Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 45.djvu/774

 plowing is away from the vines, and in the second and third it is toward the vines. During the summer the vines grow vigorously, and the climbing offshoots are tied by straw bands to the second and third wires.

The algebraic $$x$$ stands for the unknown quantity in grape-growing—for bad weather, diseases and pests. A few years ago the Lake Keuka vineyards were attacked by "black rot." At one time it looked as if the industry would be wiped out as completely as it was in the Ohio Valley thirty years ago. But the remedy known as the "Bordeaux mixture" proved to be the salvation of the grape-grower. It is a composition of six pounds each of sulphate of copper and lime to fifty gallons of water. This is sprayed



on the vines three times during the season: first, when the blossoms begin to appear; second, just after blossoming and when the fruit has set; third, when the grapes are partly grown. For the last spraying many growers use a copper carbonate ammoniacal solution.

The vintage begins the first week in September and lasts until the third week in October. It depends, of course, on the weather and on the kind of grapes grown. The Delawares ripen first, then the Concords, while the Catawbas seldom mature before the first week in October. The grape crop is picked in boxes which hold from thirty to forty pounds. When filled they are carried to the