Part 17 (1/2)
CHAPTER X
EUROPEAN GRAPES IN EASTERN AMERICA
As we have seen, there were many efforts to grow European grapes in America during the first two centuries in the settlement of the country. The various attempts, some involving individuals, others corporations and in early days even colonies, form about the most instructive and dramatic episodes in the history of American agriculture. All endeavors, it will be remembered, were failures, so dismally and pathetically complete that we are wont to think of the two hundred years from the first settlements in America to the introduction of the Isabella, a native grape, as time wasted in futile culture of a foreign fruit. The early efforts were far from wasted, however, for out of the tribulations of two centuries of grape-growing came the domestication of our native grapes, one of the most remarkable achievements of agriculture.
The advent of Isabella and Catawba wholly turned the thoughts of vineyardists from Old World to New World grapes. So completely, indeed, were viticulturists won by the thousand and more native grapes, that for the century which followed no one has planted Old World grapes east of the Rockies, while vineyards of native species may be found North and South from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Meanwhile, much new knowledge has come to agriculture, old fallacies have received many hard knocks and chains of tradition in which the culture of plants was bound, have been broken. In no field of agriculture have workers received greater aid from science than in viticulture. Particularly is this true of the diseases of the vine.
The reports of the old experimenters were much the same, ”a sickness takes hold of the vines and they die.” What the sickness was and whether there were preventatives or remedies, no one knew a hundred years ago. But in the last half century we have learned much about the ills of grapes and now know preventatives or remedies for most of them. We know also that the early vine-growers failed, in part at least, because they followed empirical European practices. Is it not possible that with the new knowledge we can now grow European grapes in eastern America? The New York Agricultural Experiment Station has put this question to test, with results indicating that European grapes may now be grown successfully in eastern America. The following is an account of the work with this fruit at the New York Station.
EUROPEAN GRAPES AT THE NEW YORK EXPERIMENT STATION[17]
In the spring of 1911, the Station obtained cuttings of 101 varieties of European grapes from the United States Department of Agriculture and the University of California. The cuttings obtained were grafted on the roots of a heterogeneous collection of seedlings, five years set, representing a half dozen species of Vitis. These stocks had little to recommend them except that all were vigorous, well established and all were more immune to phylloxera than the Old World varieties. From four to six grafts of each of the hundred varieties were made and a stand of 380 vines resulted, the percentage of loss being exceedingly small. The success in grafting was probably due to the method used, the value of which had been proved in previous work on the Station grounds. The method of grafting and details of care follow:
_Details of care._
In grafting, the earth was removed from the plants to a depth of two or three inches. The vines were sawed squarely off below the surface of the ground. The stock was then split for a cleft graft. Two cions, made as described on page 46, were inserted in each cleft and tied in place with waxed string. Wax was not used as it does not stick in grafting grapes, because of the bleeding of the stock. After setting the cion, the earth was replaced and enough more of it used to cover stock and cion to prevent evaporation. This method of grafting is available to those who have old vineyards. It is so simple that the veriest tyro can thus graft grapes. Were young plants or cuttings used as stocks, some method of bench grafting would, of course, be resorted to.
The cultivation and spraying were precisely that given native grapes.
There has been no coddling of vines. The fungous diseases which helped to destroy the vineyards and vexed the souls of the old experimenters were kept in check by two sprayings with bordeaux mixture; the first application was made just after the fruit set, the second when the grapes were two-thirds grown. Some years a third spraying with a tobacco concoction was used to keep thrips in check. Phylloxera was present in the vineyard but none of the varieties seemed to suffer from this pest. The stocks used were not those best suited either to the vines grafted on them or to resist phylloxera. Unquestionably some of the standard sorts used in France and California from _Vitis rupestris_ or _Vitis vulpina_, or hybrids of these species, would give better results. From theoretical consideration, it would seem that the _Vitis vulpina_ stocks should be best suited to the needs of eastern America.
It was thought by the old experimenters that European grapes failed in New York because of unfavorable climatic conditions. It was said that the winters were too cold and the summers too hot and dry for this grape. During the years the Station vineyard of Viniferas has been in existence, there have been stresses of all kinds of weather to which the variable climate of New York is subject. Two winters have been exceedingly cold, killing peach and pear trees; one summer gave the hottest weather and hottest day in twenty-five years; the vines have withstood two severe summer droughts and three cold, wet summers.
These test seasons have proved that European grapes will stand the climate of New York as well as the native varieties except in the matter of cold; they must have winter protection.
To growers of American grapes, the extra work of winter protection seems to be an insuperable obstacle. The experience of several seasons in New York shows that winter protection is a cheap and simple matter.
