color into brown. This fact was proven 
 by the experiments of Mr. de Comini. In November, 
 he cut off infected canes, which was evident from the 
 dark spots on them, and kept them in a warm room, in 
 pots, having horse-manure and sods at the bottom. After 
 the lapse of seven weeks, the fungus appeared on those 
 dark spots, covering, in a short time, the whole cane. It 
 is therefore very important to watch the vines carefully 
 in the spring in order to destroy the fungus as soon as it 
 makes its appearance ; this will very much diminish its 
 spreading. 
 
 [From the above statement and description of Dr. Mohr, 
 it is evident that the O'idium as prevalent in Europe is 
 either different from that which attacks the American va 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 81 
 
 rieties, or modified and changed, to a certain degree, by 
 atmospheric influences. The grape vine disease, at least 
 here, at the East, always attacks the leaves first, and the 
 clusters only later, if they are attacked at all. It is well 
 known that Dr. Engelmann, of St. Louis, and other nat- 
 uralists of this country, consider the European and Amer- 
 ican O'idium as two different species, and maintain, besides, 
 that there is a second species also in America. Be this as 
 it may, it is an established fact that flowers of sulphur is 
 a specific against the disease prevalent in America as well 
 as that in Europe. To destroy the spores in the spring 
 before the buds swell, it is beneficial to sprinkle them 
 thoroughly by means of a garden syringe, with the follow- 
 ing mixture, recommended by Mr. Neubert, of Leipsic, the 
 scientific vine grower. 
 
 Eight and a half ounces of common salt, and four ounces 
 of saltpetre must be dissolved in 36 ounces of water ; add 
 to the solution, 10 drops of oil of Rosemary, and 10 drops 
 of oil of Lavender. Take one part of the solution and use 
 it with 100 or 120 parts of water. It must be vigorously 
 stirred before using it, on account of the essential oils 
 which otherwise would easily separate from it. 
 
 The trellises, posts and walls, must also be thoroughly 
 sprinkled as well as the vines. As soon as the leaves ex- 
 pand they must be dusted all over with flowers of sul- 
 phur, then again when they blossom, a third time when 
 the berries are as large as peas, and lastly, when they be- 
 gin to color. This, of course, is a prophylactic treatment ; 
 but as the berries are attacked later than the leaves, if at 
 all, it can not be otherwise. The effect of the sulphuration 
 is very powerful. Flowers of sulphur also keep the thrips 
 in check, an enemy of the grape vine that grows every- 
 day more formidable. 
 
 The vines may be dusted by means of a brush ; yet it 
 is difficult by means of it to dust the underside of the 
 leaves. 
 
82 
 
 THE GEATE VINE. 
 
 The bellows invented in France, by Mr. De La Vergoe, 
 
 (figure 13,) is the most convenient instrument for dusting 
 all parts of the vine thoroughly, especially the under- 
 side of the leaves. Several years ago I imported a number 
 
 Fig. 13. 
 
 of them from France, at great expense and loss, for pat- 
 terns to have them manufactured here. They can be ob- 
 tained from the Messrs. Woodward, editors of the Horti- 
 culturist, who have them always on hand. 
 
 There is another instrument, called, in Germany, the 
 " Grape-vine Torch." It consists of a conical duster made 
 of tin, the bottom of which is perforated with a great num- 
 ber of small holes. Sometimes the holes are made larger, 
 so that pieces of woolen yarn (worsted) can be passed 
 through them, leaving space enough for the sulphur to be 
 shaken through, and to spread even- 
 ly by the jrieces of woolen yarn 
 which project several inches from 
 the bottom. Such a duster must 
 be about eight or ten inches long, 
 and at the bottom about four inches 
 or four and a half in diameter. 
 There must, of course, be a cover 
 to it to prevent the sulphur from 
 
 falling out. Figure 14 illustrates 
 Fig. 14. a .•,•-, 
 
 the grape vine torch, with a por- 
 tion of the side removed to show the interior arrangement. 
 This instrument has the same disadvantage as a brush, 
 because the underside of the leaves can only with difficul- 
 ty be dusted over by means of it. 
 
THE GRAPE VIXE. 83 
 
 The sulpkuration ought to be performed in the middle 
 of the day when the sun shines ; should a sudden rain 
 wash the sulphur off, it must immediately "be repeated as 
 soon as the weather becomes dry. 
 
 It would be useless to meution here other remedies for 
 destroying that terrible disease; for instance, three parts 
 of coal tar mixed with ninety-seven parts of sand or dry 
 soil. Some of this compound laid about the vines is said 
 to prevent the disease ; but sulphur, if properly applied, 
 never fails to prevent or destroy it. — Translator. ~\ 
 
 TREATMENT OF VINES INJURED BY FROST. 
 
 In our northern climates, the wood of the vine suffers 
 during winters that are very cold. No buds push in the 
 spring, and the wood dries up in the course of the summer. 
 It is true it does not happen frequently, yet it happens 
 sometimes. To prevent this, the vines pruned in the fall 
 are covered with soil. This is the rule in the east of Ger- 
 many ; in the west, on the Rhine, it is not customary, be- 
 cause truly dangerous winters are of too rare occurrence to 
 warrant the same laborious work annually. 
 
 Vines injured by frost are, in this region, cut off just 
 above ground ; but this operation is injurious and faulty 
 in the highest degree. The roots not having suffered from 
 frost send up in the spring an abundance of sap, which 
 flows out of the large wound. This flow of the sap con- 
 tinues not unfrequently for a month, and consequently the 
 young shoots are lessened and retarded. These young 
 shoots cannot ripen their wood in the course of the sum 
 mer, so that in the following winter they suffer again from 
 the frost. The treatment of a vine injured by frost must 
 therefore be entirely changed from this. The injured vines 
 must not be pruned at all, in order to prevent the rising 
 sap from getting wasted ; they must be permitted to push 
 just as they are. In this case the number of the pushing 
 
84 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 eyes is as large as possible, no sap being lost by flowing 
 out. 
 
 This causes the shoots to grow vigorously ; they can 
 mature their wood in the summer and bear fruit the next 
 year; in the third year all that has been lost by frost may 
 have been replaced by a new growth, and the vine may 
 have attained its former size. In this way only one crop 
 is lost. 
 
 If the vine was primed in the fall, nothing is cut off after 
 the frost in the spring ; the young shoots, which appear 
 in large numbers, must be suffered to grow until they are 
 four or five feet long. Then the weakest of them are re- 
 moved, without injuring the strong ones, in order to make 
 them grow more vigorously. Pinching the laterals must 
 be entirely omitted until at pruning in the fall. The eyes 
 of the young shoots may all, in the course of the summer, 
 be sufficiently well developed for produciug blossoms, be- 
 cause no sap in this case is used for nourishing fruit. The 
 pruning in the fall must be very moderate, and confined to 
 the removal of the laterals. 
 
 The vine does not suffer from covering it with soil ; it 
 is not even injured by inundation. A small vineyard ad- 
 joining my farm is almost every year flooded by the 
 Moselle, during ten or fourteen days ; it has never suffered 
 from it, and seems to do better than others. There are 
 vineyards on the Rhine, between Coblenz and Bingen, 
 which are flooded nearly every year, without suffering in 
 the least. The vine may suffer in the spring from late 
 frosts coming after leaves and blossoms have appeared. 
 The warmer the spring, and the more advanced the shoots, 
 the greater is the clanger. In this respect the cold days, 
 from the twelfth to the fourteenth of May, are well known 
 and dreaded; they are generally called the cold saints, 
 Pancratius, Servativs and JBonifacius. It is a well estab- 
 lished fiict, corroborated by many years' experience, that 
 at that time a cold storm from the north visits the middle 
 
THE GEAPE VINE. 85 
 
 of Europe, often destroying in a single night the hopes of 
 a whole year. The cause of the phenomenon is as yet un- 
 known. It is not always coincident with the days men- 
 tioned ; for it may come one or two weeks earlier, or a 
 few days later. In our region this storm was in a certain 
 year experienced on the 21st day of April; in another 
 (1854), on the 24th of April, not injuring the yet unde- 
 veloped shoots of the vine, while the plums and pears 
 then in blossom suffered severely. Nothing has been pro- 
 posed or attempted against such cold storms except filling 
 the air with smoke from slowly burning brushwood, sods 
 and moist straw. Smoke makes the air less transparent, 
 and so prevents the warmth from radiating. Although 
 the prospects for the crop of a whole year are at stake, 
 and, in consequence of it, the vintner's means of 
 living, yet smoking is rarely, and nowhere regularly, 
 resorted to. The danger is greatest about an hour and 
 a half or two hours before sunrise; but at that time 
 man is overpowered by sleep. The difficulty of leav- 
 ing the bed and remaining in the open air during a long 
 cold night will always be in the way of its practice, and 
 will be the cause of neglecting to save the vines in the way 
 mentioned. Fatalism is a convenient belief; it permits 
 one to remain in bed while it is freezing hard. Such sys- 
 tems have always many followers. 
 
 In clear nights, a broad cold current of air descends 
 slowly from the summits of the mountains ; the direction 
 of it can be easily ascertained by the motion of the smoke 
 from a pipe or a cigar. Smoking fires should therefore 
 regularly be built, just above the vineyard, on the highest 
 spot between the mountain and the vineyard. Should 
 there be a high wind, there is hardly any danger, because 
 it surrounds and warms again the parts of the vine cooled 
 by radiation. If there is no wind and the smoke rises in 
 a straight column, it cannot be of any use. To observe 
 all these things in a dark night, is not an easy matter. 
 
8G 
 
 THE (J RAPE VINE. 
 
 Smoking fires will long remain in the books, where they 
 are strongly recommended, before they will be resorted to 
 
 in practical life. 
 
 i 
 
 IMPLEMENTS. 
 
 The implements absolutely necessary for the management 
 
 of the vine are, first : garden shears, and secondly, a knife. 
 Good garden shears are at present so well known that a 
 
 description of them would be useless. 
 
 The pruning knife, which may without inconvenience be 
 carried in the pocket, was, before the intro- 
 duction of correctly made shears, the only 
 implement of the gardener. It has been in 
 a great measure superseded by shears, because 
 nearly all the work may be done with those 
 equally well and with greater dispatch. At 
 present the pointed form, Figure 15, is alone 
 recommended in horticultural books, while 
 knives, sharply curved at their ends, such as 
 were formerly used, are not thought much of. 
 It seems to me that there is no good cause 
 for overpraising the former and undervaluing 
 the latter. The pointed knife does not cut, 
 
 except the blade is pressed powerfully against the branch. 
 In order to be able to ; r 
 
 do this, the knife must 
 
 be grasped as shown in 
 
 Figure 16; this, how- 
 ever, requires a great 
 
 strength in the hand, 
 
 when the cut is made 
 
 with the point, the part 
 
 of the knife which is 
 
 thinnest and best fitted 
 
 for cutting. 
 
 If the knife is curved at the point, as in the old form. 
 
 15. 
 
 Fisr. 16. 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 87 
 
 Fig. 17. 
 
 the greatest resistance is in a direct line with the hand 
 and arm, (fig. 17,) and the cut becomes more of a pull 
 than in the other form, in which it is 
 a pressure from the side. 
 
