Grapes -- Varieties -- United States; Viticulture -- United States
Systematic training of the grape in America began toward the middle of
the nineteenth century with a method in which the shoots were trained
upright from two permanent horizontal arms. These arms are laid to
right and left on a low wire and bear more or less permanent spurs,
from each of which two shoots are produced each season to bear the
crop. The number of spurs left on each arm depends on the vigor of the
vine and the space between vines. As the shoots grow upward, they are
tied to upper wires, there being three wires on the trellis for this
method. This method is now known as the Horizontal Arm Spur. It has a
serious fault in its troublesome spurs and has almost entirely given
way to a modification called the Chautauqua Arm method, much used in
the great Chautauqua grape-belt. As one of the chief methods of
training the grape in eastern America, this must be described in
detail.
_The Chautauqua Arm method._
The trellis for this method has two wires, although occasionally three
are used. The lower wire is eighteen or twenty inches above the
ground and the second thirty-four inches above the lower. If three are
used, the wires are twenty inches apart. F. E. Gladwin, in charge of
the vineyard laboratory of the New York Agricultural Experiment
Station at Fredonia, in the heart of the Chautauqua belt, describes
this method of training as follows:
"The vines are cut back to two buds at each pruning the first two
years. If the vines are vigorous two canes are tied up at the
beginning of the third year; if scant, but one is left and this, if
the growth is extremely unfavorable, is cut back to two buds. The
canes are carried up obliquely to the upper wire when the growth
permits and are there firmly tied either with twine or fine wire, the
latter being more commonly used. The canes are also loosely tied to
the lower wire. The pruning for the fourth year consists in cutting
away all but two or three canes and a number of spurs from the arms
formed by tying up the two canes the previous year. The vine now
consists of two arms, arising from near the ground, with two or three
canes of the previous year, and several two-bud spurs at intervals
along the arms. As far as possible such canes as have arisen but a
short distance above the lower wire are selected. All the old wood
projecting beyond the last cane retained on each of the arms is cut
away. The arms of the third year are bent down from their oblique
position and are tied firmly to the lower wire, to the right and left
of the center of the vine. These are now permanent arms. The vine at
this time consists of two arms, arising from near the ground, tied to
the lower wire to the right and left of the center, and on these are
two or three canes, pruned long enough to reach to the middle wire at
least, and if possible to the upper. They are tied so that they stand
in a vertical or oblique position. Along the arms at intervals of a
few inches are spurs, consisting of two buds. If the vineyardist
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account