Two methods have been used; vines have been covered with earth and others have been wrapped with straw. The earth covering is cheaper and more efficient. The vines are pruned and placed full length on the ground and covered with a few inches of earth. The cost of winter protection will run from two to three cents a vine. Since European vines are much more productive than those of American grapes, the added cost of winter protection is more than offset by the greater yield of grapes. Trellising, also, is simpler and less expensive for the European grapes, helping further to offset the cost of winter protection.
_Pruning._
It is apparent at once that European grapes must have special treatment in pruning if they are to be laid on the ground annually.
Several modifications of European and California practices can be employed in the East to bring the plants in condition for winter laying-down. All methods of pruning must have this in common; new wood must be brought up from the base of the plant every year to permit bending the plant. This can be done by leaving a replacing spur at the base of the trunk. If two-eye cions are used when the plants are grafted and both buds grow, the shoot from the upper can be used to form the main trunk, while that from the lower bud will supply the replacing spur. Each year all but one of the canes coming from this spur are removed and the remaining one is cut back to one or two buds until the main trunk begins to be too stiff to bend down readily, then one cane from the spur is left for a new trunk and another is pruned for a new renewal spur.
The main trunk is carried up only to the lower wire of the trellis. At the winter pruning, two one-year canes are selected to be tied along this wire, one on each side, and the two renewal spurs chosen for tying up and new renewal spurs left. For the best production, different varieties require different lengths of fruit canes, but the work at Geneva has not progressed far enough so that recommendations can be made for particular varieties. It has been found best, however, to prune weak vines heavily and vigorous ones lightly. Under normal conditions, from four to eight buds are left on each cane, depending on the vigor of the vine. With some of the older seedlings used for stocks in 1911 which were so large that two cions were used, and in many of those where the roots seemed to have sufficient vigor to support the larger top, two trunks were formed, one from each graft.
By spreading these into a V and making the inner arms shorter, very satisfactory results were secured.
The type of growth in Vinifera is different from that of native grapes. The young shoots which spring from the one-year canes, instead of trailing to the ground or running out along the trellis wires, grow erect. Advantage must be taken of this in the pruning system adopted in the East. The canes and the renewal spurs as described above are tied along the lower wire; then the young shoots which come from these grow upward to the second wire. When the shoots are four to six inches above this wire, they are pinched off just above the wire and any which have not already fastened themselves are tied to prevent the wind breaking them off. At the same time, if any of the axial buds on the shoots have begun to form secondary shoots, they are rubbed off, beginning with the node next above the upper cl.u.s.ter and going down to the old cane. This gives the cl.u.s.ter more room and better light. Soon after the first heading-back, the upper buds of the young shoot start lateral growth. The secondary branches usually grow upright and when they are several inches high they are topped with a sickle. This heading-back results in stockier and more mature canes for the following year, and if properly done adds to the fruitfulness of the vine and the fruit matures better.
_General considerations._
The grower of European grapes grafted on American vines may be prepared to be surprised at the growth the vines make. At the end of the first season, the grafts attain the magnitude of full-sized vines; the second season they begin to fruit more or less abundantly, and the third year they produce approximately the same number of bunches as a Concord or Niagara vine; and, as the bunches of most varieties are larger than those of the American grapes, the yield, therefore, is greater. The European varieties, also, may be set more closely than the American sorts, since they are seldom such rampant growers.
It is too early to reason from this short experiment that we are to grow varieties of European grapes commonly in the East, but the behavior of the vines under discussion seems to indicate that we may do so. At the New York Station, the European varieties are as vigorous and thrifty as American vines and quite as easily managed. Why may we not grow these grapes if we protect them from phylloxera, fungi and cold? In Europe, there are varieties of grapes for nearly every soil and condition in the southern half of the continent. In eastern Europe and western Asia, the vines must be protected just as they must be protected here. It seems almost certain that from the many sorts selected to meet the various conditions of Europe, we shall be able to find kinds to meet the diverse soils and climates of this continent.
And here we have one of the chief reasons for wis.h.i.+ng to grow these grapes that American grape-growing may not be so localized as at present. Probably we shall find that European grapes can be grown under a greater diversity of conditions than native varieties.
The culture of European grapes in the East gives this region essentially a new fruit. If any considerable degree of success attends their culture, wine-making in eastern America will be revolutionized, for the European grapes are far superior to the native sorts for this purpose. Varieties of these grapes have a higher sugar- and solid-content than do those of the American species and for this reason, as a rule, keep longer. We may thus expect that through these grapes the season for this fruit will be extended. The European varieties are better flavored, possessing a more delicate and a richer vinous flavor, a more agreeable aroma, and are lacking in the acidity and the obnoxious foxy taste of many American grapes. Many consumers of fruit will like them better and the demand for grapes thus will be increased.