THE UPRIGHT SYSTEMS.

The upright systems are the oldest and best known of the styles of American grape training. They consist, essentially, in carrying out two horizontal canes, or sometimes arms, upon a low wire and training the shoots from them vertically upwards. These shoots are tied to the upper wires as they grow. This type was first clearly and forcibly described in detail by A. S. Fuller, in his "Grape Culturist," in 1864, and it became known as the Fuller system, although it was practiced many years previous to this time.

Horizontal Arm Spur System.—There are two types or styles of this upright system. The older type and the one described in the books, is known as the Horizontal Arm Spur training. In this method, the two horizontal branches are permanent, or, in other words, they are true arms. The canes are cut back each fall to upright spurs upon these arms, as explained on page 15 (fig. 4.) Two shoots are often allowed to grow from each of these spurs, as shown in fig. 7. These spurs become overgrown and weak after a few years, and they are renewed from new shoots which spring from near their base or from the arm itself. Sometimes the whole arm is renewed from the head of the vine, or even from the ground.

The number of these upright canes and their distance apart upon these permanent arms depend upon the variety, the strength of the vine and soil and the fancy of the grower. From twelve to twenty inches apart upon the arm is the common distance. If a vine is strong enough to carry five canes and the vines are eight feet apart, then the canes are distributed at intervals of about twenty inches. Some very strong vines of vigorous varieties will carry eight canes upon the two arms together, and in this case the canes stand about a foot apart. In the fall or winter, the cane is cut away and the strongest new cane which springs from its base is left for the bearing wood of the following year. This new cane is itself headed in to the height of the trellis; that is, if the uppermost and lowermost wires are 34 inches apart—as they are in the Brocton vineyards of western New York, where this system is largely used—this new cane is shortened in to 34 inches long. Upon this length of cane there will be about seven good buds in the common varieties.

A modification of this horizontal arm system is shown in fig. 9. It is used about Forestville, in Chautauqua county, New York. The arms in this case are very short, and canes are taken out only at two or three places. The picture shows a vine in which two canes are taken from the end of each arm, making four canes for the bearing top of the vine. These canes are cut back to spurs in the fall, as explained in the above paragraph. Sometimes one or two other canes are taken out of these arms nearer the main trunk. The advantages urged for this style of training are the stronger growth which is insured by so few canes, and the small amount of old or permanent wood which is left to each vine.

The horizontal arm training is less popular than it was twenty years ago. It has serious faults, especially in the persistence of the old spurs, and probably will eventually give place to other systems. Aside from the spur pruning, the system is much like the following, which is a modification to allow of a renewal pruning and to which the reader is referred for further details. This modification, which may be called the High Renewal, and which is one of the most serviceable of any of the styles of training, although it has never been fully described, we shall now consider.

The High Renewal, or upright training which is now very extensively employed in the lake regions of New York and elsewhere, starts the head or branches of the vine from eighteen to thirty inches from the ground. The ideal height for most varieties is probably about two feet to the first wire, although thirty inches is better than eighteen. If the vines are lower than two feet, they are liable to be injured by the plow or cultivator, the earth is dashed against the clusters by heavy rains, and if the shoots become loose they strike the ground and the grapes are soon soiled. A single trunk or arm is carried up to the required height, or if good branches happen to form lower down, two main canes are carried from this point up to the required distance to meet the lower wire, so that the trunk becomes Y-shaped, as seen in figs. 10, 16 and 17. In fact, vineyardists usually prefer to have this head or crotch a few inches below the lowest wire, to facilitate the spreading and placing of the canes. The trellis for the upright systems nearly always comprises three wires, although only two are sometimes used for the smaller growing varieties, and very rarely four are used for the strongest kinds, although this number is unnecessary. The lowest wire is stretched at eighteen, twenty-four or thirty inches from the ground, and the two upper ones are placed at distances of eighteen or twenty inches apart.

The second season after planting should see the vine tied to the first wire. Fig. 10 is a photograph taken in July, 1892, of a Concord vine which was set in the spring of 1891. In the fall of 1891 the vine was cut back to three or four buds, and in the spring of 1892 two of these buds were allowed to make canes. These two canes are now tied to the wire, which was stretched in the spring of 1892. In this case, the branches start near the surface of the ground. Sometimes only a single strong shoot grows, and in order to secure the two branches it is broken over where it passes the wire, and is usually tied to a stake to afford support. Fig. 11 shows this operation. A bud will develop at the bend or break, from which a cane can be trained in the opposite direction from the original portion, and the T-head is secured.