 Yet a drawing cut is the most 
 effective of all, because the muscles 
 of the upper part of the arm come 
 into play. In using the knife in this 
 way, the drawing would pull it out of 
 the hand if this were not counteracted 
 by a strong grasp. The exertion made 
 in preventing the knife from slipping 
 out of the hand is a real waste, be- 
 cause it does not co-operate in cutting. 
 The handle must therefore, at its end, 
 be so arranged, by an upward flat bend, 
 that the solid part of the hand below the little finger 
 may rest upon it. When the hand is only so much closed 
 that the knife may not fall out, the drawing of the arm 
 accomplishes the cut without any waste of power. The 
 cutting with such a knife is much more 
 effective, and may be continued much 
 longer without fatigue. It is very con- 
 venient for a gardener not to be compel- 
 led to open the knife every time he needs 
 it, but to carry it open in a case in the 
 pocket, as sailors are accustomed to do. 
 The knife is still more convenient 
 when the blade is bent a little on the 
 back towards the handle, as represented 
 in Figure 18. - 
 
 In this case the blade is not movable, and the kniie 
 must be carried in a case. The handle is made of two 
 pieces of wood, united by rivets with the prolongation of 
 the blade. The blade need only be half as long as that 
 of the common pruning knives, the lower part of which 
 
 Fi<r. IS. 
 
88 THE GBAPX VINE. 
 
 is never used for cutting. But the length of the handle 
 must be independent of the length of the blade ; it must 
 correspond to the size of the hand of a man ; that is, it 
 must be four and a half inches (about 120 m.m.) long, and 
 1 Rarlv an inch (10 lines or 32 m.m.) thick. 
 
 The proportions of many good knives in the market are 
 faulty, the handles being too small, and the blades also 
 small. 
 
 The size of the blade is regulated by the work for which 
 it is intended ; the handle, however, must fit the hand, 
 which is always the same. Frequently, the springs are too 
 strong, so that the knife cannot be opened without using 
 great power ; it is sometimes even dangerous. 
 
 In the shears, the axis on which the arms move is fastened 
 in a wrong way, so that the screw is apt to get loose in 
 using them. The cause for this wrong construction may lie 
 in the gardeners themselves; if they have no clear insight 
 into the matter, they cannot give good advice to the 
 manufacturers ; consequently, faulty arrangements continue 
 to be handed down from one to another. Without in- 
 creasing the labor and cost, those implements might be 
 made much better. * 
 
 Even many horticultural books show that their authors 
 do not understand the advantages of shears over knives. 
 They concede that by using shears the work is done with 
 greater dispatch, yet they say that the knife is better. 
 The reason why shears deserve to be preferred to the 
 knife, lies in the fact that shears carry, aside from the cut- 
 ting knife, the resistance along with them, so that the 
 stress upon the trellis or the root and vine below the cut 
 is easily avoided. Shears have not only a knife, but also 
 another arm towards which the cutting is directed. If the 
 shears are turned a little in cutting, they bruise the branch 
 as little as the knife ; for the more easily the cleft opens 
 for the cutting blade, the less pressure is exerted on the 
 other arm. In cutting with shears it does not matter 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 whether we cut high in the air, or low, near the ground ; in 
 using the knife we have always to consider in what direc- 
 tion we may find the resistance in order to cut in that 
 which is opposite to it. 
 
 We will give here some hints for cutters in regard to 
 the best arrangement for knives and shears. 
 
 The blades of garden knives of the modern 
 pointed form, Figure 19, ought to project only 
 two inches beyond the handle. The best cast 
 steel should be used for them ; they ought to be 
 tempered yellow, but blue near the handle. The 
 rivets, on which the blade moves, ought to be 
 T 2 2 thick, made of steel wire, and the points 
 rounded. They must not be fastened by 
 riveting, but should be driven into the handle 
 under a strong friction, but the blade must 
 move freely and easily. All blades of a given 
 \j\. number should be of the same dimensions ; this 
 
 „ ' enables the buyer to purchase two or three 
 
 Fisr. 19. . . 
 
 blades which may easily be exchanged by tak- 
 ing out the rivet. The blade should not have a projection 
 at the end ; it ought to have a sharp edge its 
 whole length. The handle, bein^ as long as 
 the hand is broad, ought to be bent back- 
 wards on its lower extremity for the hand to 
 rest upon it ; a little projection on the back, 
 about an inch below the rivet, is very use- 
 ful in holding the knife firmly ; this projec- 
 tion will go in between the fore and the 
 middle finger of the right hand. 
 
 Curved blades, Figure 20, need not be 
 longer than 1 inch and J ; their sharp edge 
 must extend along their whole length; 
 otherwise they do not differ from straight 
 knives. The springs must be good, but not too strong ; 
 the wooden handle ought to be painted red, to enable one 
 
90 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 to find them easily when lost, as the common brown color 
 of the handles makes it difficult to see them on the ground. 
 In shears the pivot is fitted in a square hole of that 
 arm on which there is a nut with a screw to fasten the two 
 arms together. Very frequently this nut gets loose. To 
 avoid this, two nuts are put on the screw. The lowermost 
 being larger, projects considerably from the uppermost. 
 It has two incisions opposite each other, to receive a screw- 
 driver, which is so arranged that it fits them. The second 
 nut, the so called ccunternut, is screwed down to the first, 
 on which it is held in place by friction. 
 
 PROPER TIME FOR THE WORK TO BE 
 PERFORMED ON THE VINE. 
 
 We have already, when we had occasion, pointed out 
 the best time for the work to be performed on the vine 
 and given the reasors for it. At present we shall explain 
 the matter fully. 
 
 The priming of the vine ought to be done in autumn, 
 immediately after the fall of the leaf. By it, the vine is 
 reduced to smaller dimensions, it is easier to keep it in 
 the right condition during the winter, and the wood so 
 removed may be cut up and mixed with the manure. Im- 
 mediately after pruning, the vine ought to be manured in 
 the manner described above. 
 
 When the vine is not to be manured, the pieces of the 
 canes are cut up, and the leaves are placed where they will 
 decay. It is a general custom to go over the vines in gardens 
 and vineyards again in the spring, to prune a little, and then 
 to tie them immediately. This procedure is altogether 
 erroneous, because it renders regular pinching impossible ; 
 that is the reason that the pinching is omitted in every 
 vineyard. It is advisable to perform the operation of the 
 last pruning, the pinching and tying at the same time ; by 
 
THE GKAPE VINE. 91 
 
 this the second labor is saved. For this purpose nothing 
 is done on the vine in the spring, until the time of the 
 powerful rising of the sap has passed, after which the vine 
 may be cut without bleeding. As nobody can tell which 
 buds will produce blossoms, it is necessary to wait until 
 they appear. 
 
 With us (on the Rhine), the vine blossoms within a 
 month, commencing after the first week in June. The 
 last pruning of the vine, together with pinching, must 
 therefore be done a little before or after blossoming. Then 
 all blossom buds are developed, and the shoots, which will 
 bear fruit, can be selected. Up to that time the vine is 
 suffered to swing untied about the poles, or to hang on 
 the trellis. There is nothing so easily injured as the eye 
 of the vine that has just started. Jt is broken off when 
 slightly touched with the arm, or when the branch receives 
 a push. When the vines are pruned and tied in March, it 
 is at a time when the eyes have just pushed, and when 
 they are easily injured. 
 
 Moreover, the leader for the year cannot well be dis- 
 tinguished or chosen at that time. When, on the contrary, 
 the last pruning and pinching are done in the first half of 
 June, it is easy to select the shoots for next year's bearing ; 
 also the shoots destitute of blossoms can be seen. The 
 vine is open and expanded before the vintner. 
 
 Commencing at the base of the vine, the vintner selects 
 the shoots intended for canes the next year. He is careful 
 that there are not too many left on any one part of the 
 stem, but that the whole number is equally distributed over 
 the different heads of the stem ; then he proceeds with his 
 work in an upward direction, pinching all shoots whicli 
 show blossoms at two leaves beyond the uppermost cluster, 
 and removing their laterals or the buds in the axils of their 
 leaves. Should there be a cane without any shoots showing 
 blossoms, it is to be cut off above the lowermost shoot. 
 
92 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 Then nothing is left on the vine but the shoots intended 
 for canes, and the pinched shoots with blossoms. 
 
 It is obvious that the clusters on such a vine must be 
 more perfect and better than on vines of which the shoots 
 that do not bear are left to grow; there will be at 
 last a profusion of useless wood and leaves to be cut off 
 in the fall. As soon as the shoots not bearing are re- 
 moved, the shoot for bearing canes, as well as those pinch- 
 ed, develops rapidly, growing so vigorously and strong, and 
 maturing its wood so well, that the results of this pruning 
 and pinching will be far more favorable than would 
 have been the case had they been treated in the common 
 way. The early tying in March prevents the vintner from 
 performing these operations, because it would imply the 
 necessity of cutting tl^3 vines loose again, in order to have 
 free access to all parts. In this way the labor of the first 
 tying would be lost. I have had the experience, that the 
 vines of a vineyard, tied before development, had to be 
 loosened in order to pinch and to remove unfruitful shoots. 
 A great deal of wood had to be removed, which caused 
 the rest to develop, and grow the more vigorously. Pinch- 
 ing and removing unfruitful shoots requires some knowl- 
 edge ; therefore only experienced persons are to be entrust- 
 ed with this operation, while others, receiving lower wages, 
 may be employed to tie them up. To recapitulate : my 
 rule is not to do any thing to the vine, either in the vine- 
 yard or in the garden, before all the blossoms are visible 
 and developed, and then to remove unfruitful shoots, and 
 to perform pinching and tying at the same time. 
 
 I see now, clearly, why vignerons are so much opposed 
 to pinching. If they do not discontinue their custom of 
 tying in March, they of course cannot do anything to 
 them in June. The first step would be, to dispense with 
 the operations performed in March ; but frhat would be 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 93 
 
 conflicting too much with the habits and prejudices of 
 the vignerons, which are paramount to every thing else. 
 Besides, the spring work done to the vine, when deferred 
 till June, is profitable in a pecuniary point of view. In 
 March, plowing and sowing are to be done in the fields ; 
 therefore help is always scarce. In the beginning of 
 June, there is an ebb in agriculture ; grain, potatoes, etc., 
 are growing and do not require any work ; mowing is to 
 be done a little later, consequently it is, at this season, easy 
 enough to procure the necessary help. I request intelli- 
 gent cultivators of the vine to follow my example in pinch- 
 ing and tying late, and then to report the result in public 
 prints. 
 
 The effect of removing useless shoots of the vine ex- 
 tends not only over the current, but also over the follow- 
 ing year. When unfruitful shoots are suffered to remain, 
 an enormous quantity of shoots and leaves is produced, 
 so that the sap, furnished by the root, is not sufficient to 
 mature them. The consequence is, that a large number of 
 eyes on the shoots intended for canes cannot produce 
 blossoms, but only unfruitful shoots in the following year. 
 
 The same is clearly seen in all fruit trees. If all shoots 
 are suffered to grow undisturbed, many fruit trees do not 
 bear for years, that is, not until the root is sufficiently de- 
 veloped for the wood growth, as well as for the forma- 
 tion of blossom buds. But if, in the latter part of the 
 summer, the tops of the twigs are broken off, the lower 
 eyes are changed to fruit buds for the following year. If 
 this pinching is done too early, the lower eyes push, and 
 the object sought is not accomplished. In the vine the 
 period is very late in the season, at which pinching does 
 not excite the lower eyes into growth. The less favorable 
 the weather, the more the vine must be restricted to pro- 
 duce fruit buds in the next year. 
 
