Jeb. 2, 1920,] 



Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. 



125 



Avill be sufBcient. The rod must be looked upon as temporary, to be 

 removed at the pruning subsequent to its having fruited. The spur will be 

 •given choice of position in so far as it will maintain the shape of the vine, 

 and provide strong canes for the next season. For this reason it is not 

 absolutely essential that the spur shall be fruit-bearing, although, for the 

 sake of the grape crop, it is preferable that it should be so. Tt frequently 

 happens that a good water shoot occupies a position superior to that of a 

 fruit shoot. This is more fretr^uent in the case of old vines than young ones, 

 and wherever the opportunity arises, it is well to make use of these canes to 

 improve the shape or renew the arms. Should the pruner think it preferable, 

 ■a fruiting spur, even though it be in a bad position, may be left for the time 

 being, but provision should be made for the next year by leaving one bud 

 •upon the water shoot, from which a cane can be secured later on. 



Having selected the spurs, the requisite number of rods will be reserved 

 irom good fruit-bearing canes, while the remainder will be cut away. The 

 general plan adopted to secure the rods in this system of pruning is to bend 

 them over the top of ttie vine, intertwining 

 them in the form of a dome. If preferred, 

 the ends of the rods may be tied down to the 

 •extremities of the spurs, in which case a long 

 internode should be left upon both spurs and ""/^ 

 rods, with the enlarged portion of the rods to (( ^ 

 prevent the tie from slipping. The plan of '^- 

 twisting the rods is the one more generally 

 ■adoptt'd, as it is quicker and just as effective. 

 The objection may be raised that this system 

 leads to overcrowding of the foliage ; but so 

 long as the strength of the vine is not over- 

 taxed and the spurs are given good positions it 

 does not matter, The system is in no way 

 claimed to be as good as the trellis, but is 



merely an economical substitute. So long as the vines retain their vigour 

 the system may be practised, but so soon as they show evidence of weak- 

 mess the rods should be reduced in number or done away with altogether. 

 <See Fig. 13.) 



A variation of the foregoing plan is sometimes adopted when the rods are 

 twined around a strung central stake more or less spirally. A stake is in all 

 cases an advantage, supporting the growth and creating greater stability 

 against violent winds. 



Trellised Systems. 



Grape vines are trained upon trellises for several reasons, the chief of 

 "which, under commercial practice, is the utilisation of the vine's vigour to its 

 fullest extent. This is to say, that no matter what claims the respective 

 modifications of the bush system may possess, in many cases satisfactory 

 results can only be assured by systematically training the vines upon a sup- 

 porting trellis work. This is so, because there are some vines whose strength 



FIG. 13. 

 Rod pruned bush vine. 



