American Grape Training Part 1

American Grape Training.

by Liberty Hyde (L.H.) Bailey.

PREFACE.

This little book has grown out of an attempt to teach the principles and methods of grape training to college students. I have found such teaching to be exceedingly difficult and unsatisfactory. It is impossible to firmly impress the lessons by mere lectures. The student must apprehend the principles slowly and by his own effort. He must have time to thoroughly a.s.similate them before he attempts to apply them. I therefore cast about for books which I could put before my cla.s.s, but I at once found that there are very few succinct accounts of the subjects of grape pruning and training, and that none of our books portray the methods which are most largely practised in the large grape regions of the east. My only recourse, therefore, was to put my own notes into shape for print, and this I have now done. And inasmuch as all grape-growers are students, I hope that the simple account will find a use beyond the cla.s.sroom.

This lack of adequate accounts of grape training at first astonished me, but is not strange after all. It must be remembered that the cultivation of the native grape is of very recent origin. There are many men who can remember its beginning in a commercial way. It seldom occurs to the younger generation, which is familiar with the great vineyards in many states, that the Concord is yet scarcely forty years old, and that all grape growing in eastern America is yet in an experimental stage.

Progress has been so rapid in recent years that the new methods outstrip the books. The old horizontal arm spur system, which is still the chief method in the books, has evolved itself into a high renewal training, which is widely used but which has not found its way into the manuals.

The Kniffin type has outgrown its long period of incubation, and is now taking an a.s.sured place in vineyard management. So two great types, opposed in method, are now contending for supremacy, and they will probably form the basis of all future developments. This evolution of American grape training is one of the most unique and signal developments of our modern horticulture, and its very recent departure from the early doubts and trials is a fresh ill.u.s.tration of the youth and virility of all horticultural pursuits in North America.

This development of our grape training should form the subject of a historical inquiry. I have not attempted such in this little hand-book.

I have omitted all reference to the many early methods, which were in most cases transportations or modifications of European practices, for their value is now chiefly historical and their insertion here would only confuse the reader. I have attempted nothing more than a plain account of the methods now in use; in fact, I am aware that I have not accomplished even this much, for there are various methods which I have not mentioned. But these omitted forms are mostly of local use or adaptation, and they are usually only modifications of the main types here explained. It is impossible to describe all the variations in grape training in a book of pocket size; neither is it necessary. Nearly every grower who has given grape raising careful attention has introduced into his own vineyard some modifications which he thinks are of special value to him. There are various curious and instructive old books to which the reader can go if he desires to know the history and evolution of grape training in America. He will find that we have now pa.s.sed through the long and costly experiment with European systems. And we have also outgrown the gross or long-wood styles, and now prune close with the expectation of obtaining superior and definite results.

I have not attempted to rely upon my own resources in the preparation of this book. All the ma.n.u.script has been read by three persons--by George C. Snow, Penn Yan, N. Y., William D. Barns, Middle Hope, N. Y., and L.

C. Corbett, my a.s.sistant in the Cornell Experiment Station. Mr. Snow is a grower in the lake region of western New York, and employs the High Renewal system; Mr. Barns is a grower in the Hudson River valley, and practices the Kniffin system; while Mr. Corbett has been a student of all the systems and has practiced two or three of them in commercial plantations. These persons have made many suggestions of which I have been glad to avail myself, and to them very much of the value of the book is to be attributed.

L. H. BAILEY,

ITHACA, N. Y., _Feb. 1, 1893_.