94 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 CONSTITUENTS OF THE VINE, ACCORDING TO 
 THE PROPORTION IN WHICH THEY ARE DIS- 
 TRIBUTED IN THE DIFFERENT PARTS. 
 
 The inorganic constituents, that is, those contained in 
 the ashes are the same in all parts of the vine, yet in pro- 
 portions varying a little ; even the ashes from all parts of a 
 certain kind, mixed together, differ a little from those of 
 other kinds. These constituents amount in the canes to 
 from 2.25 to 2.85 per cent., in the small Burgundy to 3.G92 
 per cent., if the boiling point of the water is taken to de- 
 termine their dryness. The must, without exsiccation, 
 contains in unripe, blue grapes 0.259 per cent., in ripe ones 
 0.34 per cent,, from another place 0.409 per cent, of ashes. 
 
 The skins of the little Burgundy, dried at the temper- 
 ature of 212°, contain 3.737 per cent., of the Schoenfeilner 
 4.321 per cent. ; the seeds of the small Burgundy, dried 
 at 212°, 2.776" per cent., those of the Schoenfeilner 2.882 
 per cent, of ashes. In these ashes, potash and phosphoric 
 acid preponderate so much, that we will only mention their 
 relative amount ; otherwise we should have to go into an 
 elaborate detail. 
 
 Ashes. Per cent of Per cent, of 
 
 Potash. plwsphoric acid. 
 
 1) Of the seeds oi the blue grapes 27.868 27.005 
 
 2) Of the seeds of white grapes 29.454 21.054 
 
 3) Of wood from canes (little Burgundy). 37.309 9.587 
 
 4) Of the skins of blue grapes 44.656 7.055 
 
 5) Of the must of white grapes 62.745 17.044 
 
 6) Of the must of ripe blue grapes 65.043 16.578 
 
 7) Of the must of unripe blue grapes 66.334 , 15.378 
 
 8) Of the must of ripe blue grapes 71.852 14.073 
 
 (Plaeuerraergel.) 
 
 In the first column, the constituents are arranged ac- 
 cording to the increasing amount of potash ; in the second 
 column the amount of phosphoric acid is decreasing near- 
 ly in the same ratio ; the proportion of phosphoric acid, 
 contained in the must, is different from that contained in 
 
THE GEAPE VINE. 93 
 
 the body of the vine. But in the four kinds of must 
 phosphoric acid decreases also, in the same ratio in which 
 the amount of potash increases. This circumstance is too 
 regular to he accidental ; but its significance is, as yet, un- 
 known. It is evident from this that the greatest amount 
 of potash and phosphoric acid is carried out of the vine- 
 yard along with the wine. 
 
 The smallest amount of potash, that is, from 3 to 5 per 
 cent., is contained in the must ; a larger amount, i.e., from 
 20 to 21 per cent, in the ashes of the skins; a still greater 
 amount, i.e., from 32 to 35 per cent, in the ashes of the 
 seed ; the greatest, however, i.e., from 36 to 43^- per cent, 
 in the ashes of canes. The amount of soda is, on the 
 whole, small, viz. : 1 per cent, in the ashes of must, and 3 
 per cent, in those of canes ; that of sulphuric acid is in 
 the ashes of the vine, from 2 to 3 per cent., in those of the 
 must 5 per cent. 
 
 The organic constituents are distributed in the follow- 
 ing proportion : 
 
 Old wood and that from canes contain starch. If wood 
 be cut in small pieces and boiled in water, the liquid turns 
 blue by adding a solution of iodine. Unripe wood does 
 not contain starch. The peduncles of the grape contain 
 some of it in the middle of the summer, but not after- 
 wards, because it goes back into the vine. The berry is 
 the only part of the vine which contains sugar ; it is not 
 found in any other. In the juice of the ripe berry there 
 are tartaric and malic acid, bitartrate of potash, and 
 vegetable albumen, but no tannic acid, either in white or 
 blue grapes. 
 
 Free acid decreases in the ratio in which the grape 
 matures, until it reaches that amount which is proportionate 
 to the variety or the temperature of the year. After hav- 
 ing reached this point the acid seems to again increase a 
 little. If the free acid is considered as crystallized tartaric 
 
96 
 
 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 acid, the results of experiments, made in the year 1858, 
 with juice obtained from pressing, were the following : 
 
 1. Tkollinger (Frankenthal, Black Hamburg)— Acid per Mill. 
 
 August 15, entirely unripe, 31. 
 
 August 30, unripe, 31.5 
 
 September 11, not ripe, but colored a little, 28 
 
 October 23, ripe, 13. 
 
 November 4, ripe, 13. 
 
 2. Burgundy. 
 
 August 15, entirely unripe, 34.5 
 
 August 30, entirely unripe, 34. 
 
 September 11, part blue and part still green, 17.5 
 
 October 15, ripe, 12. 
 
 October 23, ripe 9. 
 
 November 4, ripe, 9. 
 
 3. White Chasselas. 
 
 August 15, entirely unripe, 34. 
 
 August 30, ripening, 15. 
 
 September 11, eatable, but not quite ripe, 11.5 
 
 October 15, perfectly ripe, 6. 
 
 October 23, 6. 
 
 November 4, 7.5 
 
 These experiments show that the acid in 1 and 2 did not 
 diminish from October 23 to November 4, but that in 3 
 it increased one and a half thousandths. 
 
 The skins of the berries contain tannin. This is shown 
 by boiling them in water and adding a few drops of chlo- 
 ride of iron to the strained liquid, and then a solution of 
 bicarbonate of soda. The color of the liquid is then 
 changed to that of ink. Furthermore the skins of blue 
 grapes contain the coloring matter Avhich, in its composi- 
 tion, is very similar to that of tannin. 
 
 The seeds contain a large amount of tannin, and about 
 5 per cent, of fat oil, but it would cost more to jDress it 
 out than it is worth. It has a somewhat greenish color, 
 and belongs to the drying oils. If it could be had, it would 
 be useful for many purposes. If the seeds remain in the 
 juice while fermenting, the tannin is exhausted from them, 
 as is the case in red wines. A preparation, containing 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 97 
 
 tannin, can be made from the seeds when extracted with 
 wine or alcohol; it is made use of in the management of 
 wine in the cellar. 
 
 The peduncles of the grapes, called combs, contain 
 much tannin as well as free acid. Their taste is acerb 
 and sour. What they impart to the wine, is injurious; 
 neither do they contribute anything to its agreeable taste 
 or to its durability. There are, therefore, three parts con- 
 taining tannic acid, namely — the skins, the seeds and the 
 combs ; it is necessary to take cognizance of this distribu- 
 tion in making wine. Concerning the proportion of the 
 weight of the must and. the other parts of the grape, ex- 
 periments have shown the following : 
 
 Berries of the white Chasselas, picked from the combs 
 and powerfully j:>ressed, yield, 
 
 Of juice, 97 per cent. 
 
 Of skins, seeds and solid substance, 3 " 
 
 Berries of the blue Burgundy, picked, from the combs, 
 yield, 
 
 Of juice, - - - • - - 94.8 per cent. 
 Of skins, seeds and solid substance, 5.2 " 
 
 Berries of the blue Burgundy, pressed together with the 
 combs, yield, 
 
 Of juice, 91.8 per cent. 
 
 Of combs, skins, seeds and solid 
 
 substance, - 9 " 
 
 The remains of blue Burgundy grapes, fermented and 
 then pressed, yielded, 
 
 Of wine, 69.6 per cent. 
 
 Of remains, - - - .30.4 " 
 
 From these experiments the great loss in wine, suffered 
 by the vigneron, who generally throws away the pressed 
 husks, is clearly seen ; it amounts to 70 per cent, of the 
 weight of the husks. The same is true in regard to the 
 
98 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 loss of must in the husks of white wine, when they are re- 
 moved before the fermentation. There is no press power- 
 ful enough to overcome, by mechanical force, this almost 
 chemical affinity. They cannot be effectually pressed out 
 until the cells are opened by fermentation. Raspberries 
 and gooseberries are similar, in this respect, to grapes. 
 
HINTS 
 
 ON THE PROPAGATION AND- GENERAL TREATMENT OP 
 
 AMERICAN VARIETIES. 
 
 BY 
 
 THE TRANSLATOR. 
 
 PROPAGATION OF THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 As the propagation of the Continental varieties of the 
 vine is attended with so little difficulty, that it cannot be 
 compared with that of the American species and their 
 varieties, Dr. Mohr's excellent work would not, in this 
 respect, give satisfaction to the American reader. To 
 make additions and alterations would have been very in- 
 convenient; we have, therefore, preferred to omit Dr. 
 Mohr's chapter on propagation, altogether, and to insert 
 here a brief description of the methods used in this country 
 for the propagation of the native vine, and practiced by 
 ourselves. Growers of the grape, on a large scale, will 
 resort to more extensive and complicated arrangements. 
 They will find a detailed description of them in Fuller's 
 Grape CuUurist, a thoroughly practical work on the man- 
 agement of the vine. 
 99 
 
100 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 I_ BY LAYERS. 
 
 Layering is an easy and certain way to obtain young 
 plants, and consists in bending a cane or a green shoot 
 down to the ground, and covering it with soil. The part 
 so buried will be found well rooted in the fall. 
 
 To make a layer of a cane (old wood), make a little 
 ditch four or six inches deep and long enough to receive 
 the cane. This must, of course, be made near the vine, 
 but so that the roots of it may not be injured. If this 
 cannot be avoided, the smallest roots being so near the 
 surface of the ground, it is better to make the ditch at a 
 little distance from the vine, and to bury only a part of 
 the cane, the rest remaining above ground. Early in the 
 spring, before the buds commence swelling, the cane is laid 
 down into the ditch, and kept in place by,pegs or stones. 
 When the shoots from the cane have grown a few inches, 
 four or six of them are selected and retained; all others are 
 rubbed off, especially those starting from buds on the 
 lower side of the cane. Then fine and rich soil is thrown 
 into the ditch, but not more than about an inch deep at 
 a time. This filling in must be gradually continued in 
 proportion as the shoots grow, until the ditch is full. Too 
 much soil at once, while the shoots are too young and 
 succulent, might cause their decay. The feioer the plants 
 taken from a cane the stronger they will he. Fruit 
 bearing is a natural, but exhausting, process ; it is, there- 
 fore, a bad practice to take fruit from those shoots, as 
 some do. The vine roots so easily that it is not necessary 
 to notch it between the joints, as it is customary in layer- 
 ing other plants. 
 
 In the autumn, after the fall of the leaf, the cane is 
 severed from the stem and carefully lifted with a digging 
 fork, so as not to break or mutilate the roots of the young 
 plants. It is then cut into as many pieces as there are 
 plants. 
 
