The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1906-07-06
FRIDAY AFTERNOON, JULY 6, 1906.
farm 9ntfs.
Try Bagging Your Grapes.
NIessrs. Editors:

Messrs Editors:
"Do you bag your grapes to protect
them from insects p This is a question
asked me many times lately, and perhaps
the answer may be of enough general in
terest to secure space in your valuable pa
per.
Protection from insect pests during
growth and from bees and birds while ri
pening is not the main reason, but only
one good result of the many to be gained
by the practice of incloaing grapes in paper
bags. As a result Of careful experiments
in my vineyard last year, when bagged
500 punches, believe ! have secured
valuable information which, as far as [
know, is new.
Several articles on the subject which
have read state that it will hasten maturity,
but by careful tests find it materially re-
tards it, and this fact is its most valuable
quality; namely, the ability to LARGELY con-
troll the length of the bearing season. But
hardly less valuable is the marked increase
in quality--size, flavor and color. Why !?
Simple enough when once explained
Direct sunlight, as we know, hastens
maturity of foliage, flowers and fruit. In
close the bunch in bag and you soften
and diffuse the light, thereby retarding too
rapid growth and allowing the bunch more
time in which to grow larger, to develop
finer favor and to color more richly Even
imperfect punches are greatly helped by
the practice Another fact, and curious
one, which puzzled me until hit on the
solution, is that the earliest punches bagged
are the last to ripen and the last bagged
the first, for the reason already given.
Someone asks, is it not too much
trouble 2
Oh, yes; it is some trouble, but not too
much, if one believes in the good old
adage, eWhat is worth doing at all is
worth doing well y
Let me give you my method. have
an apron, such as carpenters wear, with
two pouch pockets In one pocket is lot
of binder Irvine cut in about ive-ineh
lengths; in the other the paper bags (three
pound preferred, as my grapes burst the
two pound size), marked in pencil with
month and date. | start bagging when
grapes are well set on punches (about an
eighth Of an inch in diameter), and inclose
from 100 to 200 every few days, until
time of ripeuing, when all desirable punches
still left exposed are inclosed to pro-
tect from bees and birds. ] leave
number of each variety unbagged to secure
earliest maturity, after which those that
have been last bagged come on in regular
succession. Take a bag, slip it up over
the bunch, gather the mouth up around
the stem and tie with single knot just
tight enough to hold without strangling the
bunch, using care not to bruise the stem
or bunch. In this way, without rushing,
10 to 100 punches can be bagged in an
hour
It has occurred to me that still further
control could be gotten if bags of various
colors were used, provided the eolors were
fairly permanent. This is being done, |
understand, in the royal Conservatives Of
England, where grapes and other fruit and
flowers are developed by exposure to light
through various colOred glass; but | am
unable to verify the information at present.
Those who have never tried bagging their
grapes would be surprised and delighted at
the great benefit gained, and BY doing SO
would not only help themselves, but help
somebody else to help themselves.
In closing, let me put in a plea for care
full pruning and intelligent spraying; and,
with bagging, anyone can, with this triple
alliance, have as fine grapes as usually
come out of the Conservatives. Three
pound bags cost from so to IS cents per
1000 and binder Irvine from 80 70 TO
cents for ball Of FIVE pounds (about 2, 500
feet. j. P. WIGHTMAN,
Ashland, Hanover county, Va.