Part 2 (1/2)
Hard, smooth wood of medium size usually gives better results than the very large and softer canes which are sometimes produced on soils rich in nitrogenous manures. This large and overgrown wood is known as a ”bull cane.” A cane does not attain its full growth the first year, but will increase in diameter during the second season. The tying therefore, should be sufficiently loose or elastic to allow of growth, although it should be firm enough to hold the cane constantly in place. The cane should not be hung from the wire, but tied close to it, provision being made for the swelling of the wood to twice its diameter.
[Ill.u.s.tration: 16. HIGH RENEWAL WITH FOUR CANES.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: 17. HIGH RENEWAL COMPLETE.--CONCORD.]
The shoots are tied to the second wire soon after they pa.s.s it, or have attained firmness enough to allow of tying, and the same shoots are tied again to the top wire. All the shoots do not grow with equal rapidity, and the vineyard must be gone over more than twice if the shoots are kept properly tied. Perhaps four times over the vineyard will be all that is necessary for careful summer tying. Many vineyardists tie only once or twice, but this neglect should be discouraged. This tying is mostly done with green rye straw or raffia. A piece of straw about ten inches long is used for each tie, it usually being wrapped but once about the shoot. The knot is made with a twist and tuck. If raffia is used, a common string-knot is made. When the shoots reach the top of the trellis, they are usually allowed to take care of themselves. The Catawba shoots stand nearly erect above the top wire and ordinarily need no attention. The long-growing varieties will be likely to drag the shoots upon the ground before the close of the season. If these tips interfere with the cultivation, they may be clipped off with a sickle or corn-cutter, although this practice should be delayed as long as possible to prevent the growth of laterals (see page 21). It is probably better to avoid cutting entirely. Some growers wind or tie the longest shoots upon the top wire, as seen in fig. 17. It is probably best, as a rule, to allow the shoots to hang over naturally, and to clip them only when they seriously interfere with the work of the hoe and cultivator.
The treatment for slat trellises, as shown in fig. 18, is the same as on wire trellises, except that longer strings must be used in tying.
[Ill.u.s.tration: 18. A SLAT TRELLIS, WITH UPRIGHT TRAINING.]
It is apparent that nearly or quite all the fruit in the High Renewal is borne between the first and second wires, at the bottom of the trellis.
If the lower wire is twenty-four or thirty inches high, this fruit will hang at the most convenient height for picking. The fruit trays are set upon the ground, and both hands are free. The fruit is also protected from the hot suns and from frost; and if the shoots are properly tied, the cl.u.s.ters are not shaken roughly by the wind. It is, of course, desirable that all the cl.u.s.ters should be fully exposed to light and air, and all superfluous shoots should, therefore, be pulled off, as already explained (page 21). In rare cases it may also be necessary, for this purpose, to prune the canes which droop over from the top of the trellis.
After a few years, the old top or head of the vine becomes more or less weak and it should be renewed from the root. The thrifty vineyardist antic.i.p.ates this circ.u.mstance, and now and then allows a thrifty shoot which may spring from the ground to remain. This shoot is treated very much like a young vine, and the head is formed during the second year (page 16, bottom). If it should make a strong growth during the first year and develop stout laterals, it may be cut back only to the lowest wire the first fall; but in other cases, it should be cut back to two or three buds, from one of which a strong and permanent shoot is taken the second year. When this new top comes into bearing, the old trunk is cut off at the surface of the ground, or below if possible. A top will retain its vigor for six or eight years under ordinary treatment, and sometimes much longer. These tops are renewed from time to time as occasion permits or demands, and any vineyard which has been bearing a number of years will nearly always have a few vines in process of renewal. The reader should not receive the impression, however, that the life or vitality of a vine is necessarily limited. Vines often continue to bear for twenty years or more without renewal; but the head after a time comes to be large and rough and crooked, and often weakened by scars, and better results are likely to be obtained if a new, clean vine takes its place.
The High Renewal is extensively used in the lake region of Western New York, for all varieties. It is particularly well adapted to Delaware, Catawba, and other weak or short varieties. When systematically pursued, it gives fruit of the highest excellence. This High Renewal training, like all the low upright systems, allows the vines to be laid down easily in winter, which is an important consideration in many parts of Canada and in the colder northern states.
_Fan Training._--A system much used a few years ago and still sometimes seen, is one which renews back nearly to the ground each year, and carries the fruiting canes up in a fan-shaped manner. This system has the advantages of dispensing with much of the old wood, or trunk, and facilitating laying down the vine in winter in cold climates. On the other hand, it has the disadvantages of bearing the fruit too low--unless the lower cl.u.s.ters are removed--and making a vine of inconvenient shape for tying. It is little used at present. Fig. 19 shows a vine pruned for fan-training, although it is by no means an ideal vine. This vine has not been properly renewed, but bears long, crooked spurs, from which the canes spring. One of these spurs will be seen to extend beyond the lower wire. The spurs should be kept very short, and they should be entirely removed every two or three years, as explained in the above discussion of the High Renewal training.