John Adlum, of the District of Columbia, appears to have been the first person to systematically undertake the cultivation and amelioration of the native grapes. His method of training, as described in 1823, is as follows: One shoot is allowed to grow the first year, and this is cut back to two buds the first fall. The second year two shoots are allowed to grow, and they are tied to "two stakes fixed down to the side of each plant, about five or six feet high;" in the fall each cane is cut back to three or four buds. In the third spring, these two short canes are spread apart "so as to make an angle of about forty-five degrees with the stem," and are tied to stakes; this season about two shoots are allowed to grow from each branch, making four in all, and in the fall the outside ones are cut back to three or four buds and the inner ones to two. These outside shoots are to bear the fruit the fourth year, and the inside ones give rise to renewal canes. These two outer canes or branches are secured to two stakes set about sixteen inches upon either side of the vine, and the shoots are tied up to the stakes, as they grow. The renewal shoots from the inside stubs are tied to a third stake set near the root of the vine. The outside branches are to be cut away entirely at the end of the fourth year. This is an ingenious renewal post system, and it is easy to see how the Horizontal Arm and High Renewal systems may have sprung from it.

AMERICAN GRAPE TRAINING.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION--PRUNING.

Pruning and training the grape are perplexed questions, even to those who have spent a lifetime in grape growing. The perplexity arises from several diverse sources, as the early effort to transplant European methods, the fact that many systems present almost equally good results for particular purposes and varieties, and the failure to comprehend the fundamental principles of the operations.

It is sufficient condemnation of European methods when applied in eastern America, to say that the American grapes are distinct species from the European grapes, and that they are consequently different in habit. This fact does not appear to have been apprehended clearly by the early American grape-growers, even after the native varieties had begun to gain prominence. American viticulture, aside from that upon the Pacific slope which is concerned with the European grape, is an industry of very recent development. It was little more than a century ago that the first American variety gained favor, and so late as 1823 that the first definite attempt was made, in Adlum's "Memoir on the Cultivation of the Vine in America," to record the merits of native grapes for purposes of cultivation. Even Adlum's book was largely given to a discussion of European varieties and practices. In 1846 "Thomas' Fruit Culturist" mentioned only six "American hardy varieties," and all of these, save the Catawba, are practically not in cultivation at the present time. The Concord appeared in 1853. American grape training is, therefore, a very recent development, and we are only now outgrowing the influence of the practices early imported from Europe. The first decided epoch in the evolution of our grape training was the appearance of Fuller's "Grape Culturist," in 1864; for while the system which he depicted and which yet often bears his name, was but a modification of some European methods and had been outlined by earlier American writers, it was at that time placed clearly and cogently before the public and became an accepted practice. The fundamental principles of pruning are alike for both European and American grapes, but the details of pruning and training must be greatly modified for different species. We must understand at the outset that American species of grapes demand an American system of treatment.

The great diversity of opinion which exists amongst the best grape growers concerning the advantages of different systems of training is proof that many systems have merit, and that no one system is better than others for all purposes. The grower must recognize the fact that the most important factor in determining the merits of any system of training is the habit of the vine--as its vigor, rate of growth, normal size, relative size and abundance of leaves, and season and character of fruit. Nearly every variety differs from others in habit in some particular, and it therefore requires different treatment in some important detail. Varieties may thrive equally well upon the same general system of training, but require minor modifications; so it comes that no hard and fast lines can be laid down, either for any system or any variety. One system differs from another in some one main principle or idea, but the modifications of all may meet and blend. If two men practice the Kniffin system, therefore, this fact does not indicate that they prune and train their vines exactly alike. It is impossible to construct rules for grape training; it is, therefore, important that we understand thoroughly the philosophy of pruning and training, both in general and in the different systems which are now most popular. These points we shall now consider.

PRUNING.

Pruning and training are terms which are often confounded when speaking of the grape, but they represent distinct operations. Pruning refers to such removal of branches as shall insure better and larger fruit upon the remaining portions. Training refers to the disposition of the different parts of the vine. It is true that different methods of training demand different styles of pruning, but the modification in pruning is only such as shall adapt it to the external shape and size of the vine, and does not in any way affect the principle upon which it rests. Pruning is a necessity, and, in essence, there is but one method; training is largely a convenience, and there are as many methods as there are fancies among grape growers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 1. GRAPE SHOOT.]

