Part 4 (1/2)

Another bug, of about the size of a fly, gray, with round black specks, will sometimes pay us a visit. They will come in swarms, and eat the upper side of the leaves, leaving only the skeletons. They are very destructive, devouring every leaf, as far as they go; they can also be shaken off on a paper or sheet spread under the vine.

The thrip, a small, rather three-cornered, whitish-green insect, has of late been very troublesome, as they eat the under side of the leaves of some varieties, especially the Delaware and Norton's Virginia, when the leaf will show rusty specks on the surface, and finally drop off. It has been recommended to go through the vineyard at night, one man carrying a lighted torch, and the other beating the vines, when they will fly into the flame, and be burnt. They are a great annoyance, and have defoliated whole vineyards here last fall.

Another leaf-folder makes his appearance about mid-summer, making its web on the leaf, drawing it together, and then devouring his own house.

It is a small, greenish, and very active worm, who, if he ”smells a rat,” will drop out of his web, and descend to the ground in double-quick time. I know of no other plan, than to catch him and crush his web between the finger and thumb.

The aphis, or plant louse, often covers the young shoots of the vine, sucking its juices. When a shoot is attacked by them, it will be best to take it off and crush them under your feet, as the shoot is apt to be sickly afterwards, any way.

The grape vine sphynx will be found occasionally. It is a large, green worm, with black dots, and very voracious. Fortunately, it is not numerous, and can easily be found and destroyed.

There are also several caterpillars--the yellow bear, the hog caterpillar, and the blue caterpillar, which will feed upon the leaves.

The only remedy I know against them is hand picking, but they have not as yet been very numerous, nor very destructive.

Wasps are sometimes very troublesome when the fruit ripens, stinging the berries and sucking the juice. A great many can be caught by hanging up bottles, with a little mola.s.ses, which they will enter, and get stuck in the mola.s.ses.

BIRDS.

These are sometimes very troublesome at the time of ripening, and especially the oriole is a ”hard customer,” as he will generally dip his bill into every berry; often ruining a fine bunch, or a number of them, in a short time. I have therefore been compelled to wage a war upon some of the feathered tribe, although they are my especial favorites, and I cannot see a bird's nest robbed. However, there are some who do not visit the vineyard, except for the purpose of destroying our grapes, and these can not complain if we ”won't stand it any longer,” but take the gun, and retaliate on them. The oriole, the red bird, thrush, and cat bird are among the number, and although I would like to spare the latter three, in thankful remembrance of many a gratuitous concert, the first must take his chance of powder and lead, for the little rascal is too aggravating. A few dry bushes, raised above the trellis will serve as their resting place before they commence their work of destruction, where they can be easily killed.

FROSTS.

Although our winters are seldom severe enough to destroy the hardy varieties, yet they will often fatally injure such half hardy varieties as the Herbemont and Cunningham, and the severe winter of 1863,-'64, killed even the Catawba, down to the snow line, and severely injured the Norton's Virginia, and even the Concord. Fortunately, such winters occur but rarely, and even in localities where the vines are often destroyed by the severe cold in winter, this should deter no one from growing grapes, as, with very little extra labor he can protect them, and bring them safely through the winter. I always cover my tender varieties, in fact, all that I feel not quite safe to leave out, even in severe winters, in the following manner: The vines are properly pruned in the fall; then select a somewhat rainy day, when the canes will bend more easily. One man goes through the rows, and bends the canes to the ground along the trellis, while another follows with the spade, and throws earth enough on them to hold them in their places.

Afterwards, I run a plough through the rows, and cover them up completely. In the spring when all danger from frost is over, I take a so-called spading fork, and lift the vines. The entire cost of covering an acre of grape vines and taking them up again in spring, will not exceed $10; surely a trifling expense, if we can thereby ensure a full crop.

We have thus a protection against the cold in winter, but I know none against early frosts, in fall, and late spring frosts; and the grape grower should therefore avoid all localities where they are prevalent.

The immediate neighborhood of large streams, or lakes, will generally save the grape grower from their disastrous influence; and our summers, here, along the banks of the Missouri river, are in reality full two months longer than they are in the low, small valleys, only four to six miles off. Let the grape grower, in choosing a locality, look well to this, and avoid the hills along these narrow valleys. Either choose a location sufficiently elevated, to be beyond their influence, or, what is better still, choose it on the bluffs above our large streams; where the atmosphere, even in the heat of summer, will never become too dry for the health of the vine. It is a sad spectacle to see the hopes of a whole summer frustrated by one cold night; to see the vines which promised an abundant crop but the day before, browned and wilted beyond all hopes of recovery, and the cheerless prospect before you, that it may occur every spring; or to see the finest crop of grapes, when just ripening, scorched and wilted by just one night's frost, fit for nothing but vinegar. Therefore, look well to this, when you choose the site of your vineyard, and rather pay five times the price for a location free from frost, than for the richest farm along the so-called creek bottoms, or worse still, sloughs of stagnant water.

GIRDLING THE VINE TO HASTEN MATURITY.

The practice of girdling to induce early ripening is supposed to have been invented by Col. BUCHATT, of Metz, in 1745. He claimed for it that it would also greatly improve the quality of the fruit, as well as hasten maturity. That it accomplishes the latter, cannot be denied; it also seems to increase the size of the berries, but I hardly think the fruit can compare in flavor with a well developed bunch, ripened in the natural way. As it may be of practical value to those who grow grapes for the market, enabling them to supply their customers a week earlier at least, and also make the fruit look better, and be of interest to the amateur cultivator, I will describe the operation for their benefit.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 21 NORTON'S VIRGINIA--_Berries 1/3 diameter._]

It can be performed either on wood of the same season's growth, or on that of last year, but in any case only upon such as can be pruned away the next fall. If you desire to affect the fruit of a whole arm or cane, cut away a ring of bark by pa.s.sing your knife all around it, and making another incision from a quarter to half an inch above the first, taking out the intermediate piece of bark clean, down to the wood. It should be performed immediately after the fruit is set. The bunches of fruit above the incision will become larger, and the fruit ripen and color finely, from a week to ten days before the fruit on the other canes. Of course, the cane thus girdled, cannot be used for the next season, and must be cut away entirely. The result seems to be the consequence of an obstruction to the downward flow of the sap, which then develops the fruit much faster.

Ripening can also be hastened by planting against the south side of a wall or board fence, when the reflection of the rays of the sun will create a greater degree of warmth.

But nothing can be so absurd and unnatural than the practice of some, who will take away the leaves from the fruit, to hasten its ripening.

The leaves are the lungs of the plants; the conductors and elevators of sap; and nothing can be more injurious than to take them away from the fruit at the very time when they are most needed. The consequence of such an unwise course will be the wilting and withering of the bunches, and, should they ripen at all, they will be deficient in flavor. Good fruit must ripen _in the shade_, only thus will it attain its full perfection.