Gardening:Grape
GRAPE.--One of the surest of fruit crops is the grape, a crop each year being reasonably certain after the third year from the time of setting the vines; and the good amateur kinds are numerous.
The grape does well on any soil that is under good cultivation and well drained. A soil with considerable clay is better under these circumstances than a light, sandy loam. The exposure should be to the sun; and the place should admit of cultivation on all sides.
For planting, 1-or 2-year-old vines should be used, being set either in the fall or early spring. At planting, the vine is cut back to 3 or 4 eyes, and the roots are well shortened in. The hole in which the plant is to be set should be large enough to allow a full spreading of the roots. If the season should be dry, a mulch of coarse litter may be spread around the vine. If all the buds start, the strongest one or two may be allowed to grow. The canes arising from these buds should be staked and allowed to grow through the season; or in large plantations the first-year canes may be allowed to lie on the ground.
The second year one cane should be cut back to the same number of eyes as the first year. After growth begins in the spring, two of the strongest buds should be allowed to remain. These two canes now arising may be grown to a single stake through the second summer, or they may be spread horizontally on a trellis. These are the canes that form the permanent arms or parts of the vine. From them start the upright shoots which, in succeeding years, are to bear the fruits.
In order to understand the pruning of grapes, the operator must fully grasp this principle: _Fruit is borne on wood of the present season, which arises from wood of the previous season._ To illustrate: A growing shoot, or cane, of 1909 makes buds. In 1910 a shoot arises from each bud; and near the base of these shoots the grapes are borne (1 to 4 clusters on each). While every bud on the 1909 shoot may produce shoots or canes in 1910, only the strongest of these new canes will bear fruit. The skilled grape-grower can tell by the looks of his cane (as he prunes it in winter) which buds will give rise to the grape-producing wood the following season. The larger and stronger buds usually give best results; but if the cane itself is very big and stout, or if it is very weak and slender, he does not expect good results from any of its buds. A hard, well-ripened cane the diameter of a man's little finger is the ideal size.
Another principle to be mastered is this: _A vine should bear only a limited number of clusters,_--say from 30 to 80. A shoot bears clusters near its base; beyond these clusters the shoot grows on into a long, leafy cane. An average of two clusters may be reckoned to a shoot. If the vine is strong enough to bear 60 clusters, 30 good buds must be left at the pruning (which is done from December to late February).
The essential operation of pruning a grape vine, therefore, is each year to cut back a limited number of good canes to a few buds, and to cut off entirely all the remaining canes or wood of the previous season's growth. If a cane is cut back to 2 or 3 buds, the stub-like part which remains is called a spur. Present systems, however, cut each cane back to 8 or 10 buds (on strong varieties), and 3 or 4 canes are left,--all radiating from near the head or trunk of the vine. The top of the vine does not grow bigger from year to year, after it has once covered the trellis, but is cut back to practically the same number of buds each year. Since these buds are on new wood, it is evident that they are each year farther and farther removed from the head of the vine. In order to obviate this difficulty, new canes are taken out each year or two from near the head of the vine, and the 2-year-or 3-year-old wood is cut away.
The training of grapes is a different matter. A dozen different systems of training may be practiced on the same trellis and from the same style of pruning,--for training is only the disposition or arrangement of the parts.
On arbors, it is best to carry one permanent arm or trunk from each root over the framework to the peak. Each year the canes are cut back to short spurs (of 2 or 3 buds) along the sides of this trunk.
[Illustration: Fig. 278 Bag ready to be applied.]
Grapes are set from 6 to 8 feet apart in rows which are 8 to 10 feet apart. A trellis made of 2 or 3 wires is the best support. Slat trellises catch too much wind and blow down. Avoid stimulating manures. In very cold climates, the vines may be taken off the trellis in early winter and laid on the ground and lightly covered with earth. Along the boundaries of home lots, where grapes are often planted, little is to be expected in the way of fruit because the ground is not well tilled.
[Illustration: Fig. 279 The second stage in adjusting the bag.]
The grape is subject to many insects and diseases, some of which are very destructive. The black-rot is the most usual trouble. See p. 209.
To produce bunches of high quality and free from rot and frost injury, grapes are sometimes bagged. When the grapes are about half grown, the bunch is covered with a grocer's manila bag. The bags remain until the fruit is ripe. The grapes usually mature earlier in the bags. The top of the bag is split, and the flaps are secured over the branch with a pin; Figs. 278, 279, 280 explain the operation.
[Illustration: Fig. 280 The bagging complete.]
In all the above discussion, the so-called native grapes alone are considered. In California, the European or vinifera types are grown, the requirements of which are radically different from those of the eastern kinds.
[Illustration XXII. Wall-training of a pear tree.]
_Varieties of grapes._
Under nearly all conditions, the Concord will be a valuable black variety, although Worden, which is a few days earlier, may be preferred by many. Moore (Moore Early) has been our best very early black variety, but is likely to be superseded by Campbell, which is a stronger vine, more productive, bunches larger, fruit of better quality, and of superior keeping qualities, making it valuable for shipping purposes. Catawba, Delaware, and Brighton are among the best red varieties, although Agawam and Salem are much used. Winchell (Green Mountain) is the best early white variety, and in most sections Niagara, a late white sort, does well. Diamond (Moore Diamond) is a white grape of better quality than Niagara.
_Grapes under glass_ (S.W. Fletcher).
The European grapes rarely thrive out of doors in eastern America. Grape houses are necessary, with or without artificial heat. Fruit for home use may be grown very satisfactorily in a cold grapery (without artificial heat). A simple lean-to against the south side of a building or wall is cheap and serviceable. When a separate building is desired, an even-span house running north and south is preferable. There is no advantage in having a curved roof, except as a matter of looks. A compost of four parts rotted turf to one of manure is laid on a sloping cement bottom outside the house, making a border 12 feet wide and 2 feet deep. The cement may be replaced with rubble on well-drained soils, but it is a poor makeshift. Every three years the upper 6 inches of the border should be renewed with manure. The border inside the house is prepared likewise. Two-year-old potted vines are planted about 4 feet apart in a single row. Part of the roots go through a crevice in the wall to the outer border and part remain inside; or all may go outside if the house is desired for other purposes. One strong cane is trained to a wire trellis hanging at least 18 inches from the glass, and is cut back to 3 feet the first year, 6 the second, and 9 the third. Do not be in a hurry to get a long cane. Pruning is on the spur system, as recommended for arbors on p. 430. The vines are usually laid on the ground for winter and covered with leaves or wrapped with cloth.
As soon as the buds swell in early spring, tie the vines to the trellis and start out one shoot from each spur, rubbing off all others. After the berries begin to color, however, it is better to leave all further growth to shade the fruit. Pinch back each of these laterals two joints beyond the second bunch. To keep down red spider and thrips, the foliage should be sprayed with water every bright morning except during the blooming season. At least one-third of the berries should be thinned from each bunch; do not be afraid of taking out too many. Water the inside border frequently all through the summer, and the outside occasionally if the season is dry. Mildew may appear in July. The best preventives are to syringe faithfully, admit air freely, and sprinkle sulfur on the ground.
Fruit may be kept fresh on the vines in a warm (or artificially heated) grapery until late December; in a coldhouse it must be picked before frost. After the fruit is off, ventilate from top and bottom and withhold water, so as thoroughly to ripen the wood. Along in November the canes are pruned, covered with straw or wrapped with mats and laid down till spring. Black Hamburg is superior to all other varieties for a cold grapery; Bowood Muscat, Muscat of Alexandria, and Chasselas Musque may be added in the warmhouse. Good vines will live and bear almost indefinitely.