All intelligent pruning of the grape rests upon the fact that _the fruit is borne in a few cl.u.s.ters near the base of the growing shoots of the season, and which spring from wood of last year's growth_. It may be said here that a growing, leafy branch of the grape vine is called a _shoot_; a ripened shoot is called a _cane_; a branch or trunk two or more years old is called an _arm_. Fig. 1 is a shoot as it appears in the northern states in June. The whole shoot has grown within a month, from a bud. As it grew, flower cl.u.s.ters appeared and these are to bear the grapes. Flowering is now over, but the shoot will continue to grow, perhaps to the length of ten or twenty feet. At picking time, therefore, the grapes all hang near the lower end or base of the shoots or new canes, as in fig. 2. Each bud upon the old cane, therefore, produces a new cane, which may bear fruit as well as leaves. At the close of the season, this long ripened shoot or cane has produced a bud every foot or less, from which new fruit-bearing shoots are to spring next year. But if all these buds were allowed to remain, the vine would be overtaxed with fruit the coming year and the crop would be a failure. The cane is, therefore, cut off until it bears only as many buds as experience has taught us the vine should carry. The cane may be cut back to five or ten buds, and perhaps some of these buds will be removed, or "rubbed off,"

next spring if the young growth seems to be too thick, or if the plant is weak. Each shoot will bear, on an average, two or three cl.u.s.ters.

Some shoots will bear no cl.u.s.ters. From one to six of the old canes, each bearing from five to ten buds, are left each spring. The number of cl.u.s.ters which a vine can carry well depends upon the variety, the age and size of the vine, the style of the training, and the soil and cultivation. Experience is the only guide. A strong vine of Concord, which is a prolific variety, trained upon any of the ordinary systems and set nine or ten feet apart each way, will usually carry from thirty to sixty cl.u.s.ters. The cl.u.s.ters will weigh from a fourth to a half pound each. Twelve or fifteen pounds of marketable grapes is a fair or average crop for such a Concord vine, and twenty-five pounds is a very heavy crop.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 2. THE BEARING WOOD.]

The pruning of the grape vine, therefore, is essentially a thinning process. In the winter pruning, all the canes of the last season's growth are cut away except from two to six, which are left to make the fruit and wood of the next year; and each of these remaining canes is headed back to from three to ten buds. The number and length of the canes which are left after the pruning depend upon the style of training which is practiced. A vine which may completely cover a trellis in the fall, will be cut back so severely that a novice will fear that the plant is ruined. But the operator bears in mind the fact that the grape, unlike the apple, pear and peach, does not bear distinct fruit-buds in the fall, but buds which produce both fruit and wood the following season.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 3. DIAGRAM.]

Let us now suppose, therefore, that we have pruned our vine in the fall of 1891 to two canes, each bearing ten buds. We will call these canes A and B, respectively. (Fig. 3.) In 1892, therefore, twenty shoots grow from them, and each of these shoots or new canes branches, or produces laterals. We will call these new canes of 1892, A 1, A 2, A 3, B 1, B 2, and so on. Each of the new canes bears at the base about two cl.u.s.ters of grapes, giving a total yield of about forty cl.u.s.ters. These cl.u.s.ters stand opposite the leaves, as seen in fig. 1. In the axil of each leaf a bud is formed which will produce a cane, and perhaps fruit, in 1893. If each of these new canes, A 1, A 2, etc., produce ten buds--which is a moderate number--the vine would go into the winter of 1892-3 with 200 buds for the next year's growth and crop; but these buds should be reduced to about twenty, as they were in the fall of 1891. That is, every year we go back again to the same number of buds, and the top of the vine gets no larger from year to year. We must, therefore, cut back again to two canes. We cut back each of the original canes, A and B, to one new cane. That is, we leave only A 1 and B 1, cutting off A 2, A 3, etc., and B 2, B 3, etc. This brings the vine back to very nearly its condition in the fall of 1891; but the new canes, A 1 and B 1, which are now to become the main canes by being bent down horizontally, were borne at some distance--say three or four inches--from the base of the original canes, A and B, so that the permanent part of the vine is constantly lengthening itself. This annually lengthening portion is called a _spur_. Spurs are rarely or never made in this exact position, however, although this diagrammatic sketch ill.u.s.trates clearly the method of their formation. The common method of spurring is that connected with the horizontal arm system of training, in which the canes A and B are allowed to become permanent arms, and the upright canes, A 1, A 2, B 1, B 2, B 3, etc., are cut back to within two or three buds of the arms each year. The cane A 1, for instance, is cut back in the fall of 1892 to two or three buds, and in 1893 two or three canes will grow from this stub. In the fall of 1893 only one cane is left after the pruning, and this one is cut back to two or three buds; and so on. So the spur grows higher every year, although every effort is made to keep it short, both by reducing the number of buds to one or two and by endeavoring to bring out a cane lower down on the spur every few years.

