Grapes -- Varieties -- United States; Viticulture -- United States
Pruning, the second winter the vine is out, depends on the vigor of
the plant. If a strong, healthy, well-matured cane over-tops the lower
wire of the trellis, it should be cut back so that the cane may be
tied to the wire; otherwise the vine should again be cut almost to the
ground, leaving but three or four buds. If the cane be left, in
addition to sturdiness and maturity, it should be straight, for it is
to become the trunk of the mature vine. The training of the young vine
is now at an end, for the next season the vine must be started toward
its permanent form, instructions for which are given in the chapter on
pruning.
The summer care of the vineyard does not differ materially in the
second year from that of the first. Intensive cultivation continues,
the vines are treated for pests and the annual cover-crop follows
cultivation. Many varieties, if vigorous, will set some fruit in this
second summer, but the crop should not be allowed to mature, the
sooner removed the better, as fruiting at this stage of growth
seriously weakens the young vines.
CATCH-CROPS AND COVER-CROPS
A catch-crop is one grown between the rows of another crop for profit
from the produce. A cover-crop is a temporary crop grown, as the term
was first used, to protect the soil, but the word is now used to
include green-manuring crops as well. Catch-crops seldom have a place
in most vineyards, but cover-crops are often grown.
_Catch-crops._
Catch-crops are not, as a rule, profitable in commercial vineyards;
they may bring temporary profit but in the long run they are usually
detrimental to the vines. It may pay and the grape may not be injured
in some localities, if such truck crops as potatoes, beans, tomatoes
and cabbage are grown between the rows or even in the rows for the
first year and possibly the second. Land, to do duty by the two crops,
however, must be excellent and the care of both crops must be of the
best. Growing gooseberries, currants, any of the brambles, or even
strawberries, is a poor procedure unless the vineyard is small, the
land very valuable or other conditions prevail which make intensive
culture possible or necessary. The objections to catch-crops in the
vineyard are two: they rob the vines of food and moisture and endanger
them to injury from tools in caring for the catch-crop.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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