Part 2 (2/2)
These four pruned canes are generally allowed to hang during winter, but are tied onto the wires before the buds swell in spring. They are stretched out horizontally and secured to the wire by one or two ties upon each cane. The shoots which spring from these horizontal canes stand upright or oblique at first but they soon fall over with the weight of foliage and fruit. If they touch the ground, the ends may be clipped off with a sickle, corn-cutter or scythe, although this is not always done, and is not necessary unless the canes interfere with cultivation. There is no summer-pinching nor pruning, although the superfluous shoots should be broken out, as in other systems. (See page 23).
Only two wires are used in the true Kniffin trellis. The end posts are usually set in holes, rather than driven, to render them solid, and they should always be well braced. The intermediate posts are driven, and they usually stand between every alternate vine, or twenty feet apart if the vines are ten feet apart--which is a common distance for the most vigorous varieties. For the strong-growing varieties, the top wire is placed from five and one-half to six feet above the ground. Five feet nine inches is a popular height. The posts will heave sufficiently to bring the height to six feet, although it is best to ”tap” the posts every spring with a maul in order to drive them back and make them firm.
The lower wire is usually placed at three and one-half feet. Delawares, if trained Kniffin, should not stand above five feet four inches, or at most five feet six inches. Strong vines on good soil are often put onto the trellis the second year, although it is a commoner practice, perhaps, to stake them the second season, as already explained (page 27), and put them on the wires the third season. The year following the tying to the trellis, the vine should bear a partial crop. The vine is usually carried directly to the top wire the first season of training, although it is the practice of some growers, especially outside the Hudson valley, to stop the trunk at the lower wire the first year of permanent training, and to carry it to the top wire the following year.
Yields from good Kniffin vines will average fully as high and perhaps higher than from other species of training. W. D. Barns, of Orange county, New York, has had an annual average of twenty-six pounds of Concords to the vine for nine years, 1,550 vines being considered in the calculation. While the Delaware is not so well suited to the Kniffin system as stronger varieties, it can nevertheless be trained in this manner with success, as the following average yields obtained by Mr.
Barns from 200 vines set in 1881 will show:
1886 8-1/2 pounds to the vine.
1887 11-3/4 ” ” ” ”
1888 8 ” ” ” ”
1889 9-1/2 ” ” ” ”
1890 7 ” ” ” ”
1891 16 ” ” ” ”
1892 13 ” ” ” ”
_Modifications of the Four-Cane Kniffin._--Various modifications of this original four-cane Kniffin are in use. The Kniffin idea is often carelessly applied to a rack trellis. In such cases, several canes were allowed to grow where only two should have been left. Fig. 23 is a common but poor style of Kniffin used in some of the large new vineyards of western New York. It differs from the type in the training of the young wood. These shoots, instead of being allowed to hang at will, are carried out horizontally and either tied to the wire or twisted around it. The advantage urged for this modification is the little injury done by wind, but, as a matter of practice, it affords less protection than the true drooping Kniffin, for in the latter the shoots from the upper cane soon cling to the lower wire, and the shoots from both tiers of canes protect each other below the lower wire. There are three serious disadvantages to this holding up of the shoots,--it makes unnecessary labor, the canes are likely to make wood or ”bull canes” (see page 50) at the expense of fruit, and the fruit is bunched together on the vines.
[Ill.u.s.tration: 23. A POOR TYPE OF KNIFFIN.]
Another common modification of the four-cane Kniffin is that shown in fig. 24, in which a crotch or Y is made in the trunk. This crotch is used in the belief that the necessary sap supply is thereby more readily deflected into the lower arms than by the system of side spurring on a straight or continuous trunk. This is probably a fallacy, and may have arisen from the attempt to grow as heavy canes on the lower wire as on the upper one. Nevertheless, this modification is in common use in western New York and elsewhere.
[Ill.u.s.tration: 24. THE Y-TRUNK KNIFFIN.]
If it is desired to leave an equal number of buds on both wires, the Double Kniffin will probably be found most satisfactory. Two distinct trunks are brought from the root, each supplying a single wire only. The trunks are tied together to hold them in place. This system, under the name of Improved Kniffin, is just coming into notice in restricted portions of the Hudson valley.
_The Two-Cane Kniffin, or Umbrella System._--Inasmuch as the greater part of the fruit in the Four-Cane Kniffin is born upon the upper wire, the question arises if it would not be better to dispense with the lower canes and cut the upper ones longer. This is now done to a considerable extent, especially in the Hudson valley. Fig. 25 explains the operation. This shows a pruned vine. The trunk is tied to the lower wire to steady it, and two canes, each bearing from nine to fifteen buds, are left upon the upper wire. These canes are tied to the upper wire and they are then bent down, hoop-like, to the lower wire, where the ends are tied. In some instances, the lower wire is dispensed with, but this is not advisable. This wire holds the vine in place against the winds and prevents the too violent whipping of the hanging shoots.
During the growing season, renewal canes are taken from the spurs in exactly the same manner as in the ordinary Kniffin. This species of training reduces the amount of leaf-surface to a minimum, and every precaution must be taken to insure a healthy leaf-growth. This system of training will probably not allow of the successful girdling of the vine for the purpose of hastening the maturity and augmenting the size of the fruit. Yet heavy crops can be obtained from it, if liberal fertilizing and good cultivation are employed, and the fruit is nearly always first-cla.s.s. A Concord vine trained in this manner produced in 1892 eighty cl.u.s.ters of first quality grapes, weighing forty pounds.
[Ill.u.s.tration: 25. UMBRELLA TRAINING.]
Another type of Umbrella training is shown in fig. 26, before pruning.
Here five main canes were allowed to grow, instead of two. Except in very strong vines, this top is too heavy, and it is probably never so good as the other (fig. 25), if the highest results are desired; but for the grower who does not care to insure high cultivation it is probably a safer system than the other.
[Ill.u.s.tration: 26. A POOR UMBRELLA SYSTEM.]
_The Low, or One-Wire Kniffin._--A modification of this Umbrella system is sometimes used, in which the trellis is only three or four feet high and comprises but a single wire. A cane of ten or a dozen buds is tied out in each direction, and the shoots are allowed to hang in essentially the same manner as in the True or High Kniffin system. The advantages urged for this system are the protection of the grapes from wind, the large size of the fruit due to the small amount of bearing wood, the ease of laying down the vines, the readiness with which the top can be renewed from the root as occasion demands, and the cheapness of the trellis.
_The Six-Cane Kniffin._--There are many old vineyards in eastern New York which are trained upon a six-cane or three-wire system. The general pruning and management of these vines do not differ from that of the common Kniffin. Very strong varieties which can carry an abundance of wood, may be profitable upon this style of training, but it cannot be recommended. A Concord vineyard over thirty years old, comprising 295 vines, trained in this fas.h.i.+on, is still thrifty and productive. Twice it has produced crops of six tons.
[Ill.u.s.tration: 27. EIGHT-CANE KNIFFIN. (Diagram.)]
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