Excerpt from Forestry Manual of the Iowa State Horticultural Society Should be planted quite deeply - 18 inches or more - and then be well protected the first winter by being laid down and covered with earth, and if of tender varieties they should be protected every winter. The first year but one cane should be grown, the next not more than two, and the third a little fruit may be obtained. Plant in rows six to eight feet apart and train to trellis or stakes, vines four to eight feet in the row. A trellis may be made of three wires, the highest not more than four to five feet high, or stakes may be used from two to four inches in diameter. With the trellis you can cultivate or plow but one way, while with the stakes plowing may be done both ways. The pruning should be done in the fall, winter or spring, before the buds begin to swell. No definite rule can be given for pruning, but in doing it we should bear in mind that only the last year's growth produces fruit. A young or feeble vine should not have too much bearing-wood left on lest it overbear, while a strong and well-established vine may be more heavily taxed. Cultivation of the vines with the plow, cultivator, one-horse harrow or hoe should be begun as soon as the ground is in good condition to work in the spring, and it should be kept up until well into midsummer or later. Close pruning induces the growth of large berries and large bunches, while a superabundance of fruit-bearing wood tends to the production of numerous small bunches, with smaller berries. Each bud on last year's growth of wood may be counted on to produce from one to five bunches of grapes when the vine is well pruned. Orchard Planting And Care. For orchard planting preparation of the ground should be begun in October by giving the soil a deep plowing, or what is still better, a good trench-plowing or subsoiling, and the plowing should be done so that each row of trees can be planted in a dead-furrow. Fall is preferable to spring plowing, for the reason that the soil is then in better condition to be worked, and where the plowing is deep the frosts of winter and the rains of spring render the ground more friable, especially if the soil or subsoil be stiff clay. The distance of the trees apart should not be less than twenty-five feet and, where land is plenty, thirty feet is better. By a quincunx arrangement of the rows a greater number of trees can be planted to the acre and still be the same distance apart than where each tree stands directly opposite its fellow tree in the adjoining rows. In selecting trees get them from a good, reliable nurseryman, and procure them in the fall, soon after defoliation, and keep them over the winter well buried in the ground, and by well buried I mean covered root and branch with the earth in close contact with all the roots. If trees have to be transported far from nursery to orchard the roots should be well protected from the drying effects of both sun and winds. As soon in spring as the ground is in condition to be worked the planting should be done. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1881.