96 



American Horticultural Society. 



sap at tliat point. (See vine on the right of Fig. 8.) These canes, on reach- 

 ing the wires, can be pinched oil, tlius forcing out two lateral buds, to be 

 trained along the wires for arms, or they can be bent down along the wires 

 for one arm, and allow the lateral starting nearest the wire to form the oppo- 

 site arm, thus forming the arms the second season. 



Fic. 9. 



Fig. 9, from a photograph, shows a vine of this character. The short 

 vine was pinched ofi' at the lower wire, the arms coming from the laterals, 

 the main cane of the long vine furnishing one arm for the top wire, a lateral 

 the other. I have had vines the second season from planting make the trunk 

 and arms complete, with wood to spare, but they were exceptional cases. 

 On the other hand, I have vines of feeble growth that have been five or six 

 years trying to make a respectable appearance, and have not done it yet, 

 another proof that there are occasional exceptions in all cases. 



In pruning, I generally shorten the arms to five or six buds, rarely more, 

 sometimes less, dependent on my judgment of the vigor and ability of the 

 vine, and sometimes I make a mistake at that. 



The bending of the.se arms into their position on the wires tends to retard 

 the flow of saj), and favors a uniform growth of the buds along the entire 

 arm, it is so short; whereas if it were ten buds long, instead of five, the buds 

 nearest the main cane would start feebly, if not fail altogether. That is just 

 where many failures have occurred in the Thomery-Fuller system, before 

 described, in attempting to get too long an arm in one year. 



