PRELIMINARY PREPARATIONS FOR TRAINING--THE TRELLIS--TYING.
Training the grape vine is practiced for the purpose of keeping the vine
in convenient shape and to allow each cluster to receive its full amount
of space and light. A well trained vine is easily cultivated and
sprayed, and the grapes are readily harvested, and it is only upon such
vines that the best and fairest fruit is uniformly produced. Some kind
of training is essential, for a vine will not often bear good fruit when
it lies upon the ground. In essence, there are three general types or
styles of training, which may be designated as the upright, drooping and
horizontal, these terms designating the direction of the bearing shoots.
The upright systems carry two or more canes or arms along a low
horizontal wire, or sometimes obliquely across a trellis from below
upwards, and the shoots are tied up as they grow to the wires above. The
horizontal systems carry up a perpendicular cane or arm, or sometimes
two or more, from which the shoots are carried out horizontally and are
tied to perpendicular wires or posts. The drooping systems, represented
in the Kniffin and post-training, carry the canes or arms upon a high
horizontal wire or trellis and allow the shoots to hang without tying.
To one or another of these types all the systems of American
grape-training can be referred.
There is no system of training which is best for all purposes and all
varieties. The strong-growing varieties more readily adapt themselves to
the high drooping systems than the weaker varieties, although the
Delaware is often trained on a comparatively low Kniffin with good
effect. The high or drooping systems are of comparatively recent date,
and their particular advantages are the saving of labor in summer tying,
cheapness of the trellis, and the facility with which the ground can be
cultivated without endangering the branches of the vine. The upright
training distributes the bearing wood more evenly upon the vine and is
thought, therefore, to insure more uniform fruit, it keeps the top near
the root, which is sometimes thought to be an advantage, and it is
better suited to the stature of the small-growing varieties. There is,
perhaps, a greater temptation to neglect the vines in the drooping
systems than in the others, because the shoots need no tying and do not,
therefore, demand frequent attention; while in the upright systems the
shoots soon become broken or displaced if not watched. For very large
areas, or circumstances in which the best of care cannot be given the
vineyard, the Kniffin or drooping systems are perhaps always to be
recommended. Yet the Kniffin profits as much from diligence and skill as
the other systems; but it will give better results than the others
under partial neglect. The strong varieties, especially those making
long and drooping canes, are well adapted to the Kniffin styles; but the
smaller sorts, and those stronger sorts which, like Catawba, make an
upright and stocky growth, are usually trained upon the upright systems.
But the merits of both systems are so various and even so little
understood, that it is impossible to recommend either one unqualifiedly.
The advantages in either case are often little more than matters of
personal opinion. It should be said, however, that the Kniffin or
drooping systems are gaining in favor rapidly, and are evidently
destined to overthrow much of the older upright training. This fact does
not indicate, however, that the upright system is to be entirety
superseded, but rather that it must be confined to those varieties and
conditions for which it is best adapted. The two systems will
undoubtedly supplement each other. The horizontal systems are
occasionally used for choice varieties, but they are little known.
_Making the Trellis._--The fall or winter following the planting of the
vineyard, the trellis is begun if the upright systems are used; but this
operation is usually delayed a year longer in the Kniffin systems, and
stakes are commonly used, or at least recommended, during the second
season. In the South the trellis is made the first year. The style of
trellis will depend upon the style of training, but the main features
are the same for all. Strong posts of some durable timber, as cedar,
locust or oak, are placed at such distance apart that two vines can be
set between each two. If the vines are set nine feet apart, the posts
maybe eighteen or twenty feet apart, and a vine will then stand four or
five feet from each post. If the posts in the row are eighteen feet
apart and the rows eight feet apart, about 330 posts will be required to
the acre. Except in very hard and stony lands, the posts are driven with
a heavy maul, although many people prefer to set the end posts in holes,
thinking that they endure the strain better. In all loose soils,
however, posts can be made as firm by driving as by setting with a
spade. All posts should be as firm as possible, in order to hold up the
heavy loads of vines and fruit. In setting posts on hillsides, it is a
common practice to lean them slightly uphill, for there is always a
tendency for the posts to tilt down the slope. For the Kniffin systems,
especially for the strong-growing grapes, the posts must stand six or
six and one-half feet high when set, but a foot less will usually be
sufficient for the upright and horizontal systems. The posts should
stand higher at first than is necessary for the support of the wires,
for they will need to be driven down occasionally as they become loose.
The end posts of each row should be well braced, as shown in several of
the illustrations in this volume.
The wire ordinarily used is No. 12, except for the top wire in the
Kniffin training, which is usually No. 10, as the greater part of the
weight is then upon the top wire. No. 9 is sometimes used, but it is
heavier than necessary. No. 14 is occasionally used for the middle and
upper rows in the upright systems, but it is not strong enough. The
following figures show the sizes and weights of these and similar iron
and steel wires:
No. Diameter in inches. Weight of 100 feet. Feet in 2,000 pounds.