THE GttAPE VINE. 101 
 
 Should a single plant only be desired, the cine may be 
 pruned shorter, bent down into the ditch and covered at 
 once with soil, except the last (highest) bud. This must 
 remain just above ground ; therefore, the cane must be 
 bent abruptly upwards at the end. of the ditch, and kept 
 in place by a peg or stone. A little stick should indicate 
 the place ; otherwise the eye or the shoot from it may in- 
 advertently be destroyed. A layer of this kind made in 
 a basket or box of lattice work, filled with good soil and 
 set in the ground, is easily raised in the fall, and planted, 
 without disturbing it, where it is intended to grow. The 
 roots protruding from the basket or box must be pre- 
 served with the utmost care; the receptacle will soon 
 decay, and a whole year will he gained* To recommend, 
 as some do, such box-layer plants for immediate bearing, 
 is, to say the least, wrong. It is time that those unac- 
 quainted with the management of the vine should be cau- 
 tioned against buying vines of this kind for extravagant 
 prices. Box-layers, if properly managed and planted, are 
 very good, indeed, but not for immediate bearing. 
 
 Also wood, two years old, roots easily enough, so that 
 a cane which has borne fruit may be used for layering in- 
 stead of cutting it off in the fall. 
 
 Layers may also be made of young green shoots or of 
 the tops of them, in July. All that is necessary is, to 
 cover a part, or the top of a green shoot with soil. I gen- 
 erally put a good-sized stone on it ; it keeps the shoot in 
 place, prevents the moisture from evaporating, and equal- 
 izes the temperature. Of course, the projecting top must 
 not be injured. Notching, in summer layering, is useful, 
 but not indispensable. If the shoot is too young or the 
 notch too deep or too long, the part above it is apt to 
 wither. From strong shoots, beautiful plants are obtained 
 in this way. 
 
102 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 II— BY CUTTINGS. 
 
 Cuttings are pieces of either old wood of the previous 
 year, or of young green wood of the current year, each 
 having one eye at least, mostly two or more. When 
 planted in soil or sand, under suitable conditions, they 
 root very easily, making good plants. 
 
 AVe consider here, first, long cuttings from old wood. 
 In some, especially southern, countries, such as are several 
 feet long, are preferred ; in others, such as are a foot or 
 eighteen inches long. At present there is a tendency to 
 make them only six inches long, even shorter, in short- 
 jointed varieties. The wood is preserved in sand, or in 
 common garden soil in a cellar, or at the north side of a 
 building till wanted; it ought to be protected from freez- 
 ing. At the approach of spring the wood so preserved is 
 cut into small pieces of the length required. The lower 
 cut must be horizontal immediately below a bud ; above, it 
 is slanting on the side opposite the bud, but at the dis- 
 tance of about an inch from it. Although it is better to 
 make the lower horizontal cut immediately below an eye, 
 yet this is not absolutely necessary, as the vine quickly 
 roots also from the internodes (the space between two 
 buds). Such a cutting, with a piece of still older wood at- 
 tached to it, from which the shoot grew, is called a ham- 
 mer cutting. Hammer cuttings were very much preferred 
 by the Romans, and are especially recommended, at pres- 
 ent, for the Delaware and other hard-wooded varieties. 
 They are only occasionally obtained, unless the laterals are 
 suffered to grow and to ripen their wood on a cane, which 
 .may, in this case, be divided into as many hammer cut- 
 tings as there are laterals. The pieces of the cane itself 
 must be half an inch or an inch long. 
 
 Cuttings, so prepared, must be tied in bundles, carefully 
 labeled and preserved in sand, till the weather is warm 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 103 
 
 enough, in the middle of April or beginning of May for 
 planting them. 
 
 Some put them, about eight or ten days before planting, 
 two or three inches deep in water till the eyes begin to 
 swell. In this way I often succeeded in making Delaware 
 cuttings root in the open air. By accident a number of 
 pieces of that variety, lying in water, had been forgotten ; 
 when found, I planted them in clayey soil in the garden, 
 when every one of them grew. I made this accidental 
 experiment known in the " Horticulturist." (See 1863, 
 p. 160). 
 
 The planting must be done with care. To make holes 
 with a dibble is certainly a rough practice. Not only are 
 the sides of the hole pressed by it into a solid mass, offer- 
 ing much resistance to the rootlets, but the lower (cut) 
 part of the cutting is too often injured by thrusting it 
 into the hole. It is also in this case difficult to press the 
 soil firmly around the lower part, which" is essential. 
 
 It is much better to make the holes or ditch with a 
 spade. Long cuttings are planted in a slanting position, 
 in order not to bury their lower ends too deep in the 
 ground. They cannot grow without being excited by the 
 warmth of the soil, imparted by the sun. The upper eye 
 must either be at a level with the surface of the ground, 
 or a quarter of an inch below it. A little sand or moss 
 placed on it will prevent it from drying up before it starts. 
 That such "cuttings ought occasionally to be watered, when 
 necessary, does not require any special explanation. 
 
 The advantage claimed for cutting more than six inches 
 long, is more specious and imaginary, than real and true. 
 It is true, there are very many nodes in the ground, each 
 of which may emit roots ; but experience shows that every 
 node of so long a piece of a cane does not emit roots, and 
 so much wood without roots when buried in the ground, 
 is apt to decay. The same object is accomplished, but 
 with certainty and without danger, by layering the cane, 
 
104 TllE GRAPE VIXE. 
 
 growing from a cutting, in one or several successive 
 years. 
 
 It is advisable to remove the brownish epidermis from 
 the lower end of a cutting, say for about two or three 
 inches. It may easily be done, after the cutting has been 
 kept in water several days previous. It is so hard that 
 the yonng roots penetrate it with difficulty. Also the 
 remaining parts of the bases of the foot stalks of the leaves 
 ought to be scraped off; for fungoid growths destructive 
 to the eyes above them form there easily. 
 
 In some parts of Germany, for instance, near Heilbronn 
 on the JVeckar, the cuttings, tied in bundles of about fifty 
 or a hundred, several weeks previous to planting, are buried 
 in the ground, but in an inverted position, that is, their 
 tops downwards and their cut ends upwards. They are 
 then covered with moss and soil, four or five inches deep, 
 in a very sunny exposure, and kept moist. When taken 
 out, most of them will be found rooted. 
 
 From DubreuiVs work, Culture perfectionee, etc., du 
 vignoble, Paris, 1863, pp. 30 and 31, it appears that the 
 vine cuttings are not unfrequently so treated in France. 
 I called the attention of those interested to this process. 
 (See Horticulturist, 1864, pp. 61, 62, 140 and 141). 
 
 Mr. Win. Patrick, nurseryman at Terre Haute, Ind., 
 has very much improved it. After a short notice, given 
 in the Gardener's Monthly, he has furnished a full account 
 of his method to the Horticultural Annual, published by 
 Orange Judd & Co., 1867, from which I make an extract : 
 
 " Before the ground freezes, the cuttings, from four to 
 six inches long, are tied in bundles of about fifty each, and 
 the lower ends puddled by dipping them half their length 
 in mud, made of loamy soil, mixed with water to about 
 the consistency of cream. They are then, lower ends doic?i, 
 put in cold frames, fine soil is sprinkled over them to fill 
 the spaces between the bundles, and they are then covered 
 about four inches deep with earth. After they have been 
 
THE GRAPE TINE. 105 
 
 rained upon, and it begins to freeze, they are covered 
 with leaves or straw, and sheltered by boards. 
 
 " In the spring, the mulch having been removed, sashes 
 are laid on, but so that enough ventilation is provided ; 
 water is given, when needed, and so they root in about 
 five weeks. 
 
 " Without sashes they will root, likewise, when treated in 
 the manner just described. In this case they must be 
 buried in an exposure inclined to the south. Should no 
 roots have started in some of the cuttings, two pieces of 
 bark, two or three inches long, on opposite sides of the 
 lower ends of the cuttings, are taken off with a sharp knife. 
 Treated and planted in this way, they make excellent 
 plants. Cuttings of single eyes can be made to grow in 
 the same way just as easily as longer cuttings. 
 
 " This plan is especially adapted to cuttings from the 
 Delaware and other hard-wooded varieties." 
 
 Diel says in his well known and highly valued work, 
 " Fruit Trees in Pots," third edition, Frankfort-on-t he- 
 Main, 1804, p. 212. "We had never succeeded in raising 
 Paradise stocks for dwarfing the apple, from cuttings. By 
 treating such cuttings as described in the above, I am 
 raising hundreds of them every year. I keep the cuttings 
 in sand during the winter, and bury them, in the spring, 
 as soon as the frost is fairly out of the ground, in a sun- 
 ny spot, the top ends downwards, and cover their lower 
 ends, (which are, of course, up,) with moss three or four 
 inches deep, sprinkling them, when needed, with luke- 
 warm water. This method is applicable in raising plants 
 from a number of shrubs and trees.. As it is not generally 
 known or practiced, I deem it my duty to thoroughly 
 recommend it." 
 
 CUTTINGS MADE OF SINGLE EYES. 
 
 They are made by cutting a cane into as many pieces 
 as it has well developer! eyes on perfectly ripe wood; when 
 5* 
 
10G TTIE GRAPE VIXE. 
 
 an inch and a half long, so that there is an inch of wood 
 below, and half an inch of wood above the bud, they are 
 of the right si/A'. The cuts may be made by means of a 
 knife or of good garden shears, which are now so made 
 that they do not bruise, but make a clean cut. 
 
 The eyes, so prepared, ought to be put in water and 
 left there for ten or twelve hours. This will soften the 
 remnants of the base of the leaf-stalk, so that it may easily 
 be removed by scraping. If such cuttings can be made 
 during the months of January and February, it is advisa- 
 ble to pack them in moist, not wet, moss or sand, and to 
 keep them there, free from frost, till wanted for planting. 
 Hard wood varieties, especially the Delaware, grow with 
 certainty from single eye cuttings treated in this way. 
 
 Cuttings of single eyes do not grow very easily in the 
 open air, when planted in beds ; either frames with a 
 gentle heat must be prepared for them, or a propagating 
 bench in a green-house must be arranged for them. 
 Although a tank, connected with a heating boiler, in which 
 water, heated by the boiler, circulates, is, beyond question, 
 the best arrangement, yet a common flue, enclosed by 
 two brick walls, three feet distant from each other, and 
 covered by the propagating boxes, answers a very good 
 purpose. The bottom of these boxes consists of slate or 
 tin, resting on cross-strips, extending from one side-board 
 to the other. If these side-boards are from eight to nine 
 inches wide, and if the boxes are filled with washed sand 
 to the depth of four inches, there is room enough for the 
 young plants to develop and grow sufficiently, before they 
 are planted out. The distance of the bottom of the boxes 
 from the flue must, of course, be so regulated, that the 
 heat reaching the bottom shall not be too great. As 
 such flues generally rise a, little along their whole length, 
 the top of the flue, near its inlet, is further removed from 
 the bottom of the flue, than towards it outlet. The boxes, 
 being level, arc, therefore, nearer to the flue towards ils 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 107 
 
 outlet, than at the beginning. Besides, flat stones or bricks 
 may be laid on the flue near the fire-place, and two open- 
 ings ought to be made in the inside wall, closed with shut- 
 ters. In this way the temperature derived may easily be 
 regulated and maintained. 
 
 To cover the propagating boxes either with sashes, or 
 calico or paper frames, is a very good plan to regulate 
 the moisture and to shade the cuttings. 
 