Fig. 4 shows a short spur of two years' standing. The horizontal portion shows the permanent arm. The first upright portion is the remains of the first-year cane and the upper portion is the second-year cane after it is cut back in the fall. In this instance, the cane is cut back to one fruiting bud, _b_, the small buds, _a a_, being rubbed out. There are serious objections to spurs in any position. They become hard and comparatively lifeless after a time, it is often difficult to replace them by healthy fresh wood, and the bearing portion of the vine is constantly receding from the main trunk. The bearing wood should spring from near the central portions of the vine, or be kept "near the head,"

as the grape-growers say. In order to do this, it is customary to allow two canes to grow out each year back of the canes A 1 and B 1, or from the head of the vine; these canes may be designated C and D. (Fig. 3.) These canes, C and D, are grown during 1892--when they may bear fruit like other canes--for the sole purpose of forming the basis of the bearing top in 1893, while all the old top, A and B, with the secondary canes, A 1, A 2, B 1, B 2, B 3, etc., is cut entirely away. Here, then, are two distinct methods of forming the bearing top for the succeeding year: either from _spurs_, which are the remains of the previous top; or from _renewals_, which are taken each year from the old wood near the head of the vine, or even from the ground. Renewals from the ground are now little used, however, for they seldom give a sufficient crop unless they are headed in the first fall and are allowed to bear the second year. It should be borne in mind that the spur and renewal methods refer entirely to pruning, not to training, for either one can be used in any system of training. Spur pruning, however, is growing in disfavor amongst commercial grape-growers, and the renewal is more or less used in all systems of training.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 4. SPUR.]

Fig. 5 ill.u.s.trates a renewal pruning. This engraving shows the head of a vine seven years old, and upon which two canes are allowed to remain after each annual pruning. The portion extending from _b_ to _f_ and _d_ is the base of the bearing cane of 1892. In the winter of 1892-3, this cane is cut off at _d_, and the new cane, _e_, is left to make the bearing wood of 1893. Another cane sprung from _f_, but it was too weak to leave for fruiting. It was, therefore, cut away. The old stub, _b_, _f_, _d_, will be cut away a year hence, in the winter of 1893-4. In the meantime, a renewal cane will have grown from the stub _c_, which is left for that purpose, and the old cane, _b d_, will be cut off just beyond it, between _c_ and _f_. In this way, the bearing wood is kept close to the head of the vine. The wound _a_ shows where an old stub was cut away this winter, 1892-3, while _b_ shows where one was cut off the previous winter. A scar upon the back of the head, which does not show in the ill.u.s.tration, marks the spot where a stub was cut away two years ago, in the winter of 1890-1. This method of pruning can be kept up almost indefinitely, and if care is exercised in keeping the stubs short, the head will not enlarge out of proportion to the growth of the stock or trunk.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 5. RENEWAL PRUNING.]

_Pruning Young Vines._--The time required after planting to get the vine onto the wires or trellis varies with the strength of the vine when set, the variety, the soil and cultivation, and the system of training; but, as a rule, the training begins the second or third year, previous to which time the vine is pruned, not trained. Two-year-old vines are most popular for planting, although in the strong varieties, like Concord and Niagara, well-grown yearling vines are probably as good, if not better.