9 .148 5.80 pounds. 34,483
10 .135 4.83 " 41,408
11 .120 3.82 " 52,356
12 .105 2.92 " 68,493
13 .092 2.24 " 89,286
14 .080 1.69 " 118,343
15 .072 1.37 " 145,985
16 .063 1.05 " 190,476
The plain annealed iron wire costs about 3 cents per pound, and the
galvanized--which is less used for vineyards--3-1/2 cents. Of No. 12
wire, about 160 pounds is required per acre for a single run on rows
eight feet apart, and about 500 pounds for three runs. The cost of No.
12 wire per acre, for three runs, therefore, is about $15.
The wire is secured to the intermediate posts by staples driven in
firmly so that the wire will not pull through readily of its own weight,
but still loosely enough to allow of the tightening of the wires. In
other words, the head of the staple should not quite touch the wire.
Grape staples are of three lengths, about an inch, inch and a quarter,
and an inch and a half respectively. The shortest length is little
used. The medium length is used for hard-wood posts and the longest for
soft posts, like chestnut and cedar. These staples cost five cents per
pound usually, and a pound of the medium length contains from 90 to 100
of the No. 10 wire size. An acre, for three wires, will therefore
require, for this size, about nine or ten pounds of staples. In windy
regions, the wires should be placed upon the windward side of the posts.
There are various devices for securing the wire to the end posts, but
the commonest method is to wind them about the post once and secure them
with a staple, or twist the end of the wire back upon itself, forming a
loop. The wires should be drawn taut to prevent sagging with the weight
of fruit and leaves. In order to allow for the contraction of the wires
in winter, some growers loosen the wires after harvest and others
provide some device which will relieve the strain. The Yeoman's Patent
Grape-Vine Trellis is a simple and effective lever-contrivance attached
to each wire, and which is operated to loosen the wires in fall and to
tighten them in spring. The end post is sometimes provided upon the back
with a square-headed pin which works tightly in an inch and a half augur
hole and about which the end of the wire is wound. A square-headed iron
wrench operates the pin, while the tension of the wire around the side
of the post keeps the pin from slipping. This device is not durable,
however. An ingenious man can easily contrive some device for relieving
the tension, if he should think it necessary. As a matter of practice,
however, the wires soon stretch and sag enough with the burden of fruit
and vines to take up the winter contraction, and most growers do not
release the wires in fall. It will be found necessary, in fact, to
tighten the wires and to straighten up the posts from year to year, as
they become loose. It is always a profitable labor to tamp the ground
firmly about all the posts every spring. The wires should always be kept
tight during the growing season to prevent the whipping of the vines by
wind. This is especially important in white grapes, which are discolored
by the rubbing of leaves and twigs. Unless the vines are very strong it
will be necessary to stretch only one wire the first winter.
Trellises are often made of slats, as shown in Fig. 18, but these are
always less durable than the wire trellises and more expensive to keep
in repair; and in the older portions of the country, where timber is
dear, they are also more expensive at the outset. They catch the wind,
and, not being held together by continuous strands, are likely to blow
down in sections. Fuller particulars concerning the styles of trellis
are given in the discussions of the different systems of training.
_Tying._--Probably the best material for tying the canes and shoots to
the trellis is raffia. This is a bast-like material which comes in
skeins and which can be bought of seedsmen and nurserymen for about 20
cents a pound. A pound will suffice to tie a quarter of an acre of
upright training throughout the season. Raffia is obtained from the
strippings of an oriental palm (_Raphia Ruffia_). Wool-twine is also
still largely used for tying, but it is not so cheap and handy as
raffia, and it usually has to be cut when the trellis is stripped at the
winter pruning, while the raffia breaks with a quick pull of the vine.
Some complain that the raffia is not strong enough to hold the vine
during the season, but it can easily be doubled. Osier willows are much
used for tying up the canes in the spring, and also for summer tying,
especially in the nursery regions where the slender trimmings of the
cultivated osier willows are easily procured. Wild willows are often
used if they can be obtained handily. These willows are tied up in a
small bundle, which is held upon the back above the hips by a cord
passed about the body. The butts project under the right hand, if the
person is right-handed, and the strands are pulled out as needed. The
butt is first used, the tie being made with a twist and tuck, the strand
is then cut off with a knife, and the twig is operated in like manner
until it is used up. When wool-twine is used, the ball is often held in
front of the workman by a cord which is tied about it and then passed
about the waist. The ball is unwound from the inside, and it will hold
its shape until the end becomes so short that it will easily drag upon
the ground. Some workmen carry the ball in a bag, after the manner of
carrying seed-corn. Raffia is not so easily carried in the field as the
wool-twine or the willow, and this fact interferes with its popularity.
Green rye-straw, cut directly from the field, is much used for tying the
shoots in summer. Small wire, about two-thirds the size of broom-wire,
is used occasionally for tying up the canes in spring, but it must be
used with care or it will injure the vine. Corn-husks are also employed
for this purpose when they can be secured. Bass-bark is sometimes used
for tying, but in most of the grape regions it is difficult to secure,
and it has no advantage over raffia.
It is very important that the canes be tied up early in spring, for the
buds are easily broken after they begin to swell. These canes are tied
rather firmly to the wires to hold them steady; but the growing shoots,
which are tied during the summer, are fastened more loosely, to allow of
the necessary increase in diameter.
[Illustration: (Drawing of grapes)]