The close of the second season after planting, therefore, will usually find the vine with two good canes extending in opposite directions and tied to the wire. The pruning at that time will consist in cutting off the ends of these canes back to firm and strong wood, which will leave them bearing from five to eight buds. The third season, shoots will grow upright from these buds and will be tied to the second wire, which has now been supplied. Late in the third season the vine should have much the appearance of that shown in fig. 12. The third wire is usually added to the trellis at the close of the second season, at the same time that the second wire is put on; but occasionally this is delayed until the close of the third season. Some of the upright shoots may bear a few grapes this third season, but unless the vines are very strong the flower clusters should be removed; and a three-year-old vine should never be allowed to bear heavily. It must be remembered, however, that both these horizontal canes, with all their mass of herbage, are to be cut away in the fall or winter of the third year. Some provision must have been made, therefore, for the top for the fourth year. It will be recalled that in discussing the renewal pruning (page 16, fig. 5), it was found that two or more shoots are allowed to grow each year to form the basis of the top the following year. In fig. 12 three or four such shoots can be seen springing from the Y-shaped portion in the center of the vine. These shoots or canes are to be bent down to the lowest wire next spring, and the bearing shoots will arise from them. This process will be seen at a glance from figs. 13, 14 and 15. The first shows a full grown old vine, trained on three wires. Fig. 14 shows the same vine when pruned. Two long canes, with six or eight buds each, are left to form the top of the following year. The two stubs from which the renewal canes are to grow for the second year's top are seen in the center. In the fall of the next year, therefore, these two outside canes will be cut away to the base of these renewal stubs; and the renewal canes, in the meantime, will have made a year's growth. These renewal stubs in this picture are really spurs, as will be seen; that is, they contain two ages of wood. It is the purpose, however, to remove these stubs or spurs every two or three years at most, and to bring new canes directly from the old wood or head. If possible, the renewal cane is brought from a new place on the old wood every year in order to avoid a spur. Such was the case in the vine shown in fig. 5, page 19. Fig. 15 shows the same vine tied down to the lowest wire. Two ties have been made upon each cane. Fig. 16 shows a vine in which four canes have been left to form the top for the following year. The stubs for the renewals can be seen in the Y. It is customary to leave more than two canes, occasionally, in strong-growing varieties like Concord. Sometimes four and occasionally six are left. If four canes are left, two may be tied together in each direction upon the bottom wire. If six are used, the two extra ones should be tied along the second wire, parallel with the lowest ones. These extra canes are sometimes tied obliquely across the trellis, but this practice should be discouraged, for the usual tendency of the vine is to make its greatest growth at the top, and the lower buds may fail to bear.

The ideal length of the two canes varies with different varieties and the distance apart at which the vines are set. Very strong kinds, like Concord and Niagara, can carry ten or twelve buds on each cane, especially if the vines are set more than eight feet apart. Fig. 17 shows half of a Concord vine in which about ten buds were left on each cane. These strong sorts can often carry forty or fifty buds to the vine to advantage, but when this number is left the canes should be four, as explained in the last paragraph. In Delaware and other weak-growing varieties, twenty or twenty-five buds to the vine should be the maximum and only two canes should be left. In short-jointed varieties, the canes are usually cut to the desired length—four to six feet—even if too great a number of buds is left, but the shoots which spring from these extra buds are broken out soon after they start. A Delaware vine which has made an unusually short or weak growth will require fewer buds to be left for next year's top than a neighboring vine of the same variety which has made a strong growth. The Catawba, which is a short but very stiff grower, is usually cut back to six or eight buds, as seen in figs. 13, 14 and 15. The grower soon learns to adjust the pruning to the character of the vine without effort. He has in his mind a certain ideal crop of grapes, perhaps about so many bunches, and he leaves enough buds to produce this amount, allowing, perhaps, ten per cent. of the buds for accidents and barren shoots. He knows, too, that the canes should always be cut back to firm, well-ripened wood. It should be said that mere size of cane does not indicate its value as a fruit-bearing branch. Hard, smooth wood of medium size usually gives better results than the very large and softer canes which are sometimes produced on soils rich in nitrogenous manures. This large and overgrown wood is known as a "bull cane." A cane does not attain its full growth the first year, but will increase in diameter during the second season. The tying therefore, should be sufficiently loose or elastic to allow of growth, although it should be firm enough to hold the cane constantly in place. The cane should not be hung from the wire, but tied close to it, provision being made for the swelling of the wood to twice its diameter.

