One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered Part 24

One recipe for dipped raisins is as follows: One quart olive oil; 3/4-pound Greenbank soda and 3 quarts water are made into an emulsion, and then reduced with 10 gallons water in the dipping tank, adding more soda to get lye-strength enough to cut the skins, and more soda has to be added from time to time to keep up the strength. The grapes are dipped in this solution and sulphured to the proper color. This is the general outline of the process. The ability to use it well can only be attained by experience and close observation.

The Zante Currant.

Is the currant that grows in the United States in any way related to the currant that grows in Greece? If so, could it be cured like the currant that comes from Greece?

The dried currants of commerce are made in Greece and in California (to a slight extent) from the grape known as the grape of Corinth. They are not made from the bush currant which is generally grown in the United States, and the two plants are not in any way related.

Grape Vines for an Arbor.

How shall I prune grape vines, viz: Tokay, Black Cornichon, Muscat, Thompson Seedless, Rose of Peru, planted for a grape arbor?

You can grow all the vines you mention with high stumps reaching part way or to the top of the arbor as you desire side or top shade or both.

You can also grow them with permanent side branches on the side slats of the arbor if you desire. Each winter pruning would consist in cutting back all the previous summer's growth to a few buds from which new canes will grow for shade or fruiting, or you can work on the renewal system, keeping some of these canes long for quick foliage and more fruit perhaps and cutting some of them short to grow new wood for the following year's service, as they often do in growing Eastern grapes.

Pruning Old Vines.

I have some Muscat grape vines 30 years old. Can I chop off most of the old wood with a hatchet and thereby bring them back to proper bearing?

Not with a hatchet. If the vines are worth keeping at all, they are worth careful cutting with a saw and a painting of all cuts in large old wood. If the vines have been neglected, you can saw away surplus p.r.o.ngs or spurs, reserving four or five of the best placed and most vigorous, and cut back the canes of last summer's growth to one, two or three buds, according to the strength of the canes - the thicker the canes, the more buds to be kept. It is not desirable to cut away an old vine to get a new start from the ground, unless you wish to graft. Shape the top of the vine as well as you can by saving the best of the old growth.

Topping Grape Vines.

Is topping grape vines desirable?

Topping of vines is in all cases more or less weakening. The more foliage that is removed, the more weakening it is. Vines, therefore, which are making a weak growth from any cause whatever can only be injured by topping. If the vines are exceptionally vigorous, the weakening due to topping may be an advantage by making them more fruitful. The topping, however, must be done with discretion. Early topping in May is much more effective and less weakening than later topping in June. Very early topping before blossoming helps the setting of the blossoms. Topping in general increases the size of the berries.

Bleeding Vines.

Will pruning grape vines when they bleed injure them?

It has been demonstrated not to be of any measurable injury.

Vines and Scant Moisture.

Would it be well to sucker vines and take also some bearing canes off, or in a dry year will they mature properly as in other years if the ground is in good condition?

Vines usually bear drouth-stress better than bearing fruit trees. On soils of good depth and retentiveness, they are likely to give good crops in a dry year with thorough cultivation; still, lightening the burden of the vines is rational. Suckering and cutting away second-crop efforts should be done. Whether you need to reduce the first crop can be told better by the looks of the vines later in the season.

Sulphuring for Mildew.

For two years I have not sulphured my vineyard and had no mildew. My vines seem as healthy and thrifty as any of the neighbors' that were duly sulphured. Have I lost anything by not sulphuring?

Certainly not. In sections where mildew is practically sure to come, sulphur should be used regularly as a preventive without waiting for the appearance of the disease. There are, however, many locations, especially in the interior valley, where the occurrence of mildew is rare in sufficient volume to do appreciable harm, and then sulphuring should depend upon the weather, which favors mildew or otherwise. But be always on the watch and have everything ready to sulphur immediately; also learn to recognize the conditions under which appearances of mildew become a menace.

Grape Sugar in Canned Grapes.

How can I prevent the formation of grape sugar in canned grapes?

Take care that the syrup is of the same density as the juice of the grape when the fruit and the juice are placed together in the can. The density of the syrup and the juice are, of course, to be obtained by the use of the spindle, the same arrangement employed for determining when the percentage of sugar in the grape juice is right for raisin-making or for wine-making. Whatever the density of the juice, make the syrup the same by the use of the right amount of sugar.

Part II. Vegetable Growing

California Grown Seed.

Which are the best garden seeds to use, those raised in Ohio and the East or those raised in Was.h.i.+ngton and Oregon or those raised in this State?

It has been definitely shown by experience and experiment that is does not matter much where the seed comes from, providing it is well grown and good of its kind. There is no such advantage in changing seed from one locality to another as is commonly supposed. Besides, it is now very difficult to tell positively where seed is grown, because California wholesale seeds are retailed in all the States you mention, and the contents of many small packets of seeds distributed in California went first of all from California to the Eastern retailers, who advertise and sell them everywhere.