 The cuttings are planted immediately in the sand, or in 
 pots plunged into it. Some set them straight, others in a 
 slanting position, but, at all events, deep enough to have 
 the eye just at a level with the sand, or covered about a 
 quarter or half an inch by it. Many lay them horizontally 
 on the sand, pack them on, and cover them about a quarter 
 or half an inch deep with it. There exists also a dif- 
 ference of opinion in regard to the form of the cuttings ; 
 but the method, detailed in the above, is certain in its re- 
 sults, provided the right temperature and a proper degree 
 of moisture are provided. 
 
 The principle of the proper treatment of such cuttings 
 is based on the laws of vegetable physiology. It is con- 
 tained in the following : In order to facilitate the emis- 
 sion of roots, the lower ends of the cuttings must be hept 
 during a certain period in a temperature that is several 
 degrees higher than that which surrounds their tops. At 
 the outset, a temperature of from forty to fifty degrees is 
 sufficient ; this is to be raised gradually to seventy-five or 
 eighty, still later, even to ninety degrees when the cuttings 
 grow vigorously and are well rooted. In general, it is 
 much better not to increase the bottom heat too much. 
 At the time when the cuttings are placed in the sand, it is 
 not difficult to maintain a temperature in the house which 
 is lower than that in the propagating boxes ; later, a higher 
 temperature of the house has no deleterious effect. 
 
 As soon as the cuttings are placed in the sand, they 
 must be thoroughly sprinkled with water, so that all the 
 
108 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 sand is moistened. The sand must never become too dry. 
 When the cuttings are watered once a day, or in the be- 
 ginning even less frequently, it is sufficient. The condi- 
 tion of the sand itself is a never failing guide in this sim- 
 ple operation. It is hardly necessary to caution here 
 against the use of cold water. It must be warmed a little, 
 either on the fire, or by adding hot water. As to the best 
 time for planting cuttings, it is advisable not to be in too 
 great haste. For long cuttings to be grown out of doors, 
 the middle, or even the end, of April or the beginning of 
 May is the time most suitable ; for single eyes the begin- 
 ning of March is best, although the process is often com- 
 menced very early in the winter. Long cuttings remain 
 in the place where they are planted until fall or even until 
 the spring following, but in this case under sufficient 
 covering. They are then taken up and heeled-in, if this 
 takes place in the fall, or planted where they are intended 
 to grow. Those not sufficiently well rooted are planted 
 in fertile soil, after their roots have been shortened a little, 
 to grow there another season before they are planted in 
 the places assigned to them. 
 
 Cuttings of one eye each are either taken out of the sand 
 and planted in small pots, and frequently transplanted 
 into larger ones, or into borders made in the open air, which 
 is preferable. In the latter case furrows several inches 
 deep are made, at the bottom of which the young plants 
 arc put, in little holes, so deep that the woody part of the 
 cuttings is covered ; the roots, which are very brittle, must 
 not be injured, but spread evenly, so that they retain their 
 natural position; then the hole is filled with water that is 
 not too cold, and the holes are filled with fine soil before 
 the water has time to sink in the ground. 
 
 The soil around the cuttings must not be pressed down, 
 but they must be left in the condition in which water and 
 soil placed them. To protect them during the first weeks 
 by sashes, or calico frames, is deemed essential by some. 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 109 
 
 Others assert that when planted as described, they never 
 suffer from the sun or the weather* I always shelter them 
 for several weeks, and sprinkle them with water as often 
 as required. 
 
 When they are growing vigorously, the soil is to be 
 drawn towards their stems by filling up the furrows in 
 which they have been planted. 
 
 It is astonishing to observe their growth w T hen so plant- 
 ed and treated. 
 
 Last summer my cuttings made plants as thick as a 
 goose quill, from twelve to fifteen feet long. I never tie 
 them to sticks, but permit them to trail on the ground. 
 
 CUTTINGS FROM GREEN SHOOTS WITH A 
 PIECE OF THE CANE (OLD WOOD) AT- 
 TACHED TO IT. 
 
 This form is intermediate between cuttings made of old 
 wood and those made of green shoots. Such cuttings, 
 even of hard wooded kinds like the Delaware, root 
 very easily. 
 
 When the young shoots in May have attained the length 
 of about four inches, they are cut off* from the cane, so that 
 about an inch or two inches of old wood below the shoot 
 is preserved, and about half an inch above it. If the green 
 shoots are a little too long, their tops must be removed. 
 They are then so planted in sand that the old wood lies 
 horizontally in it, and is covered half an inch or an inch 
 deep. 
 
 The green shoots are then in an erect position. No 
 bottom heat is required, though a little of it does not in- 
 jure them. Nearly every one of the cuttings made in this 
 way grows ; they will be found rooted in a short time, 
 and make very fine and vigorous plants. They are planted 
 out and treated in precisely the same way as described in 
 the above. I accidentally discovered this method of propa- 
 
110 THE GUAPE TINE. 
 
 - 
 
 ating vines several years ago. It was, however, known 
 
 to others long before 1 discovered it, as Mr. P. B. Mead, 
 the then Editor of the Horticulturist, informed me. 
 
 I described the plan several years ago in that magazine. 
 (See 1*64, p. 61, and 1*65, pp. 140 and 141). 
 
 CUTTINGS MADE OF GREEX SHOOTS. 
 
 Sueli cuttings grow very easily, when managed in the 
 right way. They are cut from the cane, and shortened to 
 two or three buds, removing the leaves, except the upper- 
 most. The lowest part of the shoot, being firmer and 
 more solid than the upper part, is to be preferred ; still 
 even the upper part will, under proper management, grow. 
 The cut, by which the cutting is severed from the cane, 
 or from the shoot, must always be made below a bud. 
 The bud may not be discernible at the base of the shoot ; 
 but if the shoot is cut off exactly at the place where it 
 proceeds from the cane, along with a very thin slice of the 
 latter, the cutting will be in the right condition. Sand is 
 the best material for making such cuttings grow. A mod- 
 erate bottom heat is very desirable, but not absolutely in- 
 dispensable. Several years ago, I saw a large number of 
 them grow on the propagating bench in one of the houses 
 of my friends, the Messrs. Parsons, at Flushing. The 
 house was kept very warm, but no bottom heat had been 
 given. 
 
 It is of vital importance to regulate the watering with 
 the greatest care ; they must, of course, be shaded, when 
 required, and the atmosphere around them must be kept 
 damp, but not so damp as to cause their decay- 
 According to a communication from Mr. Pr. Rubens, 
 (author of a valuable work on the culture of the vine,) in a 
 letter tome, cuttings of green shoots about 18 inches long, 
 when planted during the summer in holes afoot deep, will 
 grow in the open air. 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. Ill 
 
 When well rooted, such cuttings are treated in precise- 
 ly the same way as others. In order to make them strong 
 plants, they must be transplanted several times, that is, 
 in successive years, shortening their roots a little each 
 time. 
 
 The question has often been discussed, which kind of 
 cuttings makes the best plants. From the experience of 
 intelligent and skillful cultivators of the vine, it appears 
 now to be an established fact, that good plants may, under 
 a suitable treatment, be obtained, whatever method may 
 be used. Cuttings, however, made of single eyes, are 
 generally considered the best ; they unite, indeed, so 
 many advantages in them, that I do not hesitate to re- 
 commend them as preferable. 
 
 III.— BY GRAFTING. 
 
 The term grafting we use here in its broadest sense, 
 including, like the French word greffe, not only grafting 
 proper, but also inarching, budding, etc. 
 
 Common cleft grafting is performed in the usual way, 
 either in March or April, or in May after two or three 
 leaves are expanded on the stock, because the vine does 
 not then bleed any more. It may be done below ground, 
 which insures better success, or above ground, which is, 
 if possible, to be avoided. 
 
 The stock is to be cut off horizontally below the ground, 
 first removing the soil, pared smooth, and split. The 
 scion, which must be in a dormant state, is cut to two 
 eyes, the lower one of which must be just above the cut, 
 after the wedge-shaped part of it has been inserted in the 
 cleft, and carefully adjusted. If the stock is thick enough, 
 no tying is required ; the application of grafting wax is rec- 
 ommended by some, but cautioned against by others. 
 The soil is then replaced and heaped up a little, in order to 
 cover the upper eye about a quarter of an inch deep with 
 
112 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 soil. As in cuttings, the scion must not be cut off too 
 close above the upper eye ; a piece, an inch lono-, must be 
 left. 
 
 Mr. Andrew S. Fuller prefers the fall as the best season 
 for grafting. The scion must, in this case, be protected 
 from the frost by covering it with a flower-pot, earth and 
 straw, which are to be removed as soon as the frost is fairly 
 out of the ground. 
 
 Grafting is of little use, except under particular circum- 
 stances, and failures are so common, that it never will be 
 generally adopted as a means of propagating the vine. 
 It is asserted by Dr. Stayman, of Kansas, a scientific viti- 
 culturist, that taking off the bark from the stock, as well 
 as from the scion, as far as the latter is inserted into the 
 former, and not splitting the stock through to the opposite 
 side, renders success certain. 
 
 Pieces of succulent roots six or eight inches long, 
 dug towards the end of March and in the beginning 
 of April, are very convenient for grafting. They ought 
 to be so selected and cut, that each of them has 
 some fibrous roots. They may be either cleft or splice 
 grafted, tied firmly with worsted or other elastic woolen 
 yarn, and kept in sand until the weather gets warm, 
 that is, about the middle of April, when they may 
 be planted at once in the garden. I always cover the 
 horizontal cuts of them, when they are cleft grafted, with 
 a little liquid grafting wax. Although scions with one 
 eye will grow, yet I prefer greatly such as have two eyes, 
 and plant the root grafts, if necessary on account of their 
 length, in a slanting position, but neve?* too shallow. The 
 uppermost eye should touch the ground; it should be 
 covered a little either with soil, sand, or moss. 
 
 We shall not devote any more space here to describing 
 more artificial and complicated modes of grafting, nor 
 shall we recommend budding in a peculiar way, as prac- 
 tised occasionally by some amateurs. 
 
THE GEAPE TINE. 113 
 
 Grafting grapes below ground and root grafting have 
 the disadvantage in common that the scions throw out 
 roots of their own, However desirable this may be in 
 vigorous growers and hardy kinds, yet if the scions are 
 taken from kinds having weak and feeble roots, such 
 roots, emitted by the scions, will unfailingly impart feeble- 
 ness to the plant, and paralyze the strengthening influence 
 of the stock. 
 
 INARCHING GREEN SHOOTS INTO GREEN 
 SHOOTS OF GROWING STOCKS. 
 
 Last summer I had the good fortune of making the ac- 
 quaintance of Dr. Charles Kenworthy, a gentleman re- 
 cently from Australia. An enthusiastic amateur, and a 
 close and keen observer, he, in almost daily conversations 
 with me about scientific and practical viticulture, called 
 my attention again to propagating the vine by green 
 shoots, inarched into the green shoots of a growing vine. 
 Years ago, I had, with success, grafted pieces of green 
 shoots into the green shoots of growing vines, as stated 
 and described in the Horticulturist, 1862, pp. 14 to 17, but 
 as the procedure is rather too slow for this fast going 
 country, I did not expect that any advantage would be 
 derived from it. Otherwise it is similar in its effects to 
 inarching, in making the vine dependent on the roots of 
 the stock exclusively. 
 
