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Grape Vines

Grape Vines image
Parent Issue
Day
10
Month
August
Year
1860
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

we aro filad h boar that lwo essays on the culturo of tfee grapa oro n the prefs of Mt8nr. Saxton, Barker ó. ( o., t f ihi.s i itv. 'J'lnre ia room lor a good vork on this BUljct - esperi;illy as it roíate to the pruning ol tho víiich al different seusons of tho y car, Ouu BUthority says, prime before the begins lo now, or your vinos will bleed; noother Bnys, that bleeding does not burt them - trim it aoy time, ('no man of great expefience, tulla you that tbe autumn a the proper time for tiimminp:; nnother of more exper'enee, asures you that Spring is far botter - he hns tred both. "Train against a wull,"' says one; "train on posts, away froin tbe valí,'" paya anotber. Wc are epeaking of vines in city yards, as well as in vineyards. Mr. Wise saysj "train vertienlly;" Mr. MörewiSè stiye, "train horizontal]}';" Mr. Wiseet Hayf, ' train necording to your locality." On tbo vholewc liko tho locality man best. Etery place has somo poculiaritios about it - moro air, lees snn, South ixposure, Noi'th ditto, or sometbing else The fact i", tho grapo vine wül grow iith the least nmount ot care ot any otber plant in the world; it is one of the best productions that nature over brought out. It is almost half human. It twines itselt around one's aft'ections in an extraordinarv way. It takes eo kindly to the liltie services that you bestow on it, as if to say "thank you, that's just tbat I wanted " A little or wiie, or stick, put along towards your otliice or 'liainlur-uindow, brmg6 a branch to you witb, in duo time, elegant bunches of fruit. II you should ho!d out your finger long enougli, it wöuld curl a tendril round it, and e 1 i 1 1 : t up your arm for support Then tlie plonsure that it givcs one - bon gratefully it returns little cares! Even a basip óf soap suds makes it glad and fruitful. And it bas Biieh a delightful history all the summer. It puts out its buds very early in the Spring, nud before you are aware of it you smell the fragranceof its blossoms, and see its beautifully pendunt fruit. All the summer its fruit is a pleasure to theeyfi. Y u go out to look at it. and your indignaban is atouce excited. at seeing a ppidor's web, or a "measuring worm's" nest coritining the tender terminal 'eaves. Wo to the troublesome pests! If you find one, you look for mo're, and before you kr.ow it, you have looked over the vholeviue, and cleaued out the verruin. Is aot vour reward great when the gteen bunehes begin iu L'!1;8-! witn a Brownish tingo and greater stil! when you can havo the pride of setting before your friends a pyramid of grapes from vour own vines? We have been led very unwittingly into tbis ramblo about grape-vines Now for a little experince as to growing them in the city. Tl you have a yard with as much as a barrel of earth o n, you may as well have yonr bushel or two of grapes, as not. Train the 6toek by diügently tying it perpendicular] y until you get it above the tops of the surrounding fecces, and then you may let it throw out its branche?. Fruit vvill not ripen weet, below the fence tops. Kun up your trellis by strong posts and horizontal slips of vrood with the shnrp square edges planed off, so that thoy will not cut the 6trings wben you come to tie up the branches. For st rings, get the Kussian matting, which, wetted, becomes as flexible as cottou thread, and does not, like that, contract or expand with moisture and dryness, giving the limbs a cbanee to rub, and slip about. If' you use wire to train on, always tie the branch under it ; you tie it on the top, the weight of it" on the wire Vfill gradually eut the bark. Wire does not make so good a trellis as wood. Keep up the tying through the rapid spring growtb. When the fruit is well formed, begin to prune off the excess of branches, cutting them oneor two joints beyond tbe buQches. Cut off all the weakling branches whether bearing iruit or not. Leave only as many bunches as the vine will ripen to perfection; and a littlc obaervation from year to year will soun eoable you to judge very accurately of this point. If vines are lelt to the end oí June without this summer cleaning, they become tangled into knots, and make fine houses lor spidcrs aud caterpillara, the inside leave begin to turn yellow, many of the grapos fall, and the restgiow puny, and the whole erop will be poor and sour. But if thoroughly cleaned, the bunches will swell out plumply, and will afford as much pleasure to the eje through the rest of the Fummer as they uil! to the palate, in the autumn. We have been as late as the last week in July, in untangling and cleaning vines, to very great advantage but June is the month in which it; onght to be done. We have now the natisfaction of contemplating under our back windows, a erop, from four or five small vines, that will moasure, when ripe, ncar three bushels, and they ■will hava twico the sugar and npiey tlavor of raarket grapes from the country, which are always pulled before they aro íully ripe. So far as our information extends, Klimmer trimming and cloaniug of vines is littlo practised in this country, nnd never in our vineyards cultivated for wine making. The j.ci ■fection of the fruit must make a vast diffetence in tbo quality oí the jmce. 8umrier trimming ia less necessary in more Bouthcrn latitudes vvhere tho season for ripening is longer; but in this latitudo, we need all the best strength of the vine to be given to tie fruit instead of to a superalmndant growth of