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Bagging GrapesIn some localities bagging is considered an essential to profitable grape-growing. The bags serve to protect the grapes against birds. In some grape regions vineyards suffer more from the depredations of robins and other birds than from all other troubles. Grapes bearing small berries and having tender pulp and those which shell most readily from the stem suffer most. Of standard sorts, Delaware is probably more enticing to robins than any other variety. There is only one way of preventing damage to grapes from birds and that is by bagging the clusters. Bagging is also an effective means of protecting the grape from several fungi and insects. In home plantations or small commercial vineyards, bagging the bunches often eliminates the necessity of spraying for fungi and for most of the insects that trouble the grape. Because of the warmth afforded by the bags, bagged grapes ripen a little earlier and are of somewhat higher quality than those not bagged. Grapes bagged are protected from early frost, thus prolonging the season. Grapes that have been protected from the elements during the summer are more attractive than those exposed to the weather, since the fruits are free from weather marks and present a fresh, bright appearance, which puts them in a grade above unbagged grapes. Bagging often enables the grower to sell his crop as a fancy product. Grapes are bagged as soon as the fruits are well set, the sooner the better if protection against fungi is one of the purposes. Under no circumstances, however, should the clusters be bagged while in blossom. A patent bag made for the purpose may be purchased or, serving equally well, the common one and one-half and two-pound manila bags used by grocers prove satisfactory. One of the patent bags which is known as the Ideal Clasp Bag has a metal clasp attached to the top for securing the bag in place over the cluster. In using the grocer's bag, before it is put in place the corners of both the top and bottom are cut off by placing several bags on a firm level surface and using a broad-shaped chisel. Cutting off the corners of the top enables the operator to close the bag neatly over the cluster, while cutting off the corners of the bottom furnishes a means of escape for any water that gets in the bag. In putting the bag in place, the top is pinned above the lateral from which the bunch hangs, and must not be fastened about the small stem of the cluster, as the wind blowing the bag almost invariably breaks the cluster from the vine. The largest pins to be purchased in dry-goods stores are used in pinning the bags. The bags remain until the grapes are picked. Wet weather does not injure bags and seemingly they grow stronger with exposure to sun and wind. The cost of the bags and the work of putting them on is no small item. To secure the best results, the work must be done at the period between the dropping of the blossoms and the formation of the seeds, when the grapes are about the size of a small pea. This is a busy time for the grape-grower, which adds to the cost. When the work is conducted on a large scale, the cost is about two dollars a thousand bags, this figure covering both the cost of bags and labor. Women do the work more expeditiously than men and soon become very skillful in putting on the bags. Despite the trouble and cost of bagging, growers seeking to produce a fancy product find that the expenditure proves profitable. Next: Winter-protection Of Grapes Previous: Ringing Grape Vines
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