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 passed 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 manuscript 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 assistant 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;