 Inarching green shoots into green shoots is equally 
 successful under glass and in the open air. The two 
 vines to be united must be near enough to each other 
 to effect the union. The stronger and the more vig- 
 orous the shoots ' the better. A little of the bark 
 and the underlying green substance of them is re- 
 moved about an inch or an inch and a half I0112:, and 
 both are then tongued their whole length, the vine 
 to be propagated, from below upwards, the stock, 
 
114 
 
 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 from above downwards. As the young shoots are very 
 brittle, two persons are needed to perform the operation, 
 one of them holding and steadying the vine tongued, 
 the other operating upon the other, and uniting them. 
 The tongue of the stock must gofrombe7oic upwards into 
 the tongued place of the other. Both are then tied rather 
 firmly with oiled silk, on which a few grape leaves are put 
 or folded together to keep the wounds cool and protect it 
 from the influence of the direct rays of the sun. 
 
 About a fortnight after the operation, the stock must 
 be cut off an inch or so above the junction ; a week later, a. 
 cut is made into the vine to be propagated ; this is made 
 deeper, a few days later, and the vine is cut entirely off as 
 soon as the union is complete. Then the leaves and the 
 worsted are removed also. It is easy enough to deter- 
 mine, by occasionally examining the vines, so united, the 
 proper time for the several steps to be taken. Eight ex- 
 periments, made in my grounds under glass or in the open 
 air, proved to be eight successes, although it was not only 
 too late in the season when they were made, but the 
 stocks as well as the other vines were growing poorly. 
 Some of them were not thicker than a middle-sized knit- 
 ting needle ; consequently they could not be tongued, but 
 were only wounded and tied together. The union in all 
 of them is perfect; after the lapse of a year or two it will 
 be impossible to distinguish it. 
 
 If it is true, as I believe from actual experience, that the 
 cause of the failure of many kinds lies in the root, inarch- 
 ing will be a means of making feeble growing vines strong ; 
 perhaps even some of the hardier foreigners may, in this 
 way, be inured to our changeable' climate. It is impossi- 
 ble for me to make, in the course of this spring and sum- 
 mer, as many and as extensive experiments as I intended ; 
 still, from what I know already, I am confident of great 
 advantages to be derived from this process. We would 
 bring this method of propagation to the attention of 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 115 
 
 horticulturists, feeling that it has heretofore been unduly 
 neglected. 
 
 IV.— BY SEEDS. 
 
 As no plant is more apt to sport than the vine, when 
 grown from the seed, this method of propagation must be 
 resorted to in order to raise varieties different from those 
 already in existence. 
 
 The best and ripest berries are selected, and either 
 immediately planted, whole, about half an inch or an inch 
 deep, and protected by leaves, moss, or straw, from too se- 
 vere freezing, or they may be dried without artificial heat, 
 and the seeds may be taken out in the spring and planted. 
 The plan adopted by me is, to separate the seeds from 
 the pulp, as soon as the berries are ripe, and to plant them 
 in pots, filled with light, but fertile soil, which I keep during 
 the winter in the cellar, sprinkling several times with a 
 little water. In the month of March following I place the 
 pots in a window of a warm room, or plunge them in a 
 hot or propagating bed, watering them regularly. The 
 seeds, separated from the pulp, may also be kept in papers 
 and planted in the following spring in pots or in the open 
 air. To shade the young plants a little, when they are 
 growing in the open air, is very beneficial. A. S. Fuller 
 sows, for this purpose, apple seeds along with the grape 
 seeds, or in a row, immediately before them to the south. 
 The young apple trees do not make many fibrous roots 
 the first year ; they do not, therefore, interfere with the 
 vines, but afford them shade, and, in a measure, support. 
 That the young plants must be watered in dry weather, 
 and that they must be kept clean, need not expressly be 
 recommended. 
 
 In the autumn, after the fall of the leaf, they are to be 
 taken up and heeled-in, which is more advisable than to 
 cover them up, as the frost would heave them up more or 
 
110 THE GRAPE VIXE. 
 
 less, and would break many of their roots. In the spring 
 their roots are shortened a little, they are pruned down to 
 the lowest good bud, and planted in furrows several inches 
 dee]). In the course of the summer the furrows are filled 
 up. The young plants are then treated exactly like other 
 young vines. They will bear in the fifth year, but some 
 of them will do so in the third or fourth, others in the sixth 
 or seventh years. 
 
 When whole berries are planted, young plants will come 
 up, not only in the first spring after planting, but also in 
 the second and third, as stated by Mr. E. Bull, of Con- 
 cord, Mass., the originator of the Concord. Therefore, 
 in lifting young plants grown from planting whole ber- 
 ries in the first fall, care should be taken to disturb the 
 soil as little as possible. 
 
 The process of raising vines from seed is very tedious, 
 and unsatisfactory in its results. The seeds from Ameri- 
 can varieties produce a large proportion of male (stami- 
 nate) plants ; they often are, and that is the rule, inferior 
 to the parent. In five thousand seedlings, raised at one 
 time by Dr. Grant, there were but two worthy to be pre- 
 served, the Iona and the Israella. Among five hundred 
 seedlings from the Isabella which I have grown, there is 
 but one better than the mother plant. A most excellent 
 white grape from a seed of a Crimean grape, which is per- 
 fectly hardy and vigorous in my grounds, is the result from 
 planting but two seeds. This is, however, so rare an ac- 
 cident that it may not happen again in a century. A full 
 description of the grape in question is given by me in the 
 Gardener's Monthly, I860, pp. 291 and 292. The plant 
 and the fruit have been carefully examined by many con- 
 noisseurs and experienced vine-growers. They all unite in 
 the belief that the vine is thoroughly healthy and vigorous, 
 and " that the fruit is most excellent" to' use the words of 
 the Agriculturist in an editorial notice of it. See Agricul- 
 turist, I860, p. 438. 
 
THE GEAPE VIXE. 11? 
 
 HYBRIDIZATION. 
 
 There is a difference between hybridization and cross- 
 ing, but as my object is not to enter here into scientific 
 disquisitions, I will describe, as briefly as possible, the mode 
 of the operation itself. Moreover we know that the species 
 are not constant, but variable. 
 
 The petals (floral leaves) of a vine blossom are five in 
 number, cohering and thrown off by the stamens when 
 the blossom is expanding. They look then like a cap. 
 The fine stamens bear on their summits the anthers, 
 little bodies covered with a fine powder or dust, called 
 pollen. While the petals are raised by the stamens, fruc- 
 tification frequently takes place before the petals are 
 thrown off. This fructification is effected by the pollen, 
 coming in contact with the upper end of the pistil. The 
 pistil excretes a somewhat viscid matter on its upper end, 
 to which the dust of the pollen adheres. It is then carried 
 down into the ovarium, the lower part of the |)istil. In 
 this way fructification is acconrplished. A small berry is 
 formed which enlarges daily until it attains its proper 
 size. A blossom not impregnated by the pollen, does not 
 develop itself; it remains diminutive. 
 
 To prevent natural fructification the blossoms must be 
 carefully watched. As soon as some of them have opened 
 on a certain cluster selected for artificial fructification, 
 they are cut off with scissors, together with a number of the 
 remaining buds to diminish the number. This not only 
 facilitates the operation, but tends to develop those remain- 
 ing much better. The petals of the buds left are then ex- 
 amined with a needle; they are lifted and removed. 
 Should they not yield, they must remain undisturbed for 
 an hour, or long enough for their removal. Should any 
 blossoms expand during the absence of the operator, they 
 must be carefully cut off, lest some of the pollen of their 
 stamens might reach the pistils of other blossoms already 
 
118 THE GRAPE TINE. 
 
 operated upon, thus rendering the experiment uncertain 
 and unreliable. 
 
 Pollen of the species or variety to be used for the male, 
 is then taken up by means of a fine camels-hair painter's 
 brush, and dusted by shaking or gently tapping the handle 
 of the brush. This must be repeated several times on the 
 same blossom. If the first operation was performed in 
 the forenoon, it ought to be repeated in the afternoon. 
 Calm and warm weather is most favorable for this work. 
 To enclose the clusters with thin gauze to prevent the in- 
 terference of insects and wind, until the berries begin to 
 swell, is certainly a very good plan. 
 
 It is not often the case that the species or varieties, 
 intended for hybridization, blossom at the same time, but 
 the plant to be used as the male parent usually blooms 
 earlier than the other. Some pollen is then shaken from a 
 cluster, it being in the right condition, upon a piece of pa- 
 per, and preserved in a tightly corked phial until wanted. 
 Dubreuil asserts that pollen from some plants, preserved 
 between two watch glasses, united and glued together by 
 means of small pieces of paper, will not lose its vital 
 power in the course of a whole year. I do not think, 
 however, that watch glasses are any better than tightly 
 corked and sealed phials. Mr. Hovey, of Cambridge, 
 Mass., fertilized his lily, Melpomene, with pollen from the 
 auratum, when it bloomed for the first time in England, 
 and obtained crosses which were in bloom last summer, 
 showing unmistakably that hybridization had been accom- 
 plished. That the pollen from vines remains good for a 
 month, I know from actual experiments, and I do not 
 doubt in the least that it will keep much longer. 
 
 Hybridization offers a wide field for improving our na- 
 tive kinds. As yet, our best grapes are chance seedlings ; 
 still the experiments made by Messrs. Allen, Moore and 
 Cay wood, are encouraging, though effective hybridization 
 is doubted by many. The criterion of Mr. A. S. Fuller is 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 119 
 
 a very good one, indeed, viz. : To sow the seeds from a 
 plant claimed to be a hybrid, and to ascertain whether 
 the young plants sport much, some showing the charac- 
 teristics of the father, others those of the mother. Should 
 they cdl be similar to each other, the probability would be 
 that hybridization had not been effected. 
 
 Two years ago, I called the attention of my friend, Dr. 
 Thurber, the scientific botanist, to eleven seedlings from 
 Allen's Hybrid. They are so much alike, and so similar 
 in their relation to the parent, that he was very much aston- 
 ished at the fact before him. On the other hand, of the 
 five hundred seedlings from the Isabella, raised by me, 
 no two were alike in regard to lobation, growth, etc. 
 
 Be this as it may, experiments in this direction ought 
 to be continued with assiduity and zeal ; results will ulti- 
 mately be reached, that will benefit the country in a high 
 degree. 
 
 Here I will mention, in conclusion, that Kallmann's 
 Cibebe, the most beautiful of all grapes in form, is the pro- 
 duct of an intentional, artificial crossing of the large yel- 
 low from Smyrna and the Muscat Schwarz-Welscher, ob- 
 tained by the great ornithologist, Naumann, late Professor 
 in the University of Leipsic. Mr. Neubert, of that city, 
 made me a present of it. 
 
 HINTS ON THE GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF 
 AMERICAN SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 
 
 I.— PLANTING. 
 
 For planting, the fall is preferred by many, the spring 
 by others. To protect the vines, regularly planted in the 
 fall, from freezing and thawing during the winter, as well 
 as from the water accumulating in the holes and forming 
 ice in them, is much more difficult than to heel them in, 
 and to preserve them in this way. On the other hand, 
 
120 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 there is so much work to be done in the spring, that there 
 is danger of hastening the planting too much, although 
 this process is so important that it is impossible to do it 
 too carefully. No mistake, made in planting, can after- 
 wards be corrected. 
 