The shoots are allowed to take their natural course, being tied to any wire near which they chance to grow, finally lopping over the top wire.
Sometimes the canes are bent down and tied horizontally to the wires, and this is probably the better practice. Two canes may be tied in each direction on the lower wire, or the two inner canes may be tied down to the second wire. In either case, the vine is essentially like the High Renewal, except that the trunk is shorter.
[Ill.u.s.tration: 19. FAN TRAINING, AFTER PRUNING.]
CHAPTER IV.
THE DROOPING SYSTEMS.
In 1845 William T. Cornell planted a vineyard in the Hudson River Valley. A neighbor, William Kniffin, was a stone mason with a few acres of land to which he devoted his attention during the leisure seasons of his trade. Cornell induced Kniffin to plant a few grapes. He planted the Isabella, and succeeding beyond his expectations, the plantation was increased into a respectable vineyard and Kniffin came to be regarded as a local authority upon grape culture. Those were the pioneer days in commercial grape growing in North America, and there were no undisputed maxims of cultivation and training. If any system of close training and pruning was employed, it was probably the old horizontal arm spur system, or something like it. One day a large limb broke from an apple-tree and fell upon a grape-vine, tearing off some of the canes and crus.h.i.+ng the vine into a singular shape. The vine was thought to be ruined, but it was left until the fruit could be gathered. But as the fruit matured, its large size and handsome appearance attracted attention. It was the best fruit in the vineyard! Mr. Kniffin was an observant man, and he inquired into the cause of the excellent fruit.
He noticed that the vine had been pruned and that the best canes stood out horizontally. From this suggestion he developed the four-cane system of training which now bears his name. A year or two later, in 1854, the system had attracted the attention of those of his neighbors who cultivated grapes, and thereafter it spread throughout the Hudson valley, where it is to-day, with various modifications, the chief method of grape training. Its merits have become known beyond its original valley, and it is now spreading more rapidly than any other system. The ground upon which the old Isabellas grew is now occupied by Concords, which are as vigorous and productive as those grown upon newer soils.
William Kniffin died at his home in Clintondale, Ulster county, New York, June 13, 1876, at fifty-seven years of age. The portrait is from a photograph which was taken two or three years before his death.
[Ill.u.s.tration: 20. WILLIAM KNIFFIN.]
_The True or Four-Cane Kniffin System._--Figure 21 shows the true Kniffin system, very nearly as practiced by its originator. A single stem or trunk is carried directly to the top wire, and two canes are taken out from side spurs at each wire. Mr. Kniffin believed in short canes, and cut them back to about six buds on both wires. But most growers now prefer to leave the upper canes longer than the lower ones, as seen in ill.u.s.tration. The bearing shoots are allowed to hang at will, so that no summer tying is necessary; this is the distinguis.h.i.+ng mark of the various Kniffin systems. The main trunk is tied to each wire, and the canes are tied to the wires in spring. This system possesses the great advantage, therefore, of requiring little labor during the busy days of the growing season; and the vines are easily cultivated, and if the rows are nine or ten feet apart, currants or other bush-fruits can be grown between. The system is especially adapted to the strong varieties of grapes. For further comparisons of the merits of different systems of training, the reader should consult Chapter II.
[Ill.u.s.tration: 21. THE TRUE KNIFFIN TRAINING.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: 22. NO. 21 WHEN PRUNED.]
The pruning of the Kniffin vine consists in cutting off all the wood save a single cane from each spur. Fig. 22 ill.u.s.trates the process. This is the same vine which is shown with the full amount of wood on in fig.
21. The drooping shoots shown in that ill.u.s.tration bore the grapes of 1892; and now, in the winter of 1892-93, they are all to be cut away, with the horizontal old canes from which they grew, save only the four canes which hang nearest the main trunk. Fig. 22 shows the vine after it had been pruned. It is not obligatory that the canes which are left after the pruning should be those nearest the trunk, for it may happen that these may be weak; but, other things being equal, these canes are preferable because their selection keeps the old spurs short. The careful grower will take pains to remove the weak shoots which start from this point, in order that a strong cane may be obtained. It is desirable that these side spurs be removed entirely every three or four years, a new cane being brought out again from the main body or trunk.
There is little expectation, however, that there shall be such a complete renewal pruning as that practiced in the High Renewal, which we discussed in the last chapter.
It will be seen that the drooping canes in fig. 22 are shorter than they were originally, as shown in fig. 21. They have been cut back. The length at which these canes shall be left is a moot point. Much depends upon the variety, the distance between the wires, the strength of the soil, and other factors. Nearly all growers now agree that the upper canes should be longer than the lower ones, although equal canes are still used in some places. In strong varieties, like Worden, each of the upper canes may bear ten buds and each of the lower ones five. This gives thirty buds to the vine. Some growers prefer to leave twelve buds above and only four below.