The shoots are tied to the second wire soon after they pass it, or have attained firmness enough to allow of tying, and the same shoots are tied again to the top wire. All the shoots do not grow with equal rapidity, and the vineyard must be gone over more than twice if the shoots are kept properly tied. Perhaps four times over the vineyard will be all that is necessary for careful summer tying. Many vineyardists tie only once or twice, but this neglect should be discouraged. This tying is mostly done with green rye straw or raffia. A piece of straw about ten inches long is used for each tie, it usually being wrapped but once about the shoot. The knot is made with a twist and tuck. If raffia is used, a common string-knot is made. When the shoots reach the top of the trellis, they are usually allowed to take care of themselves. The Catawba shoots stand nearly erect above the top wire and ordinarily need no attention. The long-growing varieties will be likely to drag the shoots upon the ground before the close of the season. If these tips interfere with the cultivation, they may be clipped off with a sickle or corn-cutter, although this practice should be delayed as long as possible to prevent the growth of laterals (see page 21). It is probably better to avoid cutting entirely. Some growers wind or tie the longest shoots upon the top wire, as seen in fig. 17. It is probably best, as a rule, to allow the shoots to hang over naturally, and to clip them only when they seriously interfere with the work of the hoe and cultivator. The treatment for slat trellises, as shown in fig. 18, is the same as on wire trellises, except that longer strings must be used in tying.

It is apparent that nearly or quite all the fruit in the High Renewal is borne between the first and second wires, at the bottom of the trellis. If the lower wire is twenty-four or thirty inches high, this fruit will hang at the most convenient height for picking. The fruit trays are set upon the ground, and both hands are free. The fruit is also protected from the hot suns and from frost; and if the shoots are properly tied, the clusters are not shaken roughly by the wind. It is, of course, desirable that all the clusters should be fully exposed to light and air, and all superfluous shoots should, therefore, be pulled off, as already explained (page 21). In rare cases it may also be necessary, for this purpose, to prune the canes which droop over from the top of the trellis.

After a few years, the old top or head of the vine becomes more or less weak and it should be renewed from the root. The thrifty vineyardist anticipates this circumstance, and now and then allows a thrifty shoot which may spring from the ground to remain. This shoot is treated very much like a young vine, and the head is formed during the second year (page 16, bottom). If it should make a strong growth during the first year and develop stout laterals, it may be cut back only to the lowest wire the first fall; but in other cases, it should be cut back to two or three buds, from one of which a strong and permanent shoot is taken the second year. When this new top comes into bearing, the old trunk is cut off at the surface of the ground, or below if possible. A top will retain its vigor for six or eight years under ordinary treatment, and sometimes much longer. These tops are renewed from time to time as occasion permits or demands, and any vineyard which has been bearing a number of years will nearly always have a few vines in process of renewal. The reader should not receive the impression, however, that the life or vitality of a vine is necessarily limited. Vines often continue to bear for twenty years or more without renewal; but the head after a time comes to be large and rough and crooked, and often weakened by scars, and better results are likely to be obtained if a new, clean vine takes its place.

The High Renewal is extensively used in the lake region of Western New York, for all varieties. It is particularly well adapted to Delaware, Catawba, and other weak or short varieties. When systematically pursued, it gives fruit of the highest excellence. This High Renewal training, like all the low upright systems, allows the vines to be laid down easily in winter, which is an important consideration in many parts of Canada and in the colder northern states.

Fan Training.—A system much used a few years ago and still sometimes seen, is one which renews back nearly to the ground each year, and carries the fruiting canes up in a fan-shaped manner. This system has the advantages of dispensing with much of the old wood, or trunk, and facilitating laying down the vine in winter in cold climates. On the other hand, it has the disadvantages of bearing the fruit too low—unless the lower clusters are removed—and making a vine of inconvenient shape for tying. It is little used at present. Fig. 19 shows a vine pruned for fan-training, although it is by no means an ideal vine. This vine has not been properly renewed, but bears long, crooked spurs, from which the canes spring. One of these spurs will be seen to extend beyond the lower wire. The spurs should be kept very short, and they should be entirely removed every two or three years, as explained in the above discussion of the High Renewal training.

The shoots are allowed to take their natural course, being tied to any wire near which they chance to grow, finally lopping over the top wire. Sometimes the canes are bent down and tied horizontally to the wires, and this is probably the better practice. Two canes may be tied in each direction on the lower wire, or the two inner canes may be tied down to the second wire. In either case, the vine is essentially like the High Renewal, except that the trunk is shorter.

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