 I have made many experiments, and have met with so 
 many failures and disappointments from fall planting in 
 this latitude, that I buy such vines as I intend to try in 
 the fall, but I always plant them in the spring. Buying 
 in the fall is advisable, as a better selection can be made, 
 hut planting in the spring is surer of success. 
 
 Heeling-in is an operation so well known, that I need 
 not describe it here. Should the ground be stiff and 
 heavy, it is much better to lay the plants against a little 
 mound in a slanting position on the surface of the 
 earth than in a ditch, in which the water would collect 
 during the winter. Sand or fine soil ought to be used 
 for filling in among the roots. This must be done so 
 carefully that even the smallest rootlet is embedded in, 
 and covered by, the sand or soil ; for mould will grow 
 on roots not packed firmly in sand or «oil. Soil may 
 be used for increasing the thickness of the mound, cov- 
 ering the roots, and some boards may be placed on the 
 top of it to carry off the rain water, and to prevent the 
 sun from warming the plants, so heeled in, too much. 
 As the frost acts horizontally also — to speak not scientifi- 
 cally, but practically — the covering ought to extend about 
 two feet beyond the ends of the roots. In heeling-in I 
 always cover the whole plants, roots and all. 
 
 Vines keep very well in boxes, filled with sand, that are 
 placed in the cellar, or they may be covered with sand in 
 the cellar without boxes. 
 
 Spring planting ought to be deferred till air and soil are 
 sufficiently wanned, that is, from the middle to the end 
 of April. Should the buds have commenced showing life 
 again, it is so much the better. 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 121 
 
 The roots of the plants must Ite carefully examined, in 
 order to cut off such as are bruised or broken. To shorten 
 them a little, to have fresh cuts on all of them, is judicious, 
 but to remove one-half or two-thirds of them, involves an 
 injurious waste of strength. Finally, the vines must be 
 cut down to the lowest well-developed bud. There is 
 then no danger arising from bleeding. 
 
 The holes for the plants ought to be large enough for 
 the reception of the roots in their natural position, and 
 about a foot deep. Then some fine soil is heaped up in 
 the middle of each; resembling a mole heap, but more 
 pointed and conical. On the top of this heap the young 
 plant is placed, and its roots are spread out evenly, and 
 properly arranged for making them grow in all directions. 
 Fine soil is then sprinkled or sifted on them until they are 
 well covered. Then some water must be poured on through 
 the rose of a watering-pot, that the soil may settle, and 
 the holes fill with soil, leaving a space of about four 
 inches open during the summer. Rain showers will carry 
 some soil into them, and fill them up partially, which is 
 not injurious to the growth of the young plants. In the 
 fall some more soil must be added to make them level. 
 
 The roots ought to be four or six inches below the 
 ground, at least deep enough not to be injured by hoeing, 
 digging, or plowing, but not too deep, as it is customary 
 with some. The depth to which the soil is to be worked 
 afterward is the surest guide ; the roots should, under all 
 circumstances, be beyond the reach of the implements to 
 be used. If the vines are to be layered during one or 
 more successive years, to furnish them with more roots, 
 they must not be planted in an erect, but in an inclined 
 position, (at an angle of about 45°), otherwise it is not 
 unfrequently difficult to bend them down and to lay them 
 in a ditch, made for this purpose. 
 
 The management of plants having more than one tier 
 of roots, or of such as are older, does not differ in princi- 
 6 
 
122 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 pie from that of young plants. Its modification, according 
 to circumstances, will be obvious to any one intending to 
 plant them. The long, woody roots of old vines must be 
 very severely pruned; they ought to be out off below a 
 thin succulent root, proceeding from them, and the cut 
 ought to be made at its underside, so that the wound may 
 be pressed on the soil below. If cut at the upperside, it 
 will be apt to decay from the water falling or trickling 
 down upon it. 
 
 The plan of mulching vines, recently planted, is a good 
 one; to manure, however, the soil below or about their 
 roots cannot be too strongly denounced ns injurious and 
 dangerous in the highest degree. Many vines are killed 
 every year, or ruined beyond the possibility of recovery, 
 by well-meaning, but inexperienced persons. While they 
 would withhold fat pork or beef from a patient when con- 
 valescent, and yet feeble in consequence of a severe shock, 
 to which their health was exposed, they do not hesitate to 
 treat a vine, in a similar condition, with a superabundance 
 of heavy, indigestible food. Can anything be more incon- 
 sistent ? 
 
 II.— PKUNING. 
 
 The principles of pruning as practised in Europe, and 
 so lucidly explained by Dr. Mohr, are undoubtedly cor- 
 rect. Still, even in Europe, different countries require 
 modifications in the application of them. This is also the 
 case in the United States. The climate is warm during 
 the summer ; we have twice as much rain as in France, 
 and much more when we compare the quantity of rain 
 which falls here, with that which is received in California, 
 where the temperature is very high. TJien again, we have 
 severe droughts with so small an amount of water in the 
 air, that it is almost incredible. See the thoroughly sci- 
 entific observations of J. S. Lippincott,'Rsc\.,\\\ the Re- 
 port of the Commissioner of Agriculture, 1SG3, pp. 520- 
 
THE GRAPE VIXE. 123 
 
 550. His. Vapor Index, for sale by J. W. Queen, 924 
 Chestnut street, Philadelphia, is a most ingenious and 
 convenient instrument for ascertaining at a glance the 
 amount of aqueous vapor in the atmosphere, or in a room, 
 provided a wet bulb thermometer in connection with a 
 dry bulb thermometer can be consulted. 
 
 The conditions of our climate favor a rampant wood- 
 growth ; consequently Ave must not prune too short to in- 
 sure the health of the vine, and to obtain abundant crops. 
 
 There is another consideration of vital importance, to 
 which I wish to call the attention of every horticulturist 
 most earnestly. It lies in the fact that some hinds have 
 their Fruit shoots on the upper part of the cane, others on 
 the lower part. My friend, Wm. Saunders, Esq., the emi- 
 nently able Superintendent of the Experimental Garden 
 at Washington, cautions, on p. 15 of the Agricultural Re- 
 port of 18G5, against the close pruning of such rampant 
 growers as the Clinton, Taylor-, Alvey, Franklin, etc., 
 asserting that they will bear profusely when but slightly 
 pruned back; otherwise a mass of wood will be produced. 
 This was incontrovertibly proven on my grounds last 
 year. An Alvey that had borne abundantly the year 
 previous, was primed too close by a friend of mine, a 
 skillful and experienced viticulturist. The result was ex- 
 actly in accordance with Mr. Saunders' statement ; the vine 
 in question, which was loaded with fruit the year previous, 
 bore not more than half-a-dozen clusters last year. 
 
 It is not always without danger to recommend a single 
 modification of the pruning principle as applicable to 
 every variety. We know that certain kinds of the apple, 
 pear, etc., require different treatment in this respect ; how 
 could it be expected, then, that all kinds of the vine should 
 be alike ? 
 
 What is most needed, therefore, is, to ascertain whether 
 the lower buds of the canes of certain varieties produce 
 bearing shoots, or those more distant from the bases of 
 
124 THE GRAPE VINE. 
 
 the canes. The true method of pruning them will be the 
 result, so much desired. 
 
 George Husmann, 'Esq., of Hermann, Missouri, dis- 
 covered accidentally that the laterals of the Concord and 
 other strong growing varieties, when pruned in the fall to 
 four or six buds, produce the finest clusters and the most 
 abundant crops to be obtained. This took place in 186.2. 
 See the Cultivation of the Native Grape, by George 
 Husmann, p. Gl. Since then he has adopted it altogether 
 for such varieties as mentioned, with the most satisfactory 
 result. He suffers the shoots intended for bearing canes 
 to grow about four feet high, and then removes their tops 
 by pinching. He retains four or five laterals, which he 
 prunes, in the fall, to four or six buds. 
 
 This is important ; experiments should be made to as- 
 certain accurately the varieties most adapted to this mode 
 of treatment, and the localities favorable to it. 
 
 The correctness of Mr. Husmann'' s observations is 
 corroborated by the results of similar experiments inten- 
 tionally made in Germany, as early as 1857. They are 
 mentioned and described by Dr. JEJ. Lucas, the celebrated 
 scientific and practical Pomologist and Director of the 
 Pomological Institute at Meuttingen, in the Kingdom of 
 JVurtemberg. In his Annual for Pomologists, Garden- 
 ers, etc., published in 18G0, from pp. 59-61, he gives a de- 
 tailed "description of the successful experiments of Mr. 
 Deuringer, of Sendling, near Munich, in Bavaria ; they 
 are exactly like those made by Mr. Husmann, except that 
 Mr. Deuringer suffered the shoots intended for canes to 
 grow five or six feet high before he stopped them, in order 
 to excite the growth of the laterals. 
 
 Mr. Deuringer 's experiments are based on reasoning 
 concerning the proper function of the laterals ; he invented 
 his method, while Mr. Husmann discovered it. 
 
 Mr. Ifusmami's personal character is so well known, 
 and deservedly stands so high, that I am very far from at- 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 125 
 
 tempting to insinuate that he was acquainted with Mr. 
 Beuringefs operations. The Annual is so rare, that it may 
 be doubtful whether there exists another copy of it in the 
 United States than the one in my possession. The coinci- 
 dence goes only to show how difficult it is in horticulture 
 to add anything not already known to somebody else to 
 the stock of facts. 
 
 Young plants must, at the fall pruning, be cut down to 
 the lowest well-developed bud, that is, to the first, second, 
 or third. During the first summer they must not be tied 
 to stakes, nor pinched. When trailing on the ground or 
 climbing over some brushwood placed near them, the 
 upper tendency of the sap, common to most plants, and 
 especially strong in the vine, is, in a measure, counteracted, 
 by which the root is very much strengthened. Also in the 
 second year I treat them in this way. The treatment of 
 older vines must be the same as that of plants but one 
 year old. 
 
 Before the vines attain the thickness of a finger, they 
 must not be pruned long for bearing, but must be cut 
 down in every successive fall. 
 
 III.— PINCHING. 
 
 The shoots for bearing canes must not be pinched or 
 stopped at all during their growth, and their laterals must 
 be permitted to develop at will. In regard to the bearing 
 shoots, it is doubtful to me whether close pinching, that is, 
 beyond, or at the third leaf from the last cluster, is advan- 
 tageous in this country or not. Apart from the practice, 
 growing more into favor every da}', according to which 
 the shoots are left longer, and are, perhaps, pinched but 
 once during the season, I am free to confess that I have 
 done so much orthodox pinching, but with results so little 
 satisfactory to my expectation, that I feel strongly inclined 
 to indulge in a little greater latitude in this respect than 
 formerly. Experiments, instituted on purpose, and varied 
 
126 THE GRArE VINE. 
 
 as to varieties, sorts, and localities, are very much needed; 
 they will enable ns to arrive at the true method. 
 
 That the laterals of young plants, or of older ones trans- 
 planted, must not be pinched, has already been observed 
 in the above. 
 
 IV.— COVERING IN THE FALL, AND LIFTING IN THE FOL- 
 LOWING SPRING. 
 
 In this extreme climate it is reasonable to lay the vines 
 down on the ground and to cover them, especially such 
 kinds as are tender. Still, all kinds are benefited by this 
 process. 
 
 Sand or sandy soil is a good material for covering ; stiff 
 clay is objectionable. On the sand, flat stones are placed 
 to keep the vines in place. 
 