The strong-growing kinds are commonly set from eight to ten feet apart in the row, and the rows eight or nine feet apart. Delawares and other small vines may be set closer, although eight feet is preferable. When set, the vine is cut back to two or three buds. During the first year, the young canes are usually allowed to lie upon the ground at will, as seen in fig. 6. In the fall or winter, all the canes but one are cut off, and this one is cut back to two or three buds. The vine is, therefore, no larger at the expiration of a year's growth than it was when planted; but in the meantime the plant has become thoroughly established in the soil, and the second year's growth should be strong enough to form the basis for the permanent trunk or arm. If, however, the second year's growth is weak, it may be cut back as before, and the third season's growth used for the trunk. On the other hand, the growth of the first year is sometimes carried onto the wires to form the permanent trunk and arms, but it is only with extra strong vines in good soil that this practice is admissible. From this point, the treatment of the vine is discussed under training.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 6. A NEWLY SET VINEYARD.]

_When to Prune._--Grape vines may be pruned at any time during the winter. It is the practice among most grape-growers in the north to prune as time permits from November to late in February, or even early March. The sap flows very freely from cuts made in spring and early summer, causing the phenomenon known as "bleeding," or in Europe as "weeping," and in order to prevent this loss, pruning is stopped six weeks or more before the time at which the buds usually swell. It is yet a moot point if this bleeding injures the vine, but it is a safe practice to prune early. The vine is cut off an inch or two beyond the last bud which it is desired to leave, in order to avoid injury to the bud from the drying out of the end of the cane.

The pruning is done with small hand pruning-shears. The canes are often allowed to remain tied to the wires until the pruning is accomplished, although it is the practice with most growers who use the Kniffin system to cut the strings before pruning. The removal of the severed canes is known as "stripping." In large vineyards, the pruner sometimes leaves the stripping to boys or other cheap labor. The stripping may be done at any time after the pruning is performed until spring. It must be done before the growth starts on the remaining portions of the vine, however, to avoid injury to the young buds when tearing the vines off the trellis.

_Summer Pruning._--There is much discussion as to the advisability of summer pruning. It is essential to the understanding of the question that the grower bear in mind that this summer pruning is of two kinds--the removal or "breaking out" of the superfluous shoots, and heading-in or "stopping" the main canes to keep them within limits. The superfluous shoots are such as spring from small, weak buds or those which break from the old arms or trunk of the vine. Shoots which start from the very base of the old cane are usually weak and should be removed. Buds in this position are shown at _a a_, in fig. 4. The secondary or axillary branches, which often start from the base of the season's shoots, should be removed or broken out. These superfluous shoots are pulled off from time to time as they appear, or the buds may be rubbed off before the shoots begin to grow.

The heading-in of the main canes, while desirable for the purpose of keeping the vine within bounds, is apt to cause a growth of laterals which choke up the vine and which do not mature, and in those styles of training in which very little wood is allowed to grow, the practice may prevent the development of a sufficient amount of leaf surface to properly sustain the vine. Vines are often weakened by summer pruning.

These dangers can be overcome by careful attention, however, especially by heading-in very lightly and by doing it as late in the season as possible, when new lateral growth does not start readily. The necessity of much heading-in has been largely obviated in late years by the adoption of high or drooping systems of training, and by setting the vines far apart. The strong varieties, like Concord, Brighton and Niagara, should be set ten feet apart in the row, especially if grown upon the Kniffin system. Catawba, being a very upright grower and especially well adapted to upright training, may be set eight feet apart, and Delawares are often set as close as six or eight feet. It is doubtful, however, if any variety should be set less than eight feet apart for trellis culture. In Virginia and southward, where the growth is large because of the long seasons, vines are often set more than ten feet apart. In the South, the rows should run north and south, that the fruit may be shaded from midday sun. The only summer heading-in now generally recommended is the clipping of the tips when they fall over and begin to touch the ground. This clipping is often done with a sickle or sharp corn-cutter.

_Objects of Pruning._--The objects of pruning the grape, as of other fruits, are five:

1. To produce larger and better fruit.

2. To maintain or augment the vigor of the vine.