 Some use straw, manure, sods, and stones, without soil 
 or sand, for covering ; these materials, however, ought to be 
 avoided. They leave everywhere empty spaces, in which 
 mice find shelter. Mice are pests in a plantation of vines. 
 Manure is apt to ferment, by which process the vines may 
 be excited to a premature growth under the cover, and 
 consequently they may greatly suffer or even perish. 
 
 A very good covering material is dust (refuse) of hard 
 (Anthracite) coal. I have used it for a number of years 
 with decided benefit, so that I shall not use anything else 
 for the future. No mould is formed on the vines, so cov- 
 ered, nor do mice or other animals harbor in it. 
 
 As soon as the frost is fairly out of the ground in the 
 Spring, that is, in the first weeks of April, the vines must 
 be freed from .their covering and left for a certain time to 
 swing in the air, before they are tied to their poles or 
 trellises. 
 
 The rule ought never to be lost sight of, neither to cover 
 too early, that is, not before the soil is frozen, nor to lift too 
 early. 
 
 Sheltering the vines by boards nailed on the top of the 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 127 
 
 trellis posts tends to protect them against the attacks of 
 mildew, according to Mr. Saunders' experience. Such 
 partial roofs render radiation beneath them impossible, 
 so that the vines, as well as the soil, remain warmer than 
 without protection. Dr. Schroeder, of Bloomingtoris Illi- 
 nois^ mulches his vines four or six inches deep with straw, 
 after they had ceased blossoming. Vines, so treated, were 
 free from mildew, and the grapes did not rot. 
 
 I might devote here some space to insects and other 
 animals, injurious to the vine; but as I could hardly do' 
 more than repeat what is found in many books, I forego 
 it. The chief remedy lies in the hand of the vine grower ; 
 thrips yield only to the application of sulphur. 
 
 AMERICAN VARIETIES. 
 
 It would not only be almost impossible, but also use- 
 less, to give here a complete list of native grapes ; both 
 the amateur and the professional grape grower will 
 resort to other sources for their information on this point, 
 not to this book. We mention here only the most valuable 
 kinds, nearly all of which we have tested in our own 
 grounds, following chiefly the American Horticultural 
 Annual" for 1867, without even changing the wording of 
 many descriptions ; for they are very concise and charac- 
 teristic. 
 
 \ (I iron (lac . — Black. A good and healthy grower in our 
 grounds. Fruit very fine, sweet and luscious. 
 
 Allen's Hybrid. — White. Tolerably healthy with us, 
 sweet and vinous. 
 
 Alvey. — Black. A vigorous, healthy grower; suffers 
 very little from mildew ; juice colored ; skin exceedingly 
 thin ; without pulp. Ripens in September. It improves 
 very much by hanging long on the vine, from which it 
 never drops. Vinous, sprightly and refreshing. 
 
128 THE GRAPE VINE. ' 
 
 Anna. — White. A poor bearer and grower with us. 
 High flavored, tough pulp. 
 
 Catawba. — Red. Too well known to need description. 
 Is doing well in our grounds. 
 
 Clinton. — Black. A healthy, rampant grower. Colors 
 long before it is ripe. Not fit for the table, but good for 
 wine. 
 
 Concord, — Black. Known as the grape for the million. 
 
 Crevelillg'. — Black. Good healthy grower. Hardy and 
 very early. Cluster loose. Very valuable. 
 
 Delaware. — Red. Delicious. A good, not a rampant 
 grower. Hardy, but mildews in some localities. 
 
 Diana. — Red. Does very well with us, but is not to be 
 depended upon in some localities. High flavored and 
 sweet. Skin very thick. Keeps well. 
 
 Diana Hamburg.— Black. A delicious grape, but said 
 to be late. 
 
 Elsinburgi — Black. Very fine and hardy grape. Very 
 small, clusters large. 
 
 Hartford Prolific— Black. Very early, vigorous, hardy. 
 Sweet, tough, acid pulp. Drops from the peduncle. 
 
 Hcrbcmontt — Black. Very small, clusters large ; vinous 
 and excellent, but late. 
 
 Iona. — Red. Healthy in many localities, in others it 
 suffers from mildew. Fruit praised in every respect for 
 table and wine. 
 
 Isabella.— Black. Known everywhere. Very variable 
 and uncertain. . 
 
 Israella. — Black. Good and early grape. 
 
 Ives' Seedlings — Black. Highly praised for wine. 
 
 Lydia. — White. Hardy and early; promises very well. 
 
 Martha. — White. A white Concord, but sweeter. Very 
 vigorous and healthy. 
 
THE GRAPE VINE. 129 
 
 Maxatawney. — White. Vigorous and healthy, but late. 
 When thoroughly ripe it is a fine grape. 
 
 MilCS. — Black. Very early and better than Hartford 
 Prolific. 
 
 Norton's Virginia. — Black. Known and praised as the 
 best grape for red wine. 
 
 Rebecca. — White. Very fine, but a poor grower on its 
 own roots. Should be grafted on the roots of some vigorous 
 variety. 
 
 Rogers' Hybrids,— Black, red, and amber. Most of 
 them vigorous^growers and healthy. Berries and clusters 
 in some of them very large and fine. The following are 
 known as very valuable : Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 15, 19, 22, 
 30, 33, 43, 44. 
 
 To It a Ion. — Black. Healthy with us, but a poor bearer ; 
 excellent. 
 
 Union Village. — Black. Very large and showy; of fair 
 quality. A good grower with us. 
 
 Walter. — Red. Very sweet and high flavored; very 
 early. 
 
 Weehawken. — White. A most remarkable seedling of 
 ours, raised from a seed of a Crimean variety, imported by 
 us. The most healthy of all our vines. Cluster beautiful ; 
 vinous, high flavored. Never mildewed. Not yet dis- 
 seminated. 
 
 6* 
 
THE 
 HIT 
 
 i i 
 
 x wi XI X) x o. jt\ 
 
 IflVAlBIs 
 
 ANDREW g. FULLER, 
 
 NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION. 
 
 THE STANDARD WORK 
 
 ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE HARDY GRAPE, 
 
 AS IT NOT ONLY DISCUSSES PRINCIPLES, 
 
 BUT 
 
 ILLUSTRATES PRACTICE. 
 
 Every tiling is made perfectly plain, and. its teach- 
 ings may be followed, -upon 
 
 ONE VINE OR A VINEYARD. 
 
 The following are some of the topics that are treo-** x d, 
 
 Growing Xew Varieties from Seed. 
 
 Propagation by Single Buds or Eyes. 
 
 Propagating Houses and their Management fully descripeo.. 
 
 How to Grow. 
 
 Cuttings in Open Air, and how to Make Layers. 
 
 Grafting the Grape — A Simple and Successful Method. 
 
 Hybridizing and Crossing — Mode of Operation. 
 
 Soil and Situation — Planting and Cultivation. 
 
 Pruning, Training, and Trellises — all the Systems Explains^ 
 
 Garden Culture — How to Grow Vines in a Door- Yard. 
 
 Insects, Mildew, Sun-Scald, and other Troubles. 
 
 Description of the Valuable a>d the Discarded Varieties. 
 
 Sent post-paid. Price $1.50. 
 
 Orange Judd. <Sc Co., 4rl Park Row. 
 
MY VINEYARD AT LAKEVIEW; 
 
 OR, 
 
 SUCCESSFUL GEAPE CULTUBE. 
 
 BY A WESTERN GRAPE GROWER. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 To any one who wishes to grow grapes, whether a single vine or a vine- 
 yard, this book is full of valuable teachings. The author gives not only his 
 success, but, what is of quite as much importance, his failure. It tells just 
 what the beginner in grape culture wishes to know, with the charm that 
 always attends the relation of personal experience. 
 
 It is especially valuable as giving an account of the processes actually 
 followed in 
 
 CELEBRATED GRAPE REGIONS 
 
 in Western New-York and on the shores and islands of Lake Erie. 
 
 This book is noticed by a writer in the Horticulturist for August last as 
 follows : " Two works very different in character and value have just been 
 published, and seem to demand a passing notice. The better and less pre- 
 tentious of the two is ' My Vineyard at Lakeview,' a charming little book 
 that professes to give the actual experience of a western grape grower, de- 
 tailing not only his successes, but his blunders and failures. It is written 
 in a pleasant style, without any attempt at display, and contains much ad- 
 vice that will prove useful to a beginner — the more useful because derived 
 from the experience of a man who had no leisure for fanciful experiments, 
 but has been obliged to make his vineyard support himself and his family." 
 
 Written in a simple and attractive style, and relating the experience of one who felt 
 his way along into the successful cultivation of a vineyard in Ohio. — Mass. Ploughman. 
 
 It is the experience of a practical grape grower, and not the theory of an experi- 
 menter.— Bath Daily Sentinel and Times. 
 
 It has no superior as an attractive narrative of country life.— Hartford Daily Post. 
 
 Many book3 have been written on the grape, but this is the only work that gives an 
 account of grape growing as actually practiced at the successful vineyards in the grape 
 region of the West, and will be welcomed by a large class of readers.— New-Bedford 
 Standard. 
 
 This little volume contains, in an attractive form, and in clear and concise language, 
 just the information needed to enable any one to become thoroughly posted up in this 
 delightful and profitable branch of horticulture.— Vermont Farmer. 
 
 Just the manual for a beginner, by one who says "he is well rewarded in the success 
 attained. " Adding, "It might have been reached in half the time, had I possessed the 
 knowledge imparted to the reader of this book.'-- —Boston Cultivator. 
 
 Sent Post-paid Price, $1,50. 
 ORANGE JUOD & CO., 41 Park Row, New-York. 
 
T H E 
 
 SMALL FRUIT CULTURIST, 
 
 BY 
 
 AXDREW S. FULLER, 
 Beautifully Illustrated. 
 
 We have heretofore had no work especially devoted to small 
 fruits, and certainly no treatises anywhere that give the information 
 contained in this. It is to the advantage of special works that the 
 author can say all that he has to say on any subject, and not be 
 restricted as to space, as he must be in those works that cover the 
 culture of .all fruits— great and small. 
 
 This book covers the whole ground of Propagating Small Fruits, 
 their Culture, Varieties, Packing for Market, etc. While very full on 
 the other fruits, the Currants and Raspberries have been more care- 
 fully elaborated than ever before, and in this important part of his 
 book, the author has had the invaluable counsel of Charles Downing. 
 The chapter on gathering and packing the fruit is a valuable one, 
 and in it are figured all the baskets and boxes now in common use. 
 The book is very finely and thoroughly illustrated, and makes an 
 admirable companion to the Grape Culturist, by the same author. 
 
 OOIVTEIVTS: 
 
 Chap. 1. Barberry. Chap. VII. Gooseberry. 
 
 Chap. II. Strawberry. Chap. VIII. Cornelian Cherry. 
 
 Chap. III. Raspberry. Cilaf. IX. Cranberry. 
 
 Chap. IV. Blackberry. Chap. X. Huckleberry. 
 
 Chap. V. Dwarf Cherry. Chap. XL Sheperdia. 
 
 Chap. VI. Currant. Chap. XII. Preparation fop. 
 
 GATHERING FRUIT. 
 
 Sent post-paid. Price $1.50. 
 
 ORANGE JUDD & CO., 41